Rating: 
Summary: A masterpiece
Review: A DARK-ADAPTED EYE is the first Barbara Vine book, the first of a long line of excellent novels that showed Ruth Rendell's ability to craft stories superior even to her more conventional mysteries. In this haunting tale of bitter sibling rivalry, Vine makes it clearly known from the beginning that Vera Hillyard brutally murdered her younger sister, Eden. Unlike many mysteries, however, this early revelation, usually reserved for the conclusion, only makes the story more compelling and suspenseful. Rather, the real mystery, the mystery that Barbara Vine is concerned with, is the question of what can drive a human to madness and murder. The final climax is truly riveting and moving, which is quite an achievement, considering that I anticipated it throughout the entire story, and that the main action had already taken place thirty years ago. However, Vine's characterizations are so deftly woven that I found the climax to be heart-wrenching, gripping, and disturbing. The plotting is subtle throughout, but it is only at the very end, after a series of deliciously twisted revelations, that one comes to appreciate the intricacy and complexity of Vine's plot, which does not resolve itself, but leaves the reader hanging with a number of unanswerable questions. This is a wonderfully written novel likely to leave some impression on the reader for some time. From first page to last, a masterpiece.
Rating: 
Summary: Dense, Dark and Tragic
Review: A real stunner! Admit I was frustrated by the book's almost inscrutable opening chapters and Vine's apparent modus aperandi of the narrator's conversational references to events and characters yet to be properly introduced -- I took to underlining names for future refernce like a lit-student -- and I almost gave up around chapter 4, but stuck with it and was rewarded with a compulsive page-turner dense with Vine's abundant detail and methodical character development. Literature of a high order, the novel is both a period evocation of life in the English countryside during WWII and a relentlessly detailed collection of character studies. There's been a murder; all that the reader is certain of throughout is Who the Murderer was, and only through the painstaking recreation of the lives involved is mystery set to rest. Note must be made of the stunning conclusion. Has the requisite 'summing up' ever been so emotionally resonant as these amazing paragraphs that crown Vine's dark symphony, as one after another that tangled myriad of characters weigh in on their answer to the Riddle, Who Was It?, in sentences that succeed and layer each upon the last in a dizzying, thunderous final chord? The family that Faith reconstructs through her memories, a tattered and shoddy remnant of British class society, has been the point of this disturbing, moving murder mystery.
Rating:
Summary: A precise evocation of post-war suffocation.
Review: A simple statement: if this is a mystery novel, then it is the best British mystery novel since the war. One often hears claims for "genre writers", that they are creating literary novels. In this case it is not in any doubt, the book is a sinister masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful mystery!
Review: Although I had already seen the PBS mini-series version of this book and knew the outcome, it was worth reading - how many books can you say that about? Very subtle with many twists - very enjoyable to read.
Rating:
Summary: Richly Textured
Review: Before I started reading the book, I had had the impression that it would be full of twists and have a shocking, unexpected and revealing ending. And that's why I eagerly began reading it, but subsequently gave it 4 stars instead of 5. Simply this book is not really about all these. But it offers someting else. Not a lot of books can keep the readers turning the pages while all the time the readers are well aware of what the final scene is like and (roughly) what the motives of the murderer are. Anybody who has read through the first 50 or so pages of the book would know which general direction the storyline would take. It is not like most of the other mysteries where the readers skimming the last couple of pages before they actually get there would spoil the whole book. Even then, this book is still a "mystery." Readers are curious not because they want to know the secrets, which Vine has no strong intention of keeping from the readers. The most interesting part, however, is to see how the author can convince us and make the story believable. The book creates no small amount of suspense. But the suspense is mostly not due to some sudden twists of plot. Rather it slowly evolves through the careful developments of the characters. But how would character development per se create suspense? This is the exact strength of the book. Being led deeper and deeper into the characters of Eden, Francis and Vera, the readers are getting more and more exposed to the dark side of human nature and the tragic elements of fate. The characters are so well fleshed out that the book's exploration of the nature of their sheer complexities and obsessions becomes the main source of suspense and mystery of the book. The book is very richly textured. But if it could blend in more surprises and/or revelations (maybe in particular offer more answer to Kathlenn March's and Sunny Durham's murders), the book would become even more powerful. As it stands, however, this is already quite an amazing book. The theme of the book? Maybe it's best summed up by Francis' remark about why Moselums who have got their right hands cut off as a punishment for stealing would be starved to death: "It makes you see what bringing people up by ... rigid rules can lead to."
