Blodlægen

by Barbara Vine

Victoriansk gyser, der med nervepirrende langsommelighed afdækker den uhyggelige hemmelighed, som Martins oldefar hele livet har forsøgt at skjule.

Det handler om blod - både i bogstavelig og overført betydning - om arv og gener og i særdeleshed om blødersygdommen hæmofili. En sygdom, der som oftest rammer drenge, men som kvinder er bærere af, og som ikke kunne kureres i victoriatiden.

Martin Nanther er biografiforfatter og den 4. Lord Nanther med en fast, arvet plads i Overhuset. Adelstitlen har han efter sin oldefar, der var Dronning Victorias livlæge. Han forskede i og var meget optaget af hæmofili - blødersygdommen, som flere af den royale familie led af.

Martin er netop i færd med at researche oldefaderens liv, fordi han vil skrive en biografi om ham. Oldefaderen har efterladt et omfattende skriftligt materiale og en masse dagbøger om sin faglige karriere, men der er stort set ikke noget af betydning om hans privatliv. Hvilke grufulde hemmeligheder var det, som oldefaderen for enhver pris ville skjule ?

Det forsøger Martin at finde ud af, men samtidig har han problemer i sit privatliv. Han er gift for anden gang, og hans nye kone ønsker sig brændende et barn, men aborterer den ene gang efter den anden. For Martin er det ikke så altafgørende at få et barn, da han har en voksen søn fra sit første ægteskab.

Historien om familiehemmelighederne afdækkes uendelig langsomt, men forfatterens sans for at skabe interessante personer og et godt plot fornægter sig ikke, og som læser bliver man uvægerligt fanget ind af den snigende uhygge.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Crime, Thriller, Historical, Suspense

445 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Pseudonym of Ruth Rendell.

Rendell created a third strand of writing with the publication of A Dark Adapted Eye under her pseudonym Barbara Vine in 1986. Books such as King Solomon's Carpet, A Fatal Inversion and Anna's Book (original UK title Asta's Book) inhabit the same territory as her psychological crime novels while they further develop themes of family misunderstandings and the side effects of secrets kept and crimes done. Rendell is famous for her elegant prose and sharp insights into the human mind, as well as her ability to create cogent plots and characters. Rendell has also injected the social changes of the last 40 years into her work, bringing awareness to such issues as domestic violence and the change in the status of women.

Reviews

[Nancy (Hrdcovers) · Rating 5 out of 5]

All indications, when looking at the cover of this book, lead the reader to believe that this will be one of Vine's psychological thrillers. I figured that some surgeon, obsessed with blood, would be traveling the British Isles with scalpel in hand looking for his next victim. But the reader of this book must look a little closer at the two words following the title, THE BLOOD DOCTOR. Those two words are "A Novel." This changes everything.
More on the lines of Vine's A Chimney Sweeper's Boy, this book is not a thriller but does test the psyche of its main character, Martin Nanther, as he takes on the task of writing his great grandfather's biography. I always wonder what compels an author to write under a pseudonym as Ruth Rendall does when she writes as Barbara Vine. A Chimney Sweeper's Boy and The Blood Doctor, both written under the Vine name, are perfect examples of why an author would do this. They are both such a departure from the books written under Rendall's real name. While both are dark and mysterious at times, Vines's books take on a different edge as they weave in and out of the lives of her characters and almost no one escapes scrutiny. This book is such an amazing achievement....so amazing that I couldn't stop thinking about it every time I was forced to put it down to get on with my daily life.

As I mentioned already, Martin Nanther, frustrated author, decides to write about his great grandfather's life. The research involved is so very interesting because Henry Nanther lived in the nineteenth century, was a physician to Queen Victoria and also specialized in hemophilia (a disease very familiar to Queen Victoria and her royal family)....thus the title of the book. When Martin discovers hemophilia in some of Henry's own descendants, the plot thickens and Martin is determined to find its roots as he interviews every distant cousin he can find. This research is also aided by letters written by Henry's children as well as Henry's own journal entries.

At the same time he is doing all this research, Martin is waging war with his own inner demons as his wife of four years is obsessed with having a child...a child that Martin is not looking forward to having. As she continually miscarries, Martin is at a loss to show the empathy he should be feeling but just can't muster. As if this isn't enough stress for one individual, Martin is about to be stripped of his hereditary peerage, and the income that goes along with it, as the House of Lords is being reformed. This is a peerage he inherited from none other than his great grandfather Henry. I found this part of the book so very fascinating as I know so little about the workings of the English government.

