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The Birthday Present
Ivor Tesham is a handsome, single, young member of Parliament whose political star is on the rise. When he meets a woman in a chance encounter-a beautiful, leggy, married woman named Hebe-the two become lovers obsessed with their trysts, spiced up by what the newspapers like to call "adventure sex."
It's the dress-up and role-play that inspire Ivor to create a surprise birthday present for his beloved that involves a curbside kidnapping. It's all intended as mock-dangerous foreplay, but then things take a dark turn.
After things go horribly wrong, Ivor begins to receive anonymous letters that reveal astonishingly specific details about the affair and its aftermath. Somehow he must keep his role from being uncovered-and his political future from being destroyed by scandal.
Like a heretic on the inquisitor's rack, Ivor is not to be spared the exquisitely slow and tortuous unfolding of events, as hints, nuances, and small revelations lay his darkest secrets hideously bare for all the world to see.
"The Birthday Present" is a deft, insightful, and compulsively readable exploration of obsessive desire-and the dark twists of fate that can shake the lives of even those most insulated by privilege, sophistication, and power.
It's the dress-up and role-play that inspire Ivor to create a surprise birthday present for his beloved that involves a curbside kidnapping. It's all intended as mock-dangerous foreplay, but then things take a dark turn.
After things go horribly wrong, Ivor begins to receive anonymous letters that reveal astonishingly specific details about the affair and its aftermath. Somehow he must keep his role from being uncovered-and his political future from being destroyed by scandal.
Like a heretic on the inquisitor's rack, Ivor is not to be spared the exquisitely slow and tortuous unfolding of events, as hints, nuances, and small revelations lay his darkest secrets hideously bare for all the world to see.
"The Birthday Present" is a deft, insightful, and compulsively readable exploration of obsessive desire-and the dark twists of fate that can shake the lives of even those most insulated by privilege, sophistication, and power.
323 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
130 people are currently reading
733 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Vine
29 books463 followersPseudonym 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 253 reviews
January 29, 2024
It was difficult to give Barbara Vine a three star rating, but if 5 stars means a magnificent book and 4 is still excellent, then there it must be. Still, in comparison to other novelists who earn this rating, she still outshines many others in her technique and her storytelling.
The Birthday Present demonstrates how people frequently err in their decision making. Often it is because they arrived at their conclusions for the wrong reasons, or simply because they have failed to consider the implications of their actions.As only Barbara Vine can so adeptly do, we are introduced to a cast of characters who are driven by a variety of flawed emotional issues, such as paranoia, greed, fear, lust, loneliness and egotism.
This psychological thriller is sordid, but has many amusing moments. Vine was able to build tension in relating this tale, but the reader could often fortell the outcome despite this. Early in the book she introduced so many characters it was difficult to retain any sense of who these people were. It was possible to sort some of this out, but later in the book the character would reappear, requiring a search for their origins!
Despite all criticisms, Vine posesses admirable skills in crafting her books and she is well worth pursuing. I do not think I shall ever tire of either Rendell or Vine!
The Birthday Present demonstrates how people frequently err in their decision making. Often it is because they arrived at their conclusions for the wrong reasons, or simply because they have failed to consider the implications of their actions.As only Barbara Vine can so adeptly do, we are introduced to a cast of characters who are driven by a variety of flawed emotional issues, such as paranoia, greed, fear, lust, loneliness and egotism.
This psychological thriller is sordid, but has many amusing moments. Vine was able to build tension in relating this tale, but the reader could often fortell the outcome despite this. Early in the book she introduced so many characters it was difficult to retain any sense of who these people were. It was possible to sort some of this out, but later in the book the character would reappear, requiring a search for their origins!
Despite all criticisms, Vine posesses admirable skills in crafting her books and she is well worth pursuing. I do not think I shall ever tire of either Rendell or Vine!
December 20, 2022
This is my second read of this book and I will stick with my first review; however, it added an extra star to the rating as I appreciated the complexities of the story more than I did ten years ago.
