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The Killing Doll
In a shabby London suburb, sixteen-year-old Pup Yearman dabbles in magic. But for Pup's older sister Dolly, the magic is more than dabbling. Deformed by a facial birthmark, Dolly desperately wants to be cured, and her obsession with Pup's magic sends her on a dangerous downward spiral into confusion, madness, and possibly murder. And meanwhile, in a squalid boardinghouse not far away, a young Irishman sharpens a set of butcher knives . . .
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
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About the author
Ruth Rendell
456 books1,625 followersA.K.A. Barbara Vine
Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, who also wrote under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, was an acclaimed English crime writer, known for her many psychological thrillers and murder mysteries and above all for Inspector Wexford.
Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, who also wrote under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, was an acclaimed English crime writer, known for her many psychological thrillers and murder mysteries and above all for Inspector Wexford.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 126 reviews
July 13, 2023
Abra Cadabra!
Siblings, Dolly and Pup are dabbling in black magic. Dolly is sure that with Pup’s rigorous magical training, and her penchant for making life-like dolls, someday, she will be able to enjoy a wonderful life.
Will Pup’s magic enable her to escape her disfigurement, make friends and find happiness? No spoilers.
Dolly is a complicated character. When we meet her, she is despondent over the illness of her mother and baffled by her father’s refusal to visit his dying wife in the hospital. Shy, because of her facial birthmark, she nonetheless visits her mother in the hospital everyday.
After 16-year-old Pup declares that he is selling his soul to the devil, and devotes himself to magic, Dolly expects him to use his magic to help her destroy her enemies and bring some normalcy into her life.
Suddenly, their father’s life begins to dramatically improve and Pup, subsequently begins to achieve his dreams. Dolly is convinced more than ever of Pup’s power and continues to rely on his magic to fulfill her goals.
Becoming more isolated over time, Dolly remains the center of her universe.
Five beautiful stars. 💫💫💫💫💫
Siblings, Dolly and Pup are dabbling in black magic. Dolly is sure that with Pup’s rigorous magical training, and her penchant for making life-like dolls, someday, she will be able to enjoy a wonderful life.
Will Pup’s magic enable her to escape her disfigurement, make friends and find happiness? No spoilers.
Dolly is a complicated character. When we meet her, she is despondent over the illness of her mother and baffled by her father’s refusal to visit his dying wife in the hospital. Shy, because of her facial birthmark, she nonetheless visits her mother in the hospital everyday.
After 16-year-old Pup declares that he is selling his soul to the devil, and devotes himself to magic, Dolly expects him to use his magic to help her destroy her enemies and bring some normalcy into her life.
Suddenly, their father’s life begins to dramatically improve and Pup, subsequently begins to achieve his dreams. Dolly is convinced more than ever of Pup’s power and continues to rely on his magic to fulfill her goals.
Becoming more isolated over time, Dolly remains the center of her universe.
Five beautiful stars. 💫💫💫💫💫
December 31, 2009
Interesting to find so much dislike for this novel here, and for the very reasons so many Ruth Rendell fans LOVE her books!!! I first read it in the late 1980s, during my early days as a Rendell reader, and have returned to it several times - my current 'read' is probably the fourth time around. Along with THE BRIDESMAID and MAKE DEATH LOVE ME, I find it to be one of her strongest and most compelling novels of psychological suspense, and like them, yes, it's one of her darkest. It's also one of her best depictions of a person's mind becoming unhinged and detached from reality, a Rendell specialty. This is classic Rendell, with characters and plot moving inexorably and inevitably to a disastrous collision with destiny.
April 27, 2015
About 150 pages in, I thought, Where in the hell is this going? About 3/4 of the way through, things started to coalesce. By the time I was done, I was just... bored. I realize that all around me people are living tiny, dull, sometimes repulsive lives, but I don't understand Ms. Rendell's decision to populate this book with some of the most unpleasant people I've ever "met" in the pages of a book.
Peter ("Pup") and Doreen ("Dolly") live with their parents in what was their grandparents' home, a large but poorly maintained house in London. At the outset, Pup is 15 and Dolly is around 20, still living at home and, due to the benighted attitudes of her parents, condemned never to marry or hold a job outside the home because of her "disfigurement" - which, as far as I could discern, is simply a large facial birthmark. Dolly believes that anyone who sees her is disgusted by this mark (and she is correct, in some instances) and mostly stays indoors, having virtually no real human contact other than her family and a few neighbors. She and her mother Edith earn some income as seamstresses, making clothing and doing alterations in their home, and after Dolly continues sporadically in the trade.
Pup becomes fascinated with the study of the occult and appropriates use of a room in the house's unused third floor for his temple. Dolly is intrigued by his studies, being herself peripherally involved in the spiritualist activities of a neighbor. Over the next six years, Pup exhausts his interest in magic, except to use it as an excuse to be gone from the house in the evenings, but Dolly increasingly sees her younger brother as some sort of adept, believing that he has magical powers and can (among other things) bring success to their apathetic father Harold, who spends his free time with his nose buried in an endless succession of histories and historical novels, contributing virtually nothing to family life. Eventually, as Dolly becomes an alcoholic and more unhinged by the week, she perceives Pup's supposed magical abilities as the means to take action against anyone who threatens their insular little world - especially when the neighbor's 30-something year old daughter Myra contrives to become the widowed Harold's second wife, and banishes Pup and Dolly to the third floor.