So between his great grandfather's obsession with blood, Queen Victoria's hemophiliac royal family, the work involved in researching a biography, a wife who miscarries for no apparent reason and learning about the inner workings of the House of Lords, this book was more than I ever anticipated. You know that feeling when you're not expecting a "great" book and you get one. It's not Rendall and her psychological thrillers....it's Vine at her best writing "A Novel."

[no elle · Rating 2 out of 5]

compellingly dull? is that a thing? the premise is somewhat interesting, i guess--a book about a writer trying to decipher his great-grandfather's past interwoven with his wife's desire for a viable pregnancy--but there's no decent payoff. you keep reading hoping something interesting will happen, but it doesn't. it's a bunch of family histories with unmemorable names and failed pregnancies. i only use the word compelling because i did keep reading.. but the writing isn't that particularly remarkable, so idk. i was hoping the grandfather would turn out be a serial killer or a murderer, but it turns out he selected a family to breed into solely to produce a hemophiliac child. and then when he did, after 4 or 5 other children, he actually loved the kid. and then it died. boo-urns. i was actually really into the henry parts, so maybe this book would have been good it if didn't involve a present-day search for answers.

[Bea Alden · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first time I read this book, I thought it a bit too clever. But this time - I liked it a lot. It's a mystery about the life of one man, now dead, woven amongst a complicated set of characters on a family tree, or rather, a couple of family trees. It is, in effect, a puzzle. If you're in the mood for solving puzzles, this is the book for you. And also, of course, it's written with Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine's always skillful evocation of place, people and psychology.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

5/29/14: I've actually changed my rating of this book from ***** to **** - I am almost finished with a re-read and find it to be probably Vine's 'busiest' book, with multiple story-lines and a vast number of characters either present or referred to.

This is one of the Vines that Rendell/Vine readers are often divided on - many, like myself, love it, and others find it tedious going. I was engrossed by it from the get-go, though admittedly I find the historical sections of the book to be the more interesting. As most of the Vines do, it's set in the past and the present, with Old Sins casting their long shadows. (Rendell is a Life Peer, active in the House of Lords, and this book displays her insider's knowledge.)

[Bionic Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haemophilia in the Royal family? Not a usual theme for a whodunnit, but this is Barbara Vine we're talking about. I have a feeling that Ruth Rendell isn't necessarily writing with a "different voice" with these novels, but uses this penname for what she considers to be her best work. The Barbara Vine novels are certainly the "meatiest" with more character development, a fiendishly complicated plot, more consideration given to motivations and generally are more scholarly.

As often is the case, the viewpoint character here finds parallels in his own life to what he is revealing with his research, and the tension is cleverly built up towards the conclusion. This book is claustrophobic but a real page-turner. Barbara Vine at her finest.

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Blood Doctor is an absolutely fine mystery, but it's not her best work. That distinction goes to (imho) A Dark-Adapted Eye, probably one of the best mysteries ever written and certainly the favorite of my British Mystery collection. I enjoy settling down with a novel by this author and watching all the secrets unfold within its covers. I thought this one was really good, as well, but I kind of figured out the basic secret some time into the book. Luckily while I had the "whys" figured out, I didn't understand the "how." Usually if I get the solution early on I never read that author again, because obviously, it's not challenging enough. But I digress.

Martin Nanther is the 4th Lord Nanther, and is currently working on a biography of his great-grandfather, Henry Alexander Nanther, the 1st Lord Nanther. Henry came by his title by way of serving as one of the personal physicians to Queen Victoria & her children; mainly because he was becoming quite well known as an expert in the field of hemophilia, a disease which Queen Victoria passed to her children. Well, at least to her son; some of her daughters became carriers of the disease.


Martin has several notebooks written by Henry along with other documents & letters as source material. He also has a cousin who is currently working up his own family's geneaology, complete with family tree with references Martin can use. Then there are the cousins, children or grandchildren of Henry's 4 daughters, who all, in their own way, help Martin with his task. However, Martin begins to uncover things that reveal that there was something not exactly kosher about Henry. As he finds out more, Martin feels drawn to get to the root of the several mysteries involving his great-grandfather.

