Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant tale of dysfunction, deception and death.
Review: "Adam and Eve and Pinch Me" is another tour de force by the magnificent Ruth Rendell. It is the story of three very different women who have one thing in common. A handsome and charming rogue named Jeff Leach romances them and subsequently abandons them with no explanation. As his last name implies, Jeff is very much a leech. He takes advantage of women by living off them financially until he decides to move on to his next conquest.In this novel, Rendell creates some extremely dysfunctional characters. Yet, no matter how strange or unlikable the characters are at first glance, the author manages to make the reader both understand and sympathize with them. Most dysfunctional of all is Minty Knox, a pathetic and lonely young woman who has a horrible case of obsessive-compulsive disorder. She is compelled by her illness to wash herself, her clothing and her home many times daily; her fear of dirt is pathological. Worse yet, Minty eventually starts to hallucinate, seeing and hearing ghosts of people whom she has known in the past. There is also a strange couple, Michelle and Matthew Jarvey, who suffer from extreme eating disorders and an ambitious Member of Parliament named Jims Melcombe-Smith, whose is willing to go to desperate lengths to keep his homosexuality a secret. The lives of these people and others intersect when two bizarre murders are committed in London in close succession. The police cannot decide who had the means or the motive to commit these strange crimes, but the reader is in on the secret all along. Therefore, "Adam and Eve" is not so much a whodunit as it is an intricate, suspenseful and fascinating psychological study of the different ways that people behave under extreme duress. It would be fair to state that Rendell's view of human nature is generally a negative one, since she so often depicts selfish, petty and disturbed people in her novels. However, Rendell tempers her pessimism with delicious humor and deep compassion. Occasionally, as in the case of Michelle and Matthew Jarvey, Rendell creates characters who treat one other with genuine consideration and devotion. The whole spectrum of human nature is on display in Rendell's novels. I highly recommend "Adam and Eve and Pinch Me." It is a wonderful book that will mesmerize, horrify and entertain you all at once.
Rating: 
Summary: An amazing character, a mediocre plot
Review: A friend gave me a copy of the uncorrected proof of this novel, the second by this author I've read (the other being Vine's Gallowglass). I thought the portrait of Minty, the protagonist, was brilliantly presented. An obsessive-compulsive (and likely schizophrenic) nearing-forty woman, Minty is rendered not like the typical mentally-ill character (with cliched, oversimplified traits). Instead, we're given very compelling insights into what makes her tick. Other characters, though, are more thinly drawn and seem almost cartoonish. The plot, as others have noted, is also a bit thin, and ends in a way that I found anticlimactic. I guess I wanted it to resolve more fully the various subplots. But overall, the impression I'm left with is that Rendell knows how to write! Even while noticing the quibbles, I was compelled by the book's beautiful use of language.
Rating:
Summary: Rendell delivers the goods....in spades!!
Review: ADAM AND EVEN AND PINCH ME by Ruth Rendell will likely be one of her very best books, and one of 2002's best books in ANY genre.
I have read all but a handful of her works over the past 10 years, and she continues to amaze me at the breadth of her talent. Once again we have a cast of characters that could be, if you lived in jolly old London, your next door neighbors or your co-workers. Rendell's greatest gift in writing is drawing out not only the foibles, but also the deepest thoughts of these people as they go through their very mundane lives. What makes the story so intricate and involving, is that the 3 main women characters, Zillah, Fiona and Minty (Araminta), are all from very different backgrounds, but are all looking for the same thing: a steady and romantic relationship with a man. The paths they tread and the consequences of their interactions with this one man brings forth completely different outcomes. There are too many twists and turns to describe here, and it would ruin the pleasure of wending your way through Rendell's web of deceit, unrequited love, and murder. Suffice to say I was up into the wee hours with ADAM AND EVE AND PINCH ME. Superb: you'll be recommending this to everyone you know, believe me! Is there a BBC adaptation in the works, perhaps? Let's hope so.
Rating:
Summary: With Rendell, it's always a Garden of Eden!
Review: Certainly Ruth Rendell is ONE of the best writers around today, with wide-stretching parameters with character, plot development, intrigue, even brilliance. With "Adam and Eve and Pinch Me" she stays true to form--typically Rendellian in the sheer presentation of a psycho-drama. Generally, she's shied away from "ghost writing," but this time she marches on stage with a psycho thriller that is almost impossible to put down. Ms Rendell is a master at this, as readers well know. She's able to take the commonplace and transcend these elements into something Beyond. Her ability to capture completely the attention of her readers here is top form. However, it's not the type (nor ending!) that makes the reader cry for "more," but perhaps more like "uncle"! She's brilliant in this genre (her Inspector Wexford series is no slack either, by the way, but light years away in format and drama)....
Rating:
Summary: Rounding up the unusual suspects
Review: For Ruth Rendell fans the latest entry is very comfortably in the Rendell world of oddballs and eccentrics. The expected stew of psychotics, neurotics and amoral cases makes for a very quick and funny read that is true to the Rendell style and deft plotting. This one is not up with the author's five-star mysteries (perhaps psycho-drama is the more apt term since mystery is not at the heart of anything but human behavior) but a four-star Rendell is a welcome pleasure.