Simultaneously, a mentally ill young Irishman comes to live nearby, and although his path nearly crosses with that of Dolly and Pup several times, they will not meet until the very end of the book. (This is one aspect of the book I particularly don't "get": the Irishman serves virtually no purpose except as a bogeyman, which could have been accomplished just as easily - and I think would have been much more effective - with a faceless No Man. It didn't move the story forward at all, rambling around in this guy's head.)
Dolly is pathetic; Pup is a complete opportunist and womanizer; Myra is a gold-digger (albeit with ridiculously low standards); Harold is an oblivious lump; the spiritualists are a bunch of credulous ninnies. On the whole, a thoroughly loathsome cast of characters.
Peter ("Pup") and Doreen ("Dolly") live with their parents in what was their grandparents' home, a large but poorly maintained house in London. At the outset, Pup is 15 and Dolly is around 20, still living at home and, due to the benighted attitudes of her parents, condemned never to marry or hold a job outside the home because of her "disfigurement" - which, as far as I could discern, is simply a large facial birthmark. Dolly believes that anyone who sees her is disgusted by this mark (and she is correct, in some instances) and mostly stays indoors, having virtually no real human contact other than her family and a few neighbors. She and her mother Edith earn some income as seamstresses, making clothing and doing alterations in their home, and after Dolly continues sporadically in the trade.
Pup becomes fascinated with the study of the occult and appropriates use of a room in the house's unused third floor for his temple. Dolly is intrigued by his studies, being herself peripherally involved in the spiritualist activities of a neighbor. Over the next six years, Pup exhausts his interest in magic, except to use it as an excuse to be gone from the house in the evenings, but Dolly increasingly sees her younger brother as some sort of adept, believing that he has magical powers and can (among other things) bring success to their apathetic father Harold, who spends his free time with his nose buried in an endless succession of histories and historical novels, contributing virtually nothing to family life. Eventually, as Dolly becomes an alcoholic and more unhinged by the week, she perceives Pup's supposed magical abilities as the means to take action against anyone who threatens their insular little world - especially when the neighbor's 30-something year old daughter Myra contrives to become the widowed Harold's second wife, and banishes Pup and Dolly to the third floor.
Simultaneously, a mentally ill young Irishman comes to live nearby, and although his path nearly crosses with that of Dolly and Pup several times, they will not meet until the very end of the book. (This is one aspect of the book I particularly don't "get": the Irishman serves virtually no purpose except as a bogeyman, which could have been accomplished just as easily - and I think would have been much more effective - with a faceless No Man. It didn't move the story forward at all, rambling around in this guy's head.)
Dolly is pathetic; Pup is a complete opportunist and womanizer; Myra is a gold-digger (albeit with ridiculously low standards); Harold is an oblivious lump; the spiritualists are a bunch of credulous ninnies. On the whole, a thoroughly loathsome cast of characters.
December 15, 2016
(7/10)
"I kill, therefore I am."
This is one of those books I feel I shouldn't give too much away about, suffice to say it is about a teenage boy who sells his soul to the devil and how that decision affects his sister's life. When I say devil I do not mean a literal character, this is not a fantasy, rather a suspenseful study of the occult and mental illness, touching on alcoholism and with a bit of murder thrown in for good measure. Sounds cheery doesn't it?
I honestly had no idea where this was going until I was about 70% through it, Rendell builds the tension very well throughout and kept me interested enough to carry on while I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen. The characters are some of the more interesting I have read about (maybe because this would not be my go to choice of genre) and the narration was constantly switching between them which I really enjoyed. By the end I could tell who's mind I was in even if it wasn't made clear for a couple of sentences.
This is a book where the small things matter, you notice the routines of the characters and their little quirks. There is no travelling and the whole book revolves around one house in a London suburb. I think the small scope completely absorbed me and I emerged from the last page a little stunned at having been dumped back into reality.
If you like a little bit of darkness and a slow burn then this is the book for you.
"I kill, therefore I am."
This is one of those books I feel I shouldn't give too much away about, suffice to say it is about a teenage boy who sells his soul to the devil and how that decision affects his sister's life. When I say devil I do not mean a literal character, this is not a fantasy, rather a suspenseful study of the occult and mental illness, touching on alcoholism and with a bit of murder thrown in for good measure. Sounds cheery doesn't it?
I honestly had no idea where this was going until I was about 70% through it, Rendell builds the tension very well throughout and kept me interested enough to carry on while I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen. The characters are some of the more interesting I have read about (maybe because this would not be my go to choice of genre) and the narration was constantly switching between them which I really enjoyed. By the end I could tell who's mind I was in even if it wasn't made clear for a couple of sentences.
This is a book where the small things matter, you notice the routines of the characters and their little quirks. There is no travelling and the whole book revolves around one house in a London suburb. I think the small scope completely absorbed me and I emerged from the last page a little stunned at having been dumped back into reality.
If you like a little bit of darkness and a slow burn then this is the book for you.
November 20, 2014
Only the second Ruth Rendell I have read and it was compelling. In fact, I was reminded of early Ian McKewan. Really insightful writing about a large cast of misfits and outsiders in London, with a curious atmosphere of the erotic, supernormal and occult magic. The spiritualist meetings were delightfully weird and grotesquely memorable.