The author does such a good job with Martin's search for family history; I love the way she slowly unwinds layer and after layer of Henry's story until she gets to the very core. But that is Vine's strength in story telling and she is at the top of her game here. I also enjoyed the look at the Victorian period. What bothered me about this book is the long, drawn-out descriptions of what it's like to be a member of the House of Lords...down to the pegs on the walls with the names over them, the color of the carpet in the Prince's chamber, what they eat in the dining room, etc etc etc ad nauseum. I read a brief interview with the author who is herself a Peer; perhaps this is why we had to go through all of this. In her other books, she locks you right into the mystery and doesn't allow you to become a) bogged down in details or b) sidetracked to the point where you're skimming.

All in all, it's a VERY interesting few hours of reading with a mystery that you'll find yourself wanting to get to the root of just to satisfy your own curiousity & ease the suspense you're starting to feel. I recommend it to those who like British Mysteries or to fans of Vine's other books.

[Clare Snow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bloody Henry.

Lord Nanther the younger is so dense. I worked out the main twist so very much earlier than slow old Martin. Waiting and waiting and waiting for him to get it. He's about as slow as this story. Not that I didn't like it, but it's quite different to other Barbara Vine. If you like action-packed, this is not for you.

Of course, I didn't work out the finer points of Henry's remorse, but planning a bleeder in his family was patently obvious. I was also certain Henry had orchestrated Eleanor's murder, so I didn't work out all the actual coincidences.

And how could Martin not write the biography!? It would have been magnificent, but most likely as dry as Martin's excruciating first person point of view. So it's a good thing Barbara Vine wrote the biography instead.

The story is clever, if you like ponderous character studies and there were surprises that I didn't see coming. Bloody Henry is another anti-hero that Barbara Vine does so well.

[Littoface · Rating 2 out of 5]

The topic was certainly interesting and the book makes an attempt to thread the current age with the past, but the pacing is completely off. The book trudges along so slowly that it's hard to maintain an interest. A number of themes are very deliberately and unnecessarily repeated (blood blood blood!), every attractive female apparently resembles the narrator's wife, and a huge number of characters and names make it hard to keep up at times. If you are observant it isn't difficult to figure out the big reveal about a quarter of the way through the book.

If the story had been told in about half the length, it would have been great. As it stands, The Blood Doctor requires some patience to get through.

[Victor J. · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is one of Ruth Rendell's Barbara Vine books. Under her own name, Rendell writes some oftentimes very good mysteries. The Barbara Vine books are meant to be psychological thrillers. I couldn't find much psychology in this one, and certainly nothing thrilling. All in all, I'd have to say it's one of the more monumentally boring books I've ever encountered. I give it one star out of respect for ms. Rendell

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could read this woman's grocery list. This one didn't disappoint. It delivered a creepy-crawly historical mystery (though somewhat slowly). It also featured an unusual love of my: obsessively detailed descriptions of a person's employment. (It this case, a member of the House of Lords).

[Kerrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

As she often did, Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell) took circumstances that were prompted by her position and work in the House of Lords as a springboard for this stand-lone novel. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1996 Birthday Honours and a life peer as Baroness Rendell of Babergh, of Aldeburgh in the County of Suffolk, on 24 October 1997. She sat in the House of Lords for the Labour Party. In 1998 Rendell was named in a list of the party's biggest private financial donors.

The reform of the House of Lords took place in 1998 just after she had been made a life peer so what is happening to Martin Nanther is essentially what was happening there, although of course she was a life peer, not an hereditary one like Nanther.

By the time of the reform, the House of Lords was being overwhelmed by an excess of hereditary peers and had become unsustainable and unwieldy in its present form. The idea that the blood of the hereditary peers was somehow "special" had lost favour. They wouldn't lose their titles or their estates, simply their right to sit in the House of Lords.

Martin Nanther has begun amassing memorabilia about his great grandfather Henry Nanther, given a hereditary peerage at the end of the nineteenth century by Queen Victoria for his work on diseases of the blood, particularly of haemophilia of which she was a carrier (which she refused to recognise), and which her own sons and grandsons were afflicted by.

Martin is transfixed by a letter written by one of his great-aunts in which she says Henry Nanther had done terrible things. Martin aims to eventually write a biography of his great-grandfather, and his research takes him to meet cousins and distant relatives whom he has never met, and to become aware of the presence of "tainted" blood in his own family.

