Adam and Eve and Pinch Me

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: 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: Redemption for Rendell after Grasshopper
Review: Nearly all of the reviews of Adam and Eve and Pinch Me, serve the prospective reader well in outlining the plot of this typically compelling psychological novel by Ruth Rendell. I was frankly concerned that perhaps Ms. Rendell had run out of steam after reading Grasshopper, a novel that I found disappointing and not up to her usual exemplary standards.

Now we have "Minty", Araminta Knox, another in a long line of Rendell's lost souls who become fascinating people with the strokes of her pen, people who would otherwise, in the real world, be invisible or avoided and mostly misunderstood. Poor Minty, dumped by an uncaring mother on a woman friend who was too decent to send her into care. Minty is also blessed with very few qualities that would ensure a happier future. She is pale, plain, thin, dim, self-centered, and possessed of a highly self-limiting obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. In addition to these unfortunate legacies, Minty is now beginning to hear voices and see ghosts.

How Ruth Rendell can take these blighted people, weave the most rewarding stories around their bleak lives, and leave us wanting more is pure genius. A person who suffers from an obsessive-compulsive disorder such hoarding, or absurd cleanliness is not just a lovable eccentric with a few quirks. Inevitably, their obsessions drive people away as the sufferer goes on, except in few cases, untreated. Personality and Obsessive-Compulsive disorders are very serious conditions and Minty's unfortunate lack of mental health and treatment are the norm in our world.

It takes a brilliant writer to be able to use such misery as the foundation for a most enjoyable and wonderfully plotted novel. It is to Ms. Rendell's credit that she has been plying us with at least three genres of fiction throughout her career, very ably and without becoming unpleasantly formulaic.

Rating:
Summary: Riveting Portrait of Madness
Review: Ruth Rendell excels in her ability to describe-and shade-the various forms of madness as well as mental illness.
"Adam and Eve and Pinch Me" tells the tale of "Jock Lewis"-also known by several other aliases-who charms various women into believing he is their one and only. And he does this all at the same time. His victims include Fiona, a hardworking merchant banker; Natalie, a sharp journalist; Zillah, the mother of his two children and the only one who is totally on to him (and also his legal wife); and most memorably, Minty, an obsessive compulsive woman who works in a dry cleaning store. Various other sharply drawn characters surround the main ones including Fiona's married neighbors, an anorexic man and his obese wife.

The book focuses on the disappearance-and reappearance-of Jock and his subsequent murder. In many ways, despite his ne'er to do ways, he seems the most stable individual in the entire book. Much of "Adam and Eve and Pinch Me" is spent on the impact of his behavior on those around him and the choices these individuals are forced to make (Zillah, for instance, enters into a bigamous marriage with a gay politician to support her children.)

I recommend this book for those individuals who are fans of Rendell's and the English mystery genre. I caution readers that this is not your typical "Who dunnit?"--in many ways it is a "Why did he or she do it and who else could have?"

Rating:
Summary: A Great Tale
Review: Ruth Rendell has earned several Edgar awards including a Grand Master Award for the crafting of brilliant mysteries. In "Adam and Eve and Pinch Me", she is again in top form. However, this is not really a mystery. You are told who commits the murder. This is rather a romp through a world of madness, illusion and deceit.

The suspense is created by watching and waiting for the police to discover the killer. The allure of the story lies in the actions of the multidimensional characters that Rendell has created. Each character has some secrete hidden away waiting to be discovered.

The story revolves around a wonderfully charming, devastatingly handsome and amoral conman Jock also known as Jerry Leach or Jeff Leigh. The trouble all starts when Jock's obsessive-compulsive girlfriend, Minty, thinks he is killed in a train crash. She becomes certain that his ghost is following her around and is determined to rid herself of the apparition.

However, Jock isn't dead but very much alive. He staged his death to move on to another unsuspecting lady, a successful banker. His only legal wife knows that he is really alive but she sees this false death as a chance for her to marry a wealthy conservative member of Parliament, who is also hiding a secrete that could ruin his political career.

The story begins to build toward its climax when Jock is found stabbed to death in a cinema. As his death is discovered and the hunt for the killer begins, Jack's lies unravel exposing not only his secrets but also those of the people around him. These discovered truths will destroy some lives, but it will rebuild others.

I enjoyed this book tremendously and I recommend it highly.

Judith Woolcock Colombo: Author of The Fablesinger & Night Crimes