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Another strange tale from Ruth Rendell, writing as Barbara Vine. It is the tale of an accidental death which, because of sex and politics, involves the protagonist in a web of lies and blackmail. Some of the characters know something, some know nothing but think they do, and some are just innocently involved in the problem. The author connects all the threads of a very complex situation and provides a satisfactory and believable ending. Another good read from one of Britain's premier writers of mysteries/thrillers.
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Another strange tale from Ruth Rendell, writing as Barbara Vine. It is the tale of an accidental death which, because of sex and politics, involves the protagonist in a web of lies and blackmail. Some of the characters know something, some know nothing but think they do, and some are just innocently involved in the problem. The author connects all the threads of a very complex situation and provides a satisfactory and believable ending. Another good read from one of Britain's premier writers of mysteries/thrillers.
March 23, 2009
The same event from two different viewpoints. No gore, no who-done-it, but lots of creepy slides into craziness, and plenty of sleazy politicians. Having read the Minotaur, I would say this is almost as good as, but not quite. Still, the tension Vine builds in this book is undeniable. Read it!
June 28, 2016
This was my first Barbra Vine read, my first Ruth Rendell read for that matter, and I was really disappointed.
Her name is one I have heard many times when seeking out psychological thrillers to read. She just seems to be one of those authors whose name will appear whenever on a hunt. Thus, when I found a three book Barbra Vine collection on offer I jumped at them. I wasn’t crazy about any one book in particular, thus I was content with three random ones, and I allowed my sister to decide which one I would read first. Admittedly, it did sit on my shelf for quite some time, but in the end I worked around to it.
Despite the fact that it’s a very short book, it felt as though the book went on forever. I have read high fantasy books of around a thousand pages that have felt shorted than this book. Why? Because it did not feel as though it was going anywhere. I was expecting a thriller; instead, it was a recounting of life following events. Lives I did not care for, and events I found extremely dull. From the start we knew what had happened, we were given suggestions of where things were going, and whilst this can sometimes be fun such was not the case here. It simply wasn’t done as well as it could have been, as well as it has been in other books.
I could easily sit and write more, yet I have such a feeling of ‘meh’ in relation to this book that I cannot bring myself to write anything more than these couple of short paragraphs. As I own two more of her books I will be reading them, but I will not be in any rush to do so. I have plenty of books by authors I know I really enjoyed, books I am looking forward to reading. My view may be changed, but if the other two are anything like this one… well, it is safe to say they are not what I was made to believe they would be.
Overall, a massive disappointment.
Her name is one I have heard many times when seeking out psychological thrillers to read. She just seems to be one of those authors whose name will appear whenever on a hunt. Thus, when I found a three book Barbra Vine collection on offer I jumped at them. I wasn’t crazy about any one book in particular, thus I was content with three random ones, and I allowed my sister to decide which one I would read first. Admittedly, it did sit on my shelf for quite some time, but in the end I worked around to it.
Despite the fact that it’s a very short book, it felt as though the book went on forever. I have read high fantasy books of around a thousand pages that have felt shorted than this book. Why? Because it did not feel as though it was going anywhere. I was expecting a thriller; instead, it was a recounting of life following events. Lives I did not care for, and events I found extremely dull. From the start we knew what had happened, we were given suggestions of where things were going, and whilst this can sometimes be fun such was not the case here. It simply wasn’t done as well as it could have been, as well as it has been in other books.
I could easily sit and write more, yet I have such a feeling of ‘meh’ in relation to this book that I cannot bring myself to write anything more than these couple of short paragraphs. As I own two more of her books I will be reading them, but I will not be in any rush to do so. I have plenty of books by authors I know I really enjoyed, books I am looking forward to reading. My view may be changed, but if the other two are anything like this one… well, it is safe to say they are not what I was made to believe they would be.
Overall, a massive disappointment.
November 10, 2020
This is the first time I have ever read a novel by either Ruth Rendell or her pseudonym Barbara Vine, though I have seen some fine BBC productions of her work. Apparently her Barbara Vine works are more psychological mysteries with the emphasis less on violent murder. Some mystery/thriller fans may be a bit disappointed by her work as Vine, for they seem to be more about characters going through trying circumstances than someone solving a crime. In fact, in this novel, there is no crime committed at all until near the end. That's not to say that there are some morally questionable events going on.