Running alongside the main plot is the sub-plot of Martin and his second wife Jude attempting to have a baby, and the revelation that it is a genetic problem that is causing her frequent miscarriages.

This wasn't a book I could read quickly. There was quite a lot of history to absorb, and though I read it in large print, or perhaps because I did, it was also quite weighty.

However, a fascinating read.

[Jamie Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I thought this was interesting. Some parts are a bit overly technical, but it deals with a complicated process so that might have been unavoidable.

Martin is a journalist who starts researching his family history. Many people seemed to die around his great-grandfather - a Victorian physician and favourite with Queen Victoria, who seems to have a professional interest in Hemophilia. Martin's research leads to startling discoveries about his family history.

As well as the historical element, the stuff about Martin and his wife attempting to have a child - despite her age and fertility problems, there is quite a lot of interesting stuff about the process of 'designer babies' and how some medical conditions will perhaps one day be obsolete as a result of such developments.

Barbara Vine mostly sticks to the medical element of these advances rather than the morals. If you have strong feelings about this type of medical developments, you might want to give at miss...

The characters in the book are not particularly likable, I was glad to see the back of them in all honesty. The descriptions of London were good enough to make me a bit homesick.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martin Nanther is writing a biography of his great-grandfather Henry, a famous Victorian doctor and hemophilia expert, as the same time as he faces some large issues in his personal life: his wife is obsessed with having a baby, and his seat in the House of Lords is about to be abolished.

As in A Dark-Adapted Eye, I really liked how Vine weaves together the past and present history of a family. One would think that the connection would be less immediate here than in A Dark-Adapted Eye, where the narrator actually lived through the past events of the story, but Henry's life and what Martin discovers about it influences Martin's own life in interesting ways.

I did figure out fairly early on what the big mystery was about Henry, but that didn't change the impact of the narrative for me; it may be a little less suspenseful than is Vine/Rendell's wont, but I found it absorbingly complex. I was particularly interested, oddly, in the bits about the House of Lords, not a subject I'd ever thought or read much about.

[Alex | paperbacksplenty · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 star

This was one of the most dull, boring and (badly) slow-paced book I have ever read. I kind of regret my book-finishing policy because the 10+ hours I wasted reading this pile of garbage could have been productive and well spent. Unfortunately I was stuck crawling my way through this. I didn't get invested in the story, the only thing the characters made me feel was annoyance (and mild at most) to the point where I had to lie to myself that I'm interested to keep on reading.
It's unfortunate how much effort must have been put into this book - the writing isn't the worst and the author is trying very hard to lead three different plot threads that are supposed to interest the reader - shame all three of them are blunt and completely uninteresting.
All in all it was a waste of time but I feel extremely accomplished after pushing through and making myself finish it. Ugh.

[Judine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first half of the book, where Martin was investigating his ancestor, but once I had the end figured out, I wanted more. I was sucked in at first, but once I felt like I know more than the characters (duh, the kid has hemophilia), it was hard to keep going. I was also frustrated with the fact that Martin felt like he couldn't be honest with his wife about not wanting a baby -- he was going to be unhappy either way.

[Angelique Simonsen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bored

[Nicole Hadaway · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved The Minotaur by Vine, and though I never read A Dark Adapted Eye, I fell in love with the BBC version starring Helena Bonham Carter. These novels are more "whydunits" as opposed to 'whodunits", and it's definitely the characters and their motivations which drives the plot.

I had high hopes for this novel and let me say that it's certainly not bad. Her writing is definitely not for short attention spans or people who like everything all at once -- you have to wait for details, revelations and so forth.

However, unlike The Minotaur, this one was a bit too easy for me to figure out. I had guessed the Doctor's great secret very early on, knew his motivations, so that when the big reveal happened at the end, it wasn't nearly as satisfying. It also made the narrator's wonderings and fumblings a bit painful to read, when I thought the answer was fairly obvious.

There is a very interesting theme tying the book together, indeed -- blood, which was also a synonym for genetics back in Victorian times. How much importance was placed on genes/blood, 'blue blood', certain families were thought to be better destined to rule countries, all the while if a royal member could pass a disease on to other houses in Europe (such as the hemophilia that started with Queen Victoria and ended up over in Russia, in the last tsar's family). There's also the issue of family, and how much we love our own blood, the desire to have children, which is very much present in the narrator's life.