Rating:
Summary: fun to read nonetheless
Review: Having read most books by Rendell, P.D. James and Elizabeth George I am getting a bit tired of their nearly identical styles and equal and sometimes ludicrous attempts to impress with their knowledge of botany and child-bearing related issues. Nevertheless, these are pretty good fiction writers and their writing is usually clever. "A Dark-Adapted Eye" is at the same suspenseful and moving. Despite my forementioned cynicism, I did cry over Vara's agony and little Jamie's miserable lot. If you liked "Anna's Book", you will like this one too.
Rating:
Summary: masterpiece by one of literatures greatest writers
Review: how sad that ruth rendell/barbara vine is relegated to the "mystery" shelves, she is so magnificient a writer she compares to Hardy, Cheever, etc. she even tops them! If I had one wish at the end of my life, it would be to have it written down by ruth rendell/barbara vine, not for senstaionalism purposes, but for the intelligence, compassion and understanding she brings to her subjects and her subjects lifes. after reading what the author wrote, I'd understand myself better than if the creater of the universe had written it down (no blashpemony intended). Thats all i can say, she is just such a great writer, you truly enter another place and time reading her books. Read every one she wrote you won't regret it.
Rating: 
Summary: As a mystery, only fair
Review: I guess I will be the one who appears to disagree with the majority of reviewers of this book. I will agree with the fact that the story is well written and laid out very well by Vine (Rendell). As a work of literature this is definitely a good book. I however, selected this book because it won an Edgar Award for best mystery and had those expectations. The book moves very slowly. I put it down countless times and read other books in the process. I picked it back up because of the wonderful reviews I had seen on Amazon. (I had not read anything by Ruth Rendell or Barbara Vine to compare the style of this book to her other books. According to a note in the back of the book when Rendell writes as Vine, she writes in an entirely different style.) In the end, I wasn't satisfied as a lover of mysteries with the pace or the outcome of the book. So if you are looking for a fast paced mystery novel then this is not for you. If your expectation is that of a piece of literature that well depicts a society family in 1940s England, and the dysfunctional nature that they try to conceal and how it affects their lives both then and into the present, then this will not disappoint. Just don't expect this book to go quickly.
Rating:
Summary: As a mystery, only fair
Review: I guess I will be the one who appears to disagree with the majority of reviewers of this book. I will agree with the fact that the story is well written and laid out very well by Vine (Rendell). As a work of literature this is definitely a good book. I however, selected this book because it won an Edgar Award for best mystery and had those expectations. The book moves very slowly. I put it down countless times and read other books in the process. I picked it back up because of the wonderful reviews I had seen on Amazon. (I had not read anything by Ruth Rendell or Barbara Vine to compare the style of this book to her other books. According to a note in the back of the book when Rendell writes as Vine, she writes in an entirely different style.) In the end, I wasn't satisfied as a lover of mysteries with the pace or the outcome of the book. So if you are looking for a fast paced mystery novel then this is not for you. If your expectation is that of a piece of literature that well depicts a society family in 1940s England, and the dysfunctional nature that they try to conceal and how it affects their lives both then and into the present, then this will not disappoint. Just don't expect this book to go quickly.
Rating:
Summary: Couln't put it down!
Review: I have read Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine before. This one is fabulous. You become so spellbound in her story that you have to finish it immediately. Definately worth every minute.
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