Ivor Tesham is an up and coming Conservative politician in England. He is very handsome and ambitious, and he is having a kinky affair with a beautiful married woman named Hebe.. For her birthday, he arranges to have her kidnapped and brought to his sister's vacation house where he can pleasure her to her heart's content. However, there is a major accident on the way and she dies, along with one of the kidnappers. The driver is critically damaged and it appears that he will never fully recover. From this point on, Ivar seems to only care about saving his reputation. Though no actual crime has been committed, he is extremely afraid of the dreaded English tabloids,.
The story is told in the first person from two characters' point of view. One is his brother-in-law and friend Rob and also by a friend of Hebe's named Jane. Jane has been acting as an alibi for Hebe when she is off being kinky with Ivor. Rob is the practical, reality-based anchor to the telling of the tale. Jane is the single, unattractive, dowdy and potential blackmail threat to Ivor. One of the things I loved about the novel was the slow burn of Jane's character, her troubling relationship with her mother, and her somewhat unrealistic view of life (she creates an imaginary lover for herself, for example). Vine does a marvelous job of revealing the slow boil that is potentially coming to a breaking point for Jane, and I kept on wanting to see where she was going with it.
This isn't a book of action, but I became entirely absorbed by the narrative and found myself eager to get back to the novel to see where it was going. The characters are very well developed and I found them to be totally interesting. As far as I am concerned, this is about as good as it gets in this genre.
Ivor Tesham is an up and coming Conservative politician in England. He is very handsome and ambitious, and he is having a kinky affair with a beautiful married woman named Hebe.. For her birthday, he arranges to have her kidnapped and brought to his sister's vacation house where he can pleasure her to her heart's content. However, there is a major accident on the way and she dies, along with one of the kidnappers. The driver is critically damaged and it appears that he will never fully recover. From this point on, Ivar seems to only care about saving his reputation. Though no actual crime has been committed, he is extremely afraid of the dreaded English tabloids,.
The story is told in the first person from two characters' point of view. One is his brother-in-law and friend Rob and also by a friend of Hebe's named Jane. Jane has been acting as an alibi for Hebe when she is off being kinky with Ivor. Rob is the practical, reality-based anchor to the telling of the tale. Jane is the single, unattractive, dowdy and potential blackmail threat to Ivor. One of the things I loved about the novel was the slow burn of Jane's character, her troubling relationship with her mother, and her somewhat unrealistic view of life (she creates an imaginary lover for herself, for example). Vine does a marvelous job of revealing the slow boil that is potentially coming to a breaking point for Jane, and I kept on wanting to see where she was going with it.
This isn't a book of action, but I became entirely absorbed by the narrative and found myself eager to get back to the novel to see where it was going. The characters are very well developed and I found them to be totally interesting. As far as I am concerned, this is about as good as it gets in this genre.
November 23, 2011
If Crime and Punishment and Murder, She Wrote had a love child with major developmental problems due to fetal alcohol syndrome or similar, it might look a lot like this book. Except this book also employs the device of starting from the end and gradually revealing how everything happened, because the story would be too boring told in order. Even as it was, it really dragged.
Meanwhile, the attempt at a conversational tone is awkward, sometimes even painful (ex. I don't want to talk about politics, but I shall have to so you can understand the bit coming up next. [explanation of fairly simple non-essential political thing]). Oh yeah, and many of the characters are unlikable.
Don't know why I finished it.
Meanwhile, the attempt at a conversational tone is awkward, sometimes even painful (ex. I don't want to talk about politics, but I shall have to so you can understand the bit coming up next. [explanation of fairly simple non-essential political thing]). Oh yeah, and many of the characters are unlikable.
Don't know why I finished it.
April 27, 2020
The novel is set mainly in London and centres around a youngish Tory MP, a rising star, in the Thatcher/Major governments (1990s). The said MP, Ivor, is having an affair with a married woman, Hebe. This goes horribly wrong for all concerned. Unusually, the reader has two narrators unfolding the story. One is Rob, Ivor’s rather insipid brother-in-law, the other is Jane, Hebe’s friend and “alibi”, bitter, twisted and malignly spinsterish.