I was a bit mystified at the end as to the doctor's motivation -- did he think that he could control the circumstances? He must have, though he turned out sadly to be very wrong.

All in all a page turner but not as gripping as other novels.

[Becky · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, that's a week of my life I'll never get back. I'm amazed that so many people found this book compelling or even interesting enough to compliment the author. It sounded intriguing from the topic of hemophilia in the royal family, then turned out to be a dull story of a man researching his ancestor, mourning the loss of his "job" in the House of Lords (which I didn't care about even when it happened in real life) and being a selfish bastard to his wife by pretending he's as psyched about having a kid as she is. Didn't these two ever talk about something that vitally important before they got married? He comes across as a snob with some of his petty comments about (sniff) the lower classes and as a complete ass when contemplating a baby in the house while he's trying to write his precious book, yet perfectly content at the thot of his wife working two jobs in order to support him while he does so. These characters were just boring including the possibly menacing figure he was going to write about and once the "big reveal" came, it was anticlimactic to say the least. As for the topic of SMA which kind of got crammed into the plot, I'm very familiar with it since I have a nephew with the disease and the author painted it with pretty broad strokes. The only point she got right was that it can require constant care (depending on the type the patient has) and her self-involved main character would never have managed since he's so wrapped up in his own needs.

[Sandy · Rating 1 out of 5]

The topic was hemophilia--that's what caused me to muddle through this book. Lots of details about British house of lords--dull though amazing to hear how this works--seems so archaic. The main character is an author who is planning to write a biography of his great-grandfather Henry who was a doctor specializing in hemophilia. He researches his family tree, so the reader is subjected to a million different names and relations that are of virtually no interest. Another storyline threaded throughout is that his wife Jude is trying to get pregnant. She has a few times, but has miscarried. As far as learning more about hemophilia--forget it. The book discusses inheriting the disease and being a carrier but not in an easy-to-understand way. Doesn't discuss severities. Gives just vague impressions of having the disease, and that being severe cases. Does not mention that there ARE different severities that run true in families. In the end, Henry is determined to have been a monster because he purposely married a woman who was a carrier in the hopes that he'd have a son with hemophilia that he could . . what? Help, study? Since the main character is trying to piece together a story from old letters, etc, he can only guess at the actual details/motivations of Henry's life. Unsatisfying, dull, boring

[Writerlibrarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Paru sous le pseudonyme de Barbara Vine dans sa version originale “The blood doctor”, ce roman de la célèbre reine du crime Ruth Rendell vit sous un autre rythme, un autre ton que les thrillers psychologiques auxquels Ruth Rendell nous offre. La raison de l’existence d’un pseudonyme pour une auteur dont l’écriture a été cataloguée, classée, jugée.

Crime par ascendant raconte l’histoire de Martin Nanther, auteur de biographies, qui écrit la vie de son aïeul, le docteur Henry Nanther, médecin anobli par la reine Victoria pour les écrits et recherche sur l’hémophilie à la fin du XIXe siècle. Martin découvrira que son parent n’était pas le bon docteur qu’il paraissait être, ces découvertes se font avec pour toile de fonds, la disparition de la Chambre des Lords et la quête de Judy, seconde épouse de Martin, pour un enfant.

Un style lent, un peu empesé, un peu lourd donne l’impression que ce roman n’en finit plus. L’intrigue est intéressant mais la résolution du mystère prend tellement de temps que lorsqu’on découvre le secret d’Henry, ce secret importe peu.

Les descriptions de la vie au temps de Victoria, les mœurs, traditions, façons de vivre sont étrangement les moments forts du roman. Ce roman n’est pas un des meilleurs “Ruth Rendell”.

[LizG · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yet another book set in Victorian London, this one a historical mystery, that provides a great view of the attitudes and behaviour of the era. I don't usually bother reading books that have a family tree in the front, let alone two, but I so enjoyed Asta's Book, also by Barbara Vine, that I ignored my usual criteria -- I prefer reading to memorizing confusing detail when enjoying a novel.

I must confess, I skimmed over much of the House of Lords description (zzzzz) and often had to refer back to the family trees for clarification (this is what irritates me about books that require a family tree) but it was a good read. I'd guessed the outcome well ahead of the conclusion, and discarded at least one red herring before the author resolved it. Hah!

I thought the interwoven story of the narrator and his wife's differing views and challenges in becoming parents was very realistic and added depth to the novel.