July 31, 2011
A chronology of the development of psychosis in two London outcasts, whose destinies intermingle without them ever meeting. Also an examination of the pursuit of power through the occult, and especially black magic. The Book-of-the-Month Club selected this book for me in 1984 and I read it the first time in the late 1980s. I was once again stunned by how it ends.
August 31, 2023
Ruth Rendell’s suspense novels can be a little hit-and-miss. Mostly, I like them, and some I rate as exceptional – but this one comes closer to getting the thumbs-down.
It fails in two main respects.
First, it’s said a good story should have a ‘narrative arc’ and come full circle (if that isn’t a contradiction in terms) – and this one seems to abandon its opening proposition somewhere en route. Several points of view are presented, and he who starts is not she who finishes.
Second, to my mind, good suspense has you either reluctantly rooting for the psychopath (à la Patricia Highsmith/Ripley novels), or on tenterhooks for the fate of the piteously naïve victim. Again, this book rather blanks, with no significant character emerging with whom to become endeared.
The material theme of the novel is the occult – although at least the author makes a decent fist of substituting insanity where incredulity would otherwise swamp the reader. The abstract theme is insecurity, which infests each and every character to a greater or lesser degree.
The setting is familiar North London suburbia, just on the seedy side, and the cast drawn from her regular portfolio of physically and psychologically afflicted misfits and sociopaths; generally, a reliable formula.
It’s just about okay – it’s a filler if you are a fan (as I am) – rather like a motorway services sandwich. I can’t help wondering if that was the job it did to placate the hunger of her publisher, dashed off during a stopover, when she had some other destination in mind.
It fails in two main respects.
First, it’s said a good story should have a ‘narrative arc’ and come full circle (if that isn’t a contradiction in terms) – and this one seems to abandon its opening proposition somewhere en route. Several points of view are presented, and he who starts is not she who finishes.
Second, to my mind, good suspense has you either reluctantly rooting for the psychopath (à la Patricia Highsmith/Ripley novels), or on tenterhooks for the fate of the piteously naïve victim. Again, this book rather blanks, with no significant character emerging with whom to become endeared.
The material theme of the novel is the occult – although at least the author makes a decent fist of substituting insanity where incredulity would otherwise swamp the reader. The abstract theme is insecurity, which infests each and every character to a greater or lesser degree.
The setting is familiar North London suburbia, just on the seedy side, and the cast drawn from her regular portfolio of physically and psychologically afflicted misfits and sociopaths; generally, a reliable formula.
It’s just about okay – it’s a filler if you are a fan (as I am) – rather like a motorway services sandwich. I can’t help wondering if that was the job it did to placate the hunger of her publisher, dashed off during a stopover, when she had some other destination in mind.
November 20, 2011
I have one word for why I loved this book so much: Diarmit! Okay so he was a whack job extraordinare and a killer but hey it's fiction so I had no qualms whatsoever in laughing at the man who remains the funniest antagonist I have ever read. The main characters were interesting as well but I always looked forward to returning to Diarmit and his red (Conal's) clothes versus the other (Diarmit's) clothes debacle. You'll just have to read it to find out what I mean and if you have a sense of humor you will laugh at Diarmit too.
October 15, 2017
Ruth Rendell does the dark and twisty mind so well!
July 5, 2022
Masterful!
I won’t recap the story but rather tell you why I liked it. The title set certain expectations and since I haven’t read anything else by this author, the story set out to make them plausible. They were not! And that was the absolute mastery of her writing because I could not let go of them and my mind kept wondering on the edge of the supernatural even beyond the last page.
The author told us the logic behind the events, the circumstances leading to them. She told us in no uncertain terms, magic is a child’s play, and yet I found myself in a state of involuntary suspension of belief. Maybe she is wrong.
Excellent read!
I won’t recap the story but rather tell you why I liked it. The title set certain expectations and since I haven’t read anything else by this author, the story set out to make them plausible. They were not! And that was the absolute mastery of her writing because I could not let go of them and my mind kept wondering on the edge of the supernatural even beyond the last page.
The author told us the logic behind the events, the circumstances leading to them. She told us in no uncertain terms, magic is a child’s play, and yet I found myself in a state of involuntary suspension of belief. Maybe she is wrong.
Excellent read!
December 9, 2011
Spooky story. Was it really a pact with the devil or something else entirely? Freaky good mystery that sticks with you after reading it.
September 16, 2019
Mental Illness is a Family Affair
The Yearmans are lucky, but don't know it. They live in a large old house in London in a neighborhood where most of the houses have been divided into apartments. Harold Yearman inherited the house and a business from his parents. A passive man, immersed in the historical novels he loves, he lacks the energy to maintain the house properly or to move to a less run-down neighborhood or to modernize the business. He's content to slide along.
But Harold is not immune to change. His wife dies and a pushy young woman pressures him into marrying her. He assumes their marriage will a placid affair like his first marriage, but he reckons without Myra's strong will. After a disappointing affair with a married man, Myra is determined to use Harold's income and house to create a semblance of the upscale life she craves. It's a mockery, but Myra is reasonably content.
She's less content with Harold's grown children, who have no plans to leave the family home. Peter (Pup) leaves school and goes into his father's business. Energetic and charming, he quickly starts to modernize and enlarge the business. Pup really is moving up in the world.