The book successfully re-creates, for me, the latter sleazy years of the Tory administration but I found it very hard to fully “believe” in some of the characters. Their stereotyping was on an almost Dickensian scale – much easier to swallow at a distance of two hundred years or so than a mere generation ago.
The book successfully re-creates, for me, the latter sleazy years of the Tory administration but I found it very hard to fully “believe” in some of the characters. Their stereotyping was on an almost Dickensian scale – much easier to swallow at a distance of two hundred years or so than a mere generation ago.
September 15, 2009
This book was just okay, not nearly as compelling or well-written as most of the Vine novels are, but not bad either -- a good book to read when your mind is tired (as mine has been). There are the usual Vine elements, such as the discontented, lonely character (who in this book is one of the two narrators) living on the fringes of society, but I questioned the choice of the other (main) narrator -- his voice didn't always work for me.
May 7, 2015
Even before we get into the psychological-thriller aspect, this is a wonderful depiction of the sense of entitlement and the distance from ordinary human beings epiromized by those Tory parliamentary politicians who featured in the later years of the Thatcher/Major administration. (It's especially relevant right now when a government with much the same attitude is fighting for its political life in the UK.) At least in terms of public awareness, the late-Thatcher era was one unparalleled for political/sexual sleaze. (There's a very good piece on this general subject, spinning off from a Val McDermid op-ed, at the blog
What Are You Reading For
.) The issue more or less disappeared with the succeeding Blair administration, whose ministers, despite Blair's own notorious piety, were able to kill Murdoch-press faux outrage stone dead by pointing out that the mores to which they adhered were those of everyone else in the country: by then no one cared about issues like marital status.
Anyway, back to the Vine novel.
Rising Tory star and completely amoral human being Ivor Tesham has for some while been conducting an affair with married babe Hebe Furnal. They're both into inventive sex. For her birthday present, Ivor hires a couple of guys to abduct her (with her implicit consent) off the street and deliver her to him all bound and handcuffed and well, like, kinky. The trouble is that the "abduction" goes wrong, the driver goes smack into the path of a 40-tonne truck, and oops.
The rest of the novel focuses on the next few years while Ivor spends most of his time believing he'll never be connected to the disaster, but part of his time realizing that, if the truth ever comes out about his duplicity and pusillanimity in the aftermath of the disaster, his political career will be just so much dead meat.
There are two narrators of this tale. One is Ivor's dull-stick brother-in-law Rob, who boringly (in Ivor's inferred view) loves his wife Iris and their kids. The other is the waspish spinster Jane Atherton, whom Hebe used as an alibi every time Hebe wanted to meet Ivor for getting-laid purposes. Here I thought Vine made a brilliant choice of narrators. Rob is such a wonderfully grounded person that it's hard to dislike him even as he's harrumphing his way around the issues. (I did, too, warm entirely to Rob's affection for kids; it's one reflected by Ivor's later mistress Juliet.) I also, though she's largely depicted as a nutball bitch-on-wheels, liked Jane, who through her diary entries reveals how there's nothing she does that's so ghastly that she can't reinterpret it as a virtuous deed.
This novel has gained an unfortunate reputation for being not as good as some of Vine's others. Most writers would be perfectly happy with that description.
Anyway, back to the Vine novel.
Rising Tory star and completely amoral human being Ivor Tesham has for some while been conducting an affair with married babe Hebe Furnal. They're both into inventive sex. For her birthday present, Ivor hires a couple of guys to abduct her (with her implicit consent) off the street and deliver her to him all bound and handcuffed and well, like, kinky. The trouble is that the "abduction" goes wrong, the driver goes smack into the path of a 40-tonne truck, and oops.
The rest of the novel focuses on the next few years while Ivor spends most of his time believing he'll never be connected to the disaster, but part of his time realizing that, if the truth ever comes out about his duplicity and pusillanimity in the aftermath of the disaster, his political career will be just so much dead meat.