Again, a good holiday read to help you digest copious amounts of turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes with gravy.

[Falina · Rating 1 out of 5]

This had a lot of promise, but I think it fell very short. For one thing, the *secret* (that Henry intentionally married into a haemophiliac family) was SO OBVIOUS long before the protagonist realized it, and there is no fun in that. I like to be surprised, but this was staring me right in the face, and it was ridiculous to assume that Martin couldn't figure it out, too. It also just wasn't that horrific a thing. So, he intentionally created haemophiliac children. I really don't see how it makes him a horrific monster when everyone who had haemophilia at that time and knew it was doing the same thing. Also, the three major plot lines of the book (Martin losing his status as a hereditary peer, Martin and Jude's baby troubles, and Henry's "mystery") don't really connect together well enough for the story to feel anything but disjointed.

[Cameron · Rating 2 out of 5]

At times it was reasonably interesting, but overall unsatisfying, made more so by an unlikable main character. His wife calls him a snob at one point, and he is certainly that, seeing only the worst in everyone, especially those who are the most friendly to him. The kind of Brit who tut-tuts someone because they take tea 15 minutes later than 'normal'. It is hard to empathize with his complaints about maybe having to find a real job. God forbid.

At times he makes unrealistic jumps of logic, but then misses completely obviously clues bashing him on the head. In the end it's all unsatisfying, as said, with there being no 'shock' the character claims there is. Indeed, there are a couple of ways the author could have taken the plot that would have been far most interesting and shocking.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really terrific book. It took me a little while to get into b/c the narrator is a biographer doing a lot of family tree research so a lot of names and relationships right off the bat, plus he's in the House of Lords so a lot of parlimentary procedure right off the bat, but once i got into it, i really could not put it down. BV (RR) has a way of sucking you into a story or several stories at the same time and this is her most complex and best yet. Utterly fascinating and compelling. The very ending seemed a bit anticlimactic to me until I realized the full impact of what had happened. Great!

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I wanted to read fiction, and this sounded interesting.

In many ways, it is a very surprising book. I hadn't read anything but Vine (or Rendell) before, but after reading this I have. The funny about this book is that the mystery is easily solved by an attentive reader. Anyone can figure it out before the narrator. I know it sounds strange, but that makes the book better. It allows for the characters to drive the plot and allows for the reader to care more about the narrator. What the reader is left with is a interesting family history combined with the story of a marraige. It's a gripping book.

[Joanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vine creates a wonderful story here. Even though I'd guessed the outcome before the ending, it did not detract from the interest of the story. Of particular (and surprising) interest were the details about the House of Lords and the life of the main character as a Lord. Who would've guessed that the author could make the House of Lords intriguing? The author does a superb job of making the tracing of family geneology into an interesting mystery rather than a boring paper trail. Overall, I enjoyed the book and thought the writing was excellent.

[Mary Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

10 stars; this is the best yet. Medical research, genetic science, hemophilia, more than 200 years of two families. There are a gazillion characters, as in A Dark Adapted Eye and The Chimney Sweeper's Boy, and they are all significant pieces of the puzzle; Vine has usefully provided family trees for reference this time. The Child's Child is simple in comparison. I've always enjoyed Ruth Rendell mysteries, but I don't know how I've reached my age without devouring her Vine books. Better late than never.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite good--as long as one is quite interested in the inner workings of the House of Lords (I found it pretty fascinating) and the slow uncovering of a man's unsavory life decisions. Not good for those who are sensitive to the concept of miscarriages, but I found this to be oddly addicting and quite the page-turner despite the somewhat dry-sounding pretext. I wanted to read a Barbara Vine (aka Ruth Rendell) book (LBC pseudonym requirement), and this did not disappoint,

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an odd book. I actually liked it, but I think you would have to be a Rendell fan in order to enjoy it. Nevertheless I thought it was interesting. I liked how she wrote the story of the Younger Lord Nanther and his wife's obsession with having a baby. I often wonder how men feel when women get caught on the baby making treadmill when their entire focus seems to be on getting pregnant. This story certainly provides a peek at that.

[Patricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book went on and on and on.... Not the best Barbara vine choice - a mystery of genealogy and family link to hemophilia with a murder thrown in for good measure ... I didn't buy into the characters either . Trying this author? Catch a different title ...most r superior to The Blood Doctor.