His sister Dolly isn't so lucky. A deforming birth mark keeps her isolated. She's obsessed with her brother, who's creating his own life. Losing both her father and brother, Dolly's emotional life deteriorates and she slides from odd to eccentric to delusional. Is she schizophrenic? No one knows. Like most families with a mentally ill member, the Yearmans are uncomfortable with Dolly's strangeness, but even less comfortable with the idea of getting help for her. The stigma of mental illness is overpowering and they look the other way and hope for the best.
Nearby in an old house that HAS been converted to flats, young Irishman Diarmit Bawne is a victim of the Irish "troubles" who watched his mother blown to bits by an IRA bomb. He spent a year in a mental hospital and was released, no better off than when he went in. Abandoned by his father, he's shunted from one reluctant sibling to another. He's sweet, but not really able to survive without supervision.
Finally, they send him to London with an in-law, but the man leaves and Diarmit is stranded with no one to tell him what to do. The state will feed and house him, but this lost soul needs more than that. Terrified of facing a hostile world alone, his mental condition deteriorates and he becomes delusional. And then his path crosses Dolly's path and the problem of what to do with two of society's rejects is brutally, permanently solved.
In this dark book, Rendell shows how badly we fail the mentally ill. Even with a strong, supportive family, a mentally ill person faces a bleak future. Alone, he/she has no hope at all.
But most of the characters are not mentally ill and have normal human problems. Typically, the men fare better than the women. Pup achieves both wealth and love in the same beautiful package. Harold finds surprising success. But Myra and Dolly are destroyed. Even today, beauty is still a woman's best hope for a happy life.
Rendell's books are beautifully crafted and appalling and thought-provoking. She was unique in having both the courage to look beneath the surface of "civilized" life and the skill to describe what she found there.
The Yearmans are lucky, but don't know it. They live in a large old house in London in a neighborhood where most of the houses have been divided into apartments. Harold Yearman inherited the house and a business from his parents. A passive man, immersed in the historical novels he loves, he lacks the energy to maintain the house properly or to move to a less run-down neighborhood or to modernize the business. He's content to slide along.
But Harold is not immune to change. His wife dies and a pushy young woman pressures him into marrying her. He assumes their marriage will a placid affair like his first marriage, but he reckons without Myra's strong will. After a disappointing affair with a married man, Myra is determined to use Harold's income and house to create a semblance of the upscale life she craves. It's a mockery, but Myra is reasonably content.
She's less content with Harold's grown children, who have no plans to leave the family home. Peter (Pup) leaves school and goes into his father's business. Energetic and charming, he quickly starts to modernize and enlarge the business. Pup really is moving up in the world.
His sister Dolly isn't so lucky. A deforming birth mark keeps her isolated. She's obsessed with her brother, who's creating his own life. Losing both her father and brother, Dolly's emotional life deteriorates and she slides from odd to eccentric to delusional. Is she schizophrenic? No one knows. Like most families with a mentally ill member, the Yearmans are uncomfortable with Dolly's strangeness, but even less comfortable with the idea of getting help for her. The stigma of mental illness is overpowering and they look the other way and hope for the best.
Nearby in an old house that HAS been converted to flats, young Irishman Diarmit Bawne is a victim of the Irish "troubles" who watched his mother blown to bits by an IRA bomb. He spent a year in a mental hospital and was released, no better off than when he went in. Abandoned by his father, he's shunted from one reluctant sibling to another. He's sweet, but not really able to survive without supervision.
Finally, they send him to London with an in-law, but the man leaves and Diarmit is stranded with no one to tell him what to do. The state will feed and house him, but this lost soul needs more than that. Terrified of facing a hostile world alone, his mental condition deteriorates and he becomes delusional. And then his path crosses Dolly's path and the problem of what to do with two of society's rejects is brutally, permanently solved.
In this dark book, Rendell shows how badly we fail the mentally ill. Even with a strong, supportive family, a mentally ill person faces a bleak future. Alone, he/she has no hope at all.
But most of the characters are not mentally ill and have normal human problems. Typically, the men fare better than the women. Pup achieves both wealth and love in the same beautiful package. Harold finds surprising success. But Myra and Dolly are destroyed. Even today, beauty is still a woman's best hope for a happy life.
Rendell's books are beautifully crafted and appalling and thought-provoking. She was unique in having both the courage to look beneath the surface of "civilized" life and the skill to describe what she found there.
March 27, 2018
"She was left alone for the rest of her life"
Oh god, horrific doesn't even cover it. Similar in its trajectory to King Solomon's Carpet and so very twisted. Why did every character repeatedly make choices to worsen their life? (Though Dolly & Dermot didn't exactly have any choice.) Because that's how Rendell treats her creations. It read more like Barbara Vine.
Two characters have schizophrenia. Their symptons are depicted better than many representations, but
There's quite the twist at the end - didn't see that coming.
There's magic, seances and witchcraft, but it's not fantasy. More of The Golden Bough type worship.
April 20, 2012
Whatever you do...don't read this book. There isn't one character that is likable. The story, such as it is, moves at a snail's pace. The ending was predictable. The writing is stuffy...prissy. It was obvious that the storyteller thought that the ending was shocking and powerful...but it was just predictable and flat. Heed my warning...don't read this book!