There are two narrators of this tale. One is Ivor's dull-stick brother-in-law Rob, who boringly (in Ivor's inferred view) loves his wife Iris and their kids. The other is the waspish spinster Jane Atherton, whom Hebe used as an alibi every time Hebe wanted to meet Ivor for getting-laid purposes. Here I thought Vine made a brilliant choice of narrators. Rob is such a wonderfully grounded person that it's hard to dislike him even as he's harrumphing his way around the issues. (I did, too, warm entirely to Rob's affection for kids; it's one reflected by Ivor's later mistress Juliet.) I also, though she's largely depicted as a nutball bitch-on-wheels, liked Jane, who through her diary entries reveals how there's nothing she does that's so ghastly that she can't reinterpret it as a virtuous deed.
This novel has gained an unfortunate reputation for being not as good as some of Vine's others. Most writers would be perfectly happy with that description.
June 7, 2009
I always heard Barbara Vine was a good writer and she certainly has a lot of books published. The premise of this book sounded intriguing, so I decided to give her a try. She has a great premise: a Member of Parliament is having an affair with a married woman, and they are into "adventure sex." As a birthday surprise, he decides to arrange a staged "kidnapping" where she will be grabbed off the street, bound and gagged and delivered to him to do what he will with her. The adventure goes terribly wrong when she and one of her kidnappers are killed in a car crash. The only people who know of his involvement are one of her friends and the other kidnapper who is in a coma and, it develops, may have ties to the IRA. Great opportunity here for lots of steamy sex scenes, lots of anxiety about being caught, getting into the heads of both Hebe before her death and Ivor as he sweats out being blackmailed and possibly exposed. So why tell the story at one remove? It's all narrated by Ivor's brother-in-law and Hebe's friend, so all the emotion and sexual tension and anxiety are leached out of it and this potentially high-drama story feels cerebral and detached. It didn't hold my interest and I gave up around page 100. And here's just a little nit, but it really annoyed me: On page 99, "Ivor gave what Iris tells me 1920s novelists used to call a mirthless laugh." What the..?! If you're embarrassed to use a cliche like "mirthless laugh" then DON'T USE IT. Don't sneak it in, in a clunky sentence like that. I know that's picky, but it really annoyed me. I think that's when I finally decided not to finish the book.
April 24, 2023
Barbara Vine/Ruth Rendell is one of my go-to authors when I fancy a twisty, dark, crime read, and this one doesn't disappoint.
Ivor Tesham is an up-and-coming young politician with a penchant for kinky sex. When he engages a couple of acquaintances to stage a mock kidnapping of his latest squeeze, the luscious Hebe, it's intended to be merely a bit of fun and games to spice up their already Vindaloo-level sex life. Sadly, things go wrong and Ivor has more than the famously prurient tabloid press to worry about.
The story is expertly told by two different narrators, who both put their own interpretation on things - Ivor's dull-but-decent brother-in-law, and Hebe's supposed best friend and reliable Bunbury, the sexually frustrated and embittered Jane.
Set in the early-to-mid 1990s, it also carries a certain period charm, not least in the passage where Tesham ruminates on the unthinkability of lying to the House of Commons. How far we have fallen.
Possibly not quite up there with A Dark Adapted Eye or A Judgement In Stone but a satisfying read all the same.
Ivor Tesham is an up-and-coming young politician with a penchant for kinky sex. When he engages a couple of acquaintances to stage a mock kidnapping of his latest squeeze, the luscious Hebe, it's intended to be merely a bit of fun and games to spice up their already Vindaloo-level sex life. Sadly, things go wrong and Ivor has more than the famously prurient tabloid press to worry about.
The story is expertly told by two different narrators, who both put their own interpretation on things - Ivor's dull-but-decent brother-in-law, and Hebe's supposed best friend and reliable Bunbury, the sexually frustrated and embittered Jane.
Set in the early-to-mid 1990s, it also carries a certain period charm, not least in the passage where Tesham ruminates on the unthinkability of lying to the House of Commons. How far we have fallen.
Possibly not quite up there with A Dark Adapted Eye or A Judgement In Stone but a satisfying read all the same.