Rating:
Summary: Dysfunction at its Finest!
Review: I found this a fascinating read, but more of a character study of dysfunction than a mystery.
At the heart of this story is Jock, also known as Jeff or Jerry, a ne'er do well always looking for a free lunch. His girlfriend du jour is always well-off, and willing to keep him.
The three women at the forefront of this novel have very little in common, except that they all have fallen head over heels for Jock, or Jerry, or whatever he decides his name is! What we do discover about these women, and those people who are close to them, are the various dysfunctions and quirks that manifest themselves as the story progresses.
I don't think I would characterize this book as a mystery, as there is very little kept secret from the reader. As a novel, however, it is very good, and Rendell's depictions of her characters are fascinating.
Rating:
Summary: Dysfunction at its Finest!
Review: I found this a fascinating read, but more of a character study of dysfunction than a mystery.
At the heart of this story is Jock, also known as Jeff or Jerry, a ne'er do well always looking for a free lunch. His girlfriend du jour is always well-off, and willing to keep him.
The three women at the forefront of this novel have very little in common, except that they all have fallen head over heels for Jock, or Jerry, or whatever he decides his name is! What we do discover about these women, and those people who are close to them, are the various dysfunctions and quirks that manifest themselves as the story progresses.
I don't think I would characterize this book as a mystery, as there is very little kept secret from the reader. As a novel, however, it is very good, and Rendell's depictions of her characters are fascinating.
Rating:
Summary: Suspenseful psychological thriller
Review: I have always known the expression as Adam and Eve and Punch me, this is apparently the British equivalent. It is s a thrilling read. We feel special to our mates, so it is a shock to discover an affair going on, the plot many writers use as a resort.
However, Ruth Rendell uses it as a recourse of a different colour. When Araminta Knox learns of the death of her ex, (is he really dead?) other women learn too that this dark-haired man, Jock Lewis, fits the description of a man they knew who fleeced them, a con, a thief, and about as suitable a partner as Bin Laden to your daughter. Enter a ghost or two, one so scary Minty starts to carry a knife. She is obsessive, and hears voices. Rendell explores the psyche of her characters who reside in and around London, where a serial killer appears to be at gruesome work. Throughout, this is a strong, suspenseful, psychological thriller.
Rating:
Summary: Her best ever. so it must be pretty damn excellent.
Review: I have read every single book Ruth Rendell has ever read. Including the Inspector Wexford series, over which i hold no shame about the fact that i don't like them half as much as her psychological thrillers. And this book is the reason why. Personally, i believe that every sane person should read this book. Rendell is a stunning writer, and the way she mixes contemporay issues and events into the storyline makes the book so realistic, and so so chilling. The way she makes references to recent films, newscasters, and a whole other variety of real things which have actually happened is superb. She mixes sharp bits of non-fiction into thickly plotted fiction, and it comes out as more realistic than it might have been had she not. The plot to this one is the best one she has come up with yet. i shan't just give a synopsis of it like some reviews do, i really don't need to read a synopsis of a book when i'm trying to find a review, so i'm sur eyou don't either. But just rest assure,s the plot here is a cracker. She weaves brilliantly the supernatural themes into that of the real life psychology, and it works oh so well. IF she were a lesser writing, the supernatural and the detective side of it would both cancel each other out, but here she mixes each side with great sucess, creating a psychologically gripping novel which you just cannot put down. Rendell is the only writer who can ever really chill/disturb me. Her psychology is so accurate, and the weird disturbed characters made to seem to real. It is frightening to think that people like that could really be living next door to you, living in your street, on your train as you go to work, on the bus with you, in the cinema with you, in the supermarket with you, ahead of you in the queue. That is yet another of her major strengths. She creates a chilling and disturbing book just by using realism and accurate psychology. It's all very subtle. She is also excellent at the hoplessness many of her plots convey. the sense of the inevitable, the sense of the train heading toward another on the same rails, and an immiment collision which cannot be stopped. Things are going nice and slowly, events pannining out nicely, until all at once they crash together with devastating consequences for all involved. Rendell's subsidiary characters are all great too. there are a particularly great "little and large" couple, who create a nice light break at times of high tension. There are very few characters to like in this book, which may be it's only downside, however, a strength is that even though i didn't lke them, i still cared about what happened to them, and really really wanted to know more about their lives once the book finished. (Tami Hoag is an excellent author if you like feeling that sort of thing.) I was sad to put this book down, as i had waited so long for it. Two years since A Sight for Sore Eyes. I didn't think she could improve on that, but she has. This is a winning book, and it is clear that Rendell cannot put a single foot wrong. She defines the word superb.
Rating:
Summary: Another Winner!
Review: I read this book non-stop with some time out for sleeping. This author never disappoints me with the strange characters she writes about. I felt sorry for Minty, the compulsive washer who saw dirt everywhere, and got a kick out of the couple with eating problems. No real shockers, but you'll enjoy the twists and turns of the story.
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