February 15, 2025
Se dopo 100 pagine non è successo ancora niente il libro si chiude senza alcun rimpianto (e quasi quasi lo metti su Vinted)
October 28, 2009
I probably liked this book more than I should have just because it was an adult book after reading so many teen books. The writing is just so different when an author actually tries. Anyway, there didn't seem to be much of a plot and I didn't care one bit about the characters, but I still wanted to see what would happen since the characters were so bizarre. Maybe I'll try some of her other books since she was quite famous in her time. Perhaps this book was a fluke and her others will be better.
July 1, 2016
Three for three with Ruth Rendell so far. This story concerns another family both too close and at odds at the same time. Dolly, a young very sheltered woman with a birthmark that's kept her in hiding most of her life, dotes on her teenage brother Pup. When he decides to become a magician (sorry, geomancer) Alister Crowley-style and sells his soul to the devil, she supports him all the way. Pup grows out of his adolescent interest and belief in magic. Dolly's not so lucky. She doesn't realize magic isn't real, that her brother didn't really sell his soul to the devil...or did he?
March 24, 2011
Rendell's characters are wierd, bizarre, socially inept and just plain crazy. During the course of a book at least one of them descends even further into madness with murderous consequences.
This one concentrates on three such characters whose lives become intertwined, unknown to themselves. It is well written with several twists to the plot which kept me guessing as to the final outcome. A typical Rendell story, creepy and effective.
This one concentrates on three such characters whose lives become intertwined, unknown to themselves. It is well written with several twists to the plot which kept me guessing as to the final outcome. A typical Rendell story, creepy and effective.
February 1, 2018
Il libro non mi ha colpita come speravo. La fragilità psichica di Dolly, dovuta in gran parte al suo difetto fisico (una vistosa voglia sul viso), la porta a rifugiarsi nell'alcol e nell'illusione della magia. Ma questo, più che farmi provar simpatia per lei, mi ha fatto provare avversione: perché invece di cullare illusioni non ha provato a vivere la sua vita in modo diverso?
La parte di storia che riguarda l'assassino invece (la trama gialla) è troppo breve per coinvolgere davvero. Anche qui è tutto giocato sulla dissociazione psichica dell'assassino e non c'è mistero da risolvere.
Insomma questo indagare la parte oscura dell'animo umano da parte della Rendell non mi ha coinvolto più di tanto.
La parte di storia che riguarda l'assassino invece (la trama gialla) è troppo breve per coinvolgere davvero. Anche qui è tutto giocato sulla dissociazione psichica dell'assassino e non c'è mistero da risolvere.
Insomma questo indagare la parte oscura dell'animo umano da parte della Rendell non mi ha coinvolto più di tanto.
May 9, 2024
The audiobook of this got me through a drive from Connecticut to Maryland. Not my favorite Rendell but definitely one of most disturbing and weird. A lonely woman with steadily worsening psychosis dives into an obsession with black magic while Rendellian complications stew on her block of flats. Much like Live Flesh this book succeeded magnificently at replicating the interior of the head of an individual with mental illness. Reminded me of Highsmith's Edith's Diary.
November 6, 2020
Het was niet zoals andere boeken van Ruth Rendell. Ik kwam niet in het verhaal.
May 27, 2022
The last of over 40 Ruth Rendell’s books that I was given the chance to listen for free on Audible! Naturally, I liked some better than others and a few of them were real gems! It was a great run.
October 27, 2019
The Killing Doll, first released in 1984, is an example of Rendell's work as a writer of psychological suspense, and being the first Rendell I ever picked up, it introduced me to her work some twenty years ago. It also turned me into what I would describe as a constant reader. Though years may pass without reading one of her novels, there is usually an unread Rendell on my shelves. As soon as I have completed it, another appears to fill the void.
At the age of 85 Ruth Rendell very sadly passed away in May 2015. Thanks to her prolific output spanning over fifty years and comprising of over sixty titles, I will not be running out of reading material for a while. Though I am not overly keen on her Inspector Wexford series, I am particularly fond of her stand-alone, psychological suspense novels and the books she chose to publish under her pseudonym Barbara Vine.
Too eager to explore her plots and to meet more of her mostly ill-fated and doomed characters, I have thus far never ventured into re-reading my Rendell / Vine books. Yet, As The Killing Doll was my first ever Rendell, which I read back then in its German translation Der Pakt (The Pact), I thought it was time to get hold of the original, English version for a re-read. I was not to be disappointed.
Judging by other readers' reviews, The Killing Dolll seems to divide opinions, both between seasoned fans and those new to Rendell's work. Whichever side of the fence you are on, the book appears to provoke strong emotions in both camps. Whilst some praise it for its tight plotting and unexpected twist at the end, others seem to criticise it for its alleged lack of pace, the absence of likeable characters and its subject matter; i.e. the protagonists' dabbling in the occult.
The plot by and large centres around the Yearman family, comprising of siblings Dolly and Pup as well as their widowed father Harold. Coinciding with Mrs Yearman's demise, Pup begins to dabble in magic rituals, selling his soul to the devil in exchange for worldly goods and, above all, physical growth. He enlists the help of his sister Dolly, an apt seamstress, who - owing to a facial disfigurement - has very few social contacts and leads an isolated life mostly confined to and maintaining the family's home.
Dolly sews Pup's ceremonial robe and is from time to time allowed to attend the so-called 'temple', which Pup has created in an unused room in the house, whilst their father - oblivious to the ceremonial magic practised under his roof - is completely absorbed by his obsession with historical fiction and, eventually, his new wife, Myra.