October 4, 2011
I liked this one - really catchy, although it drag a bit in the middle. The characters in this book, while not lovable, aren't the awful set (eg like in the Chimney Sweeps Boy for example). That said, she writes horrible & unlikeable characters beautifully. Jane Atherton is so well written, completely awful & we go right inside her head as she grows madder. Ivor Tresham is a philandering MP in the Thatcher Government. He has an affair with a bored young housewife, Hebe Furnal. For her birthday he organises for her to be "abducted" on the street & to be driven to his sister's house (he's borrowed it for the weekend to indulge in this fantasy with Hebe). It's all part of a sex fantasy/game. Regrettably, it goes horribly wrong. The abduction car is involved in a road accident - Hebe is killed along with an unknown actor. The driver, Ivor's mechanic, is seriously injured. The police from the set up suspect the abduction is real but a case of mistaken identity. The book then continues on as to the consequences for all concerned as Ivor never explains to the police the truth of what was going on. So we have Ivor, the dead actor's girlfriend, the driver's family, the driver himself, Jane Atherton who gave Hebe an "alibi" with her husbane, Hebe's husband: all dealing with the repercussions. In Ivor's mind the threat of disclosure ebbs & flows over the years. The 1st half of the story is narrated by Ivor's brother-in-law, Robin (married to Ivor's sister Iris). The interesting thing is that Robin, Iris & Juliet Case (the actor's girlfriend) all know about the birthday present, but also don't feel compelled to see the truth come to light. There's a real moral ambivalence in that regard. Well in the whole tale really. It is only some time later as Jane Atherton's life has gone to shit (well perhaps thwarted at every turn is a better way of putting it) & her mental state has deteriorated (which we know as she narrates the 2nd half) that she reignites the threat. It is a good read. And I won't ruin the ending other than to say, it's good & I liked it.
March 22, 2016
Ummm, contrary to the editorial review, Ivor never receives an anonymous letter about the botched kidnapping. It is safe to assume that he fears this the whole time from the accident to the end of the book, but he never becomes the victim of an anonymous letter.
The story is told from two different viewpoints. Ivor's Brother-in Law, married to Ivor's sister Iris, and Jane Atherton,the alibi that Hebe uses for her trysts with Ivor.
It is clear from the outset that Jane Atherton is a sad, plain, lonely woman on the verge of madness. She spitefully recounts events as she sees them, hugging the knowledge she possesses about both Hebe and Ivor. Towards the end of the book she decides to blackmail him, however she never quite musters up the courage to confront him.
Ivor's Brother-in Law knows everything from the outset, the "birthday present" and it's tragic aftermath, and tries, mostly without success, to guide Ivor towards the right action.
Lately I have been finding these Barbara Vine novels somewhat turgid and long-winded, lacking the shocking quality the earlier books had. In short, she takes too long to get to the point.....
But nevertheless an intriguing work.
The story is told from two different viewpoints. Ivor's Brother-in Law, married to Ivor's sister Iris, and Jane Atherton,the alibi that Hebe uses for her trysts with Ivor.
It is clear from the outset that Jane Atherton is a sad, plain, lonely woman on the verge of madness. She spitefully recounts events as she sees them, hugging the knowledge she possesses about both Hebe and Ivor. Towards the end of the book she decides to blackmail him, however she never quite musters up the courage to confront him.
Ivor's Brother-in Law knows everything from the outset, the "birthday present" and it's tragic aftermath, and tries, mostly without success, to guide Ivor towards the right action.
Lately I have been finding these Barbara Vine novels somewhat turgid and long-winded, lacking the shocking quality the earlier books had. In short, she takes too long to get to the point.....
But nevertheless an intriguing work.
March 1, 2009
Not my favorite of Barbara Vine's books, its odd detached style reminded me more of the author's voice in her more popular mystery guise as Ruth Rendell. Now I like Vine's novels and I enjoy Rendell although in a completely different way. Truthfully, it took me a little to accept this new novel as it is a bit of a departure from the author's previous novels under either name. I suppose it is a bit of a disappointment if one is expecting a typical Barbara Vine book, or even a Ruth Rendell and yet, once I settled into the pace of the book and the voices of its narrators, I found it quite compelling and beautifully written, as usual. I find it to be a very unsettling and even disturbing book, even more disturbing because it seems so bland. In usual Vine fashion, the characters one would think one would most like are the ones that one despises and those that seem, on the surface, the most shallow and callous, are the ones for which one feels the most sympathy.