Following Mrs Yearman's death, Dolly's interest in occult matters is amplified when she attends a number of seances and gets further fuelled by her desire to employ magic in order to banish Myra from the home. Yet, after discovering his business acumen and penchant for casual sex with a string of affairs, both Pub's emotional connection to his sister and involvement with the occult are waning, and he is increasingly viewing his preoccupation with magic as a childish pastime obsession. Though still fond of his sister, both his sexual proclivities and newly found role as a businessman leave little time to devote to his sister's emotional well-being.
Despite this, Pup continues to perform rituals to please his sister, thereby continuing to fuel her belief in his supernatural abilities. When in the aftermath of one such ceremony involving the ritual stabbing of Myra's effigy in the form of a cloth doll, Myra is discovered dead in the Yearman's bathroom, Dolly's belief in the efficacy of her brother's geomancy is reaffirmed, triggering a fateful spiral of events and further accelerating Dolly's descent into madness.
In The Killing Doll Ruth Rendell delivers one of the most memorable and convincing depictions of a protagonist's gradual descent into schizophrenia as well as the concomitant circumstances of isolation, substance abuse and dysfunctional family relations, which in the end enable the condition to take hold and completely engulf Dolly's mind, thereby preventing her from rational decision-making and facing the realities of her sorry existence.
I therefore firmly belong into the camp of those, who did not merely enjoy the novel but would also recommend it to all those wishing to explore Rendell's body of work further.
After all, to maintain the reader's interest, characters do not have to be likeable. Quite the contrary. Childish preoccupations such as dabbling in occult writings and rituals as well as unexpected chance encounters similar to the one at the end of the book can have fateful consequences and are therefore utterly believable.
As for the alleged lack of pace, I would argue that Rendell does not deviate from her usual norm and succinct style of writing, telling a story spanning a timeframe of over five years in the space of less than 240 pages suggests that the book is not cluttered with unnecessary detail.
At the age of 85 Ruth Rendell very sadly passed away in May 2015. Thanks to her prolific output spanning over fifty years and comprising of over sixty titles, I will not be running out of reading material for a while. Though I am not overly keen on her Inspector Wexford series, I am particularly fond of her stand-alone, psychological suspense novels and the books she chose to publish under her pseudonym Barbara Vine.
Too eager to explore her plots and to meet more of her mostly ill-fated and doomed characters, I have thus far never ventured into re-reading my Rendell / Vine books. Yet, As The Killing Doll was my first ever Rendell, which I read back then in its German translation Der Pakt (The Pact), I thought it was time to get hold of the original, English version for a re-read. I was not to be disappointed.
Judging by other readers' reviews, The Killing Dolll seems to divide opinions, both between seasoned fans and those new to Rendell's work. Whichever side of the fence you are on, the book appears to provoke strong emotions in both camps. Whilst some praise it for its tight plotting and unexpected twist at the end, others seem to criticise it for its alleged lack of pace, the absence of likeable characters and its subject matter; i.e. the protagonists' dabbling in the occult.
The plot by and large centres around the Yearman family, comprising of siblings Dolly and Pup as well as their widowed father Harold. Coinciding with Mrs Yearman's demise, Pup begins to dabble in magic rituals, selling his soul to the devil in exchange for worldly goods and, above all, physical growth. He enlists the help of his sister Dolly, an apt seamstress, who - owing to a facial disfigurement - has very few social contacts and leads an isolated life mostly confined to and maintaining the family's home.
Dolly sews Pup's ceremonial robe and is from time to time allowed to attend the so-called 'temple', which Pup has created in an unused room in the house, whilst their father - oblivious to the ceremonial magic practised under his roof - is completely absorbed by his obsession with historical fiction and, eventually, his new wife, Myra.
Following Mrs Yearman's death, Dolly's interest in occult matters is amplified when she attends a number of seances and gets further fuelled by her desire to employ magic in order to banish Myra from the home. Yet, after discovering his business acumen and penchant for casual sex with a string of affairs, both Pub's emotional connection to his sister and involvement with the occult are waning, and he is increasingly viewing his preoccupation with magic as a childish pastime obsession. Though still fond of his sister, both his sexual proclivities and newly found role as a businessman leave little time to devote to his sister's emotional well-being.
Despite this, Pup continues to perform rituals to please his sister, thereby continuing to fuel her belief in his supernatural abilities. When in the aftermath of one such ceremony involving the ritual stabbing of Myra's effigy in the form of a cloth doll, Myra is discovered dead in the Yearman's bathroom, Dolly's belief in the efficacy of her brother's geomancy is reaffirmed, triggering a fateful spiral of events and further accelerating Dolly's descent into madness.
In The Killing Doll Ruth Rendell delivers one of the most memorable and convincing depictions of a protagonist's gradual descent into schizophrenia as well as the concomitant circumstances of isolation, substance abuse and dysfunctional family relations, which in the end enable the condition to take hold and completely engulf Dolly's mind, thereby preventing her from rational decision-making and facing the realities of her sorry existence.
I therefore firmly belong into the camp of those, who did not merely enjoy the novel but would also recommend it to all those wishing to explore Rendell's body of work further.
After all, to maintain the reader's interest, characters do not have to be likeable. Quite the contrary. Childish preoccupations such as dabbling in occult writings and rituals as well as unexpected chance encounters similar to the one at the end of the book can have fateful consequences and are therefore utterly believable.
As for the alleged lack of pace, I would argue that Rendell does not deviate from her usual norm and succinct style of writing, telling a story spanning a timeframe of over five years in the space of less than 240 pages suggests that the book is not cluttered with unnecessary detail.
November 9, 2025
DER PAKT braucht leider sehr lange um an dem Punkt anzukommen, den man schon zweihundert Seiten vor Schluss vorhersehen kann. Trotzdem haben mich die Figuren, die absurd und überzogen und trotzdem glaubhaft sind, für die meiste Zeit gut unterhalten. Besonders hervorzuheben ist hier Conal Moore und seine innere Gedankenwelt, auch wenn er zu wenig in Erscheinung tritt.
Die Lobhudelei im Nachwort (das die Autorin mit Shakespeare vergleicht??) schießt nen bisschen übers Ziel hinaus. Das Buch ist die Definition von 3 / 5 Sternen.
Die Lobhudelei im Nachwort (das die Autorin mit Shakespeare vergleicht??) schießt nen bisschen übers Ziel hinaus. Das Buch ist die Definition von 3 / 5 Sternen.
April 1, 2010
Glancing at the publication date of this, 1984, I was prepared to describe it as an early Rendell; yet according to the "Also by" list on the half-title verso she'd already by this time published a dozen Wexford novels (which surprised me less), ten of her psychological thrillers and three books of short stories. (I've no idea if by 1984 she'd instituted her Barbara Vine alter ego.)
The main focus is on brother and sister Pup and Dolly; he as a boy sold his soul to the Devil and took up the practice of ritual White Magic, although since discovering sex he's grown out of such fancies; she, the older sibling, has had a life marred by people's negative attitudes toward her facial nevus and latterly by her steady heavy drinking, and refuses to believe her little brother isn't a powerful magus -- a conception bolstered by some not-too-implausible coincidences, primarily the sudden death of the pair's despised stepmother after a cod ritual involving the desecration of a doll of her. Dolly, having attended far too many faked Spiritualist meetings, is convinced the ghosts of her mother and now the stepmother accompany her everywhere, commenting on her every action and offering her advice whether or not it's needed.
A secondary focus of the plot concerns the seriously insane Diarmit Bawne, who lives undiagnosed nearby; already his profound delusions have led him to murder and mutilate an innocent. Much of the tension of The Killing Doll is our knowledge of the inevitability of these two plot strands being brought together . . .
Absorbing, claustrophobic, powerful: all the usual adjectives applied to Rendell's psychological thrillers apply here. It's not in the top drawer of those, but it's a well-wrought piece nonetheless.
September 1, 2021
Like other Rendell novels I've read, THE KILLING DOLL examines the lives of the lonely and marginalized and the course of a mental illness. A dark and suspenseful read!
Dolly and Pup still live with their father Harold in a garden home overlooking a green valley crisscrossed with abandoned railway lines. It is Spring and the tracks are overgrown with blossoming bushes full of butterflies, but it is an unhappy time. Dolly and Pup's mother is dying in hospital and their father spends his days buried in novels about British monarchs, blissfully unaware that his son Pup is dabbling with magic and his daughter Dolly is brooding and binge-drinking.
Pup immerses himself in the occult and converts an upstairs room into a temple. He is learning to conjure apparitions and perform feats of magic, hoping to use spells to grow taller and lose his virginity.
Dolly is a seamstress and makes clothing for the villagers by day and attends seances and makes voodoo dolls by night. She is lonely and broods over a disfiguring birthmark.
Soon their mother dies and Harold marries a much younger woman named Myra who installs herself as the matriarch of the household. Myra sets about decorating and throwing dinner parties and convinces milksop Harold to move his adult children into unused the top floor of the house.
Dolly hates her stepmother and begins to drink heavily at night and plot Myra's death. She tries to enlist her brother to help her destroy both the stepmother and the gay amour of a friend's husband with evil incantations in the lurid top-floor temple. When Myra dies in a botched DIY home abortion attempt, Dolly is convinced Pup and she engineered the death with their spells.
Dolly and Pup still live with their father Harold in a garden home overlooking a green valley crisscrossed with abandoned railway lines. It is Spring and the tracks are overgrown with blossoming bushes full of butterflies, but it is an unhappy time. Dolly and Pup's mother is dying in hospital and their father spends his days buried in novels about British monarchs, blissfully unaware that his son Pup is dabbling with magic and his daughter Dolly is brooding and binge-drinking.
Pup immerses himself in the occult and converts an upstairs room into a temple. He is learning to conjure apparitions and perform feats of magic, hoping to use spells to grow taller and lose his virginity.
Dolly is a seamstress and makes clothing for the villagers by day and attends seances and makes voodoo dolls by night. She is lonely and broods over a disfiguring birthmark.
Soon their mother dies and Harold marries a much younger woman named Myra who installs herself as the matriarch of the household. Myra sets about decorating and throwing dinner parties and convinces milksop Harold to move his adult children into unused the top floor of the house.
Dolly hates her stepmother and begins to drink heavily at night and plot Myra's death. She tries to enlist her brother to help her destroy both the stepmother and the gay amour of a friend's husband with evil incantations in the lurid top-floor temple. When Myra dies in a botched DIY home abortion attempt, Dolly is convinced Pup and she engineered the death with their spells.