I think this book is one that may at first seem a disappointment if one is looking for a familiar voice, but which also might be the one most likely to be re-read.
I think this book is one that may at first seem a disappointment if one is looking for a familiar voice, but which also might be the one most likely to be re-read.
January 10, 2024
The story is set in the early 1990s in England. As a birthday present to his mistress, a promising young Conservative MP plans her mock abduction, as a prelude to ‘adventure sex’. Without wanting to spoil the plot, the ‘kidnapping’ goes horribly wrong but the MP is not initially implicated by the police or the press. The narrative, against a background of political sleaze and the First Gulf War, as well as IRA bombings, is told by a close friend of the MPs and includes excerpts from a diary of a woman who supplied alibis to the mistress’s unsuspecting husband. The story goes on over several years, during which time the MP is constantly afraid that the truth of what happened will come out and ruin his burgeoning career. The suspense is palpable as the story slowly emerges. Typical Vine/Rendell quality writing!
April 9, 2013
I didn't really care for this book. For some unknown reason, it began to annoy me. The "alibi" girl was a doormat and the mistress was just too, too "beautiful." I finished it, but wasn't impressed.
October 28, 2020
I liked this very, very much and do not get the negative reviews. The characters are wonderfully drawn, including a flawed protagonist; there are greed, sex, ambition, madness, class, blackmail as motivators. Enjoyable.
September 25, 2022
DNF 10 pages in. Look....the exposition. Why in the world would you start a thriller out with a dump of boring and ham-fistedly pretentious exposition?
This premise hooked me right away, but I can't keep going with a book that has me bored and skim-reading before the first chapter is done.
This premise hooked me right away, but I can't keep going with a book that has me bored and skim-reading before the first chapter is done.
September 9, 2017
"'When a politician becomes 'the story' he's no longer any use to politics.'"
The psychological thriller has always been popular but has reached a kind of mass readership frenzy with the success of books like Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train in recent years. Unreliable narrators, partially revelations, and a heady atmosphere of distrust escalating the facts are a potent combination for modern readers, something that Ruth Rendell, here writing as Barbra Vine, has been perfecting for years.
This novel is characteristically sinister. Set amid British upper-class culture in the 1990's when respectable citizens were beginning to become uncomfortable with callous capitalism, with the constant threat of IRA attacks, it follows the rise and fall of a scandalised Conservative politician. "Mention his name and most people will say 'Who?' while the rest will think for a bit and ask if he wasn't 'the one who got involved in all that sleaze back in whenever it was ...'" MP Ivor Tesham has been pursuing a consensual affair with married woman Hebe Furnal. "I don't know why her being a young mother made it worse but it did" Although in that time and class many would disapprove, he hasn't really done anything wrong by today's standards. Until a staged kidnapping to satisfy Hebe's kinky side leads to a car crash in which Hebe and another man die, and the driver is left permanently brain damaged. "'He can walk - shuffle, rather. His speech is like - well, you know what Daleks sound like. Whole areas of his brain are gone, just lost.'" This happens relatively early in the novel, and the remainder is about the paranoia and escalation of Tesham distancing himself from any connection with the crash.
"It was too late to do anything but lie now, to wait and hope."
Most of the narrative is told through accountant Robin Delgano's perspective as he attempts to steer his brother-in-law Tesham towards a morally upright resolution which will still maintain his reputation. Tesham's reputation becomes a monstrous figure which must be satiated beyond the demands of right and wrong. "His bouncing from adrenalin-fuelled gloom into ebullience was almost manic." Tesham is paranoid, but he manages to buy off and dazzle the survivor's family despite their knowledge of the truth. He's ruthless. He even pursues a relationship with the girlfriend of the dead man, her reasons are finally resolved as innocent "'There's a kind of blackmail where no threat need ever be made'", but I get the feeling that she is little more than an insurance policy for him.