August 21, 2021
This is the first novel I've read by the prolific Ruth Rendell. I only discovered her a few years ago when I saw a film adaptation of The Bridesmaid by the great French master, Claude Chabrol. I was quite impressed with this psychological thriller to say the least. Much to my embarrassment, I'd never even heard of her before, but I added her to my reading list (though I didn't get around to her right away, in the meanwhile seeing another great French thriller based on her work, The New Girlfriend).
Although, Rendell is probably best known for the Inspector Wexford series (which I will check out next), I decided to start with one of her stand-alone murder mysteries or psychological thrillers, since that was how I discovered her.
While there may be better examples I could have started with, I greatly enjoyed The Killing Doll. Rendell does a great job following two mentally disturbed characters, the full-blown sociopath Diarmit and Dolly, who is gradually becoming unhinged and detached from reality. I especially liked the way her character arc developed. If this is the kind of thing Rendell does on a regular basis, then I have many hours of chilling fun ahead of me.
Side note: I have literally just discovered the British TV series The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, which ran from 1988 to 2000. Managed to get my hands on a few episodes and am on the lookout for more. Quite good, worth the effort if you can find them.
As for The Killing Doll, highly recommended and 4/5 stars.
Although, Rendell is probably best known for the Inspector Wexford series (which I will check out next), I decided to start with one of her stand-alone murder mysteries or psychological thrillers, since that was how I discovered her.
While there may be better examples I could have started with, I greatly enjoyed The Killing Doll. Rendell does a great job following two mentally disturbed characters, the full-blown sociopath Diarmit and Dolly, who is gradually becoming unhinged and detached from reality. I especially liked the way her character arc developed. If this is the kind of thing Rendell does on a regular basis, then I have many hours of chilling fun ahead of me.
Side note: I have literally just discovered the British TV series The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, which ran from 1988 to 2000. Managed to get my hands on a few episodes and am on the lookout for more. Quite good, worth the effort if you can find them.
As for The Killing Doll, highly recommended and 4/5 stars.
February 19, 2019
As a teenager Pup sells his soul to the devil and sets up a satanic temple in an unused room in his parent's house, as we all do. His sister Dolly actually believes this, and also thinks her and Pup are responsible for the death of a couple of people. Dolly's deceased mother did her no favours, by taking her out of school and not allowing her to have a job, except for her mending and tailoring work done from the house. When their mother dies, Dolly takes a caretaker position with Pup; who she idolizes; being more mothering than their actual mother ever was. Unfortunately, Dolly is very unwell mentally and drinks to self medicate. Their extremely passive father marries the rather tacky, trashy neighbour and Dolly's anxiety kicks into high gear. It is at this point she asks Pup to use his 'magick' to rid their house of what she sees as a nasty intruder (she is not too far off in her assessment). The new wife does die, but of course not because of Pup's powers.
As with a lot of Rendell books, nobody is remotely likable. The closest is Pup, and he even is just a manipulative social climbing striver. The socially isolated, the lonely and mentally ill seem to populate many of Rendall's books. They all seem to be a reaction to what she seems to see as a cold, uncaring society.
As with a lot of Rendell books, nobody is remotely likable. The closest is Pup, and he even is just a manipulative social climbing striver. The socially isolated, the lonely and mentally ill seem to populate many of Rendall's books. They all seem to be a reaction to what she seems to see as a cold, uncaring society.
September 27, 2015
He tenido la desgracia de tener que leerlo en español, y desde luego, la mayor pega que le pongo a este libro es la traducción. ¡Qué horror!
Pero además de eso no me ha gustado nada el estilo de Ruth Rendell en este libro. Descripciones insulsas con mucho color pero poca chicha, que sobran donde no deberían hacerlo y faltan donde son más necesarias...
Otra cosa: ¿esta mujer no sabe que cuando se habla de cosas diferentes se debe hacer en párrafos distintos? Ojú, qué tedioso de leer todo seguido y mal.
Lo único más positivo del libro es que me ha encantado el personaje de Dolly y que la historia no ha estado tan mal.
En fin, no os leáis este libro si hay cosas más interesantes a la vista.
Pero además de eso no me ha gustado nada el estilo de Ruth Rendell en este libro. Descripciones insulsas con mucho color pero poca chicha, que sobran donde no deberían hacerlo y faltan donde son más necesarias...
Otra cosa: ¿esta mujer no sabe que cuando se habla de cosas diferentes se debe hacer en párrafos distintos? Ojú, qué tedioso de leer todo seguido y mal.
Lo único más positivo del libro es que me ha encantado el personaje de Dolly y que la historia no ha estado tan mal.
En fin, no os leáis este libro si hay cosas más interesantes a la vista.
April 16, 2023
In this standalone novel, Ruth Rendell brilliantly crafts a tale of suspense when Pup Yearman offers his soul to the devil in exchange for becoming taller. He starts to research and practice magic, which he confides to his disfigured sister, Dolly. At the other end of this tale is a young, mentally disturbed Irishman living in London. This may sound like a supernatural novel, but it is not. Rendell brilliantly tells the story of damaged individuals and propels them to an inevitable conclusion. As always, she creates all her characters, including her minor characters, carefully, leading them each to their conclusions. Rendell is truly one of the greatest suspense novelists of all time.
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