The remainder of the story is told through the haunting diary extracts of Jane Atherton, the friend who provided Hebe with her alibis who almost knew enough to link Tesham to the crash. "I ought to have been sad - why wasn't I? We call people our 'friends' without really thinking about how we feel about them, that actually we fear them or envy them." She is also incredibly callous, self-absorbed in that she interprets everyone's actions as a comment on their attitude towards her and yet always pessimistic in her conclusions. "It makes me feel like Hebe deceived me, the way she deceived everyone, making me feel I was really important to her." A dark, possessive relationship with her mother is chillingly outlined in the background. Invention of Hebe's alibis leads to the invention of an imaginary boyfriend, a false fear of assassination, and perhaps an inappropriate trust which leads to her death. "But these are fantasies of the night, when law-abiding people become gangsters and extravagant behaviour demands wild responses. Knowing that, why can't we use this knowledge to help ourselves in the dreadful dreams of night?" I really enjoyed Jane's morbid and gradually revealed madness - although this has now become a staple of the psychological thriller, it is no less disturbing.
I wasn't too satisfied with the ending. After a failed suicide attempt in which Tesham shoots himself in the mouth with a shotgun, I think that his lack of cognitive and reproductive damage is unconvincing. "He had done clever things and stupid things to save his skin but when all that was stripped away he was a little dull." If the message is that aristocrats face little consequence from ruin, I think I would have been more convinced if he just got some six-figure consulting salary and forgot all about it. Still, the prose is compelling and I shall be looking to pick another of Rendell/Vine's books in future.
This quote doesn't really have anything to do with my review, I just thought it was cool:
"Thirty-three is the age we will be when we all meet in heaven, because Christ was thirty-three when he died. One can't help thinking that the people who invent these things chose it because it's an ideal age, no longer one's first youth but not aging either."
The psychological thriller has always been popular but has reached a kind of mass readership frenzy with the success of books like Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train in recent years. Unreliable narrators, partially revelations, and a heady atmosphere of distrust escalating the facts are a potent combination for modern readers, something that Ruth Rendell, here writing as Barbra Vine, has been perfecting for years.
This novel is characteristically sinister. Set amid British upper-class culture in the 1990's when respectable citizens were beginning to become uncomfortable with callous capitalism, with the constant threat of IRA attacks, it follows the rise and fall of a scandalised Conservative politician. "Mention his name and most people will say 'Who?' while the rest will think for a bit and ask if he wasn't 'the one who got involved in all that sleaze back in whenever it was ...'" MP Ivor Tesham has been pursuing a consensual affair with married woman Hebe Furnal. "I don't know why her being a young mother made it worse but it did" Although in that time and class many would disapprove, he hasn't really done anything wrong by today's standards. Until a staged kidnapping to satisfy Hebe's kinky side leads to a car crash in which Hebe and another man die, and the driver is left permanently brain damaged. "'He can walk - shuffle, rather. His speech is like - well, you know what Daleks sound like. Whole areas of his brain are gone, just lost.'" This happens relatively early in the novel, and the remainder is about the paranoia and escalation of Tesham distancing himself from any connection with the crash.
"It was too late to do anything but lie now, to wait and hope."
Most of the narrative is told through accountant Robin Delgano's perspective as he attempts to steer his brother-in-law Tesham towards a morally upright resolution which will still maintain his reputation. Tesham's reputation becomes a monstrous figure which must be satiated beyond the demands of right and wrong. "His bouncing from adrenalin-fuelled gloom into ebullience was almost manic." Tesham is paranoid, but he manages to buy off and dazzle the survivor's family despite their knowledge of the truth. He's ruthless. He even pursues a relationship with the girlfriend of the dead man, her reasons are finally resolved as innocent "'There's a kind of blackmail where no threat need ever be made'", but I get the feeling that she is little more than an insurance policy for him.
The remainder of the story is told through the haunting diary extracts of Jane Atherton, the friend who provided Hebe with her alibis who almost knew enough to link Tesham to the crash. "I ought to have been sad - why wasn't I? We call people our 'friends' without really thinking about how we feel about them, that actually we fear them or envy them." She is also incredibly callous, self-absorbed in that she interprets everyone's actions as a comment on their attitude towards her and yet always pessimistic in her conclusions. "It makes me feel like Hebe deceived me, the way she deceived everyone, making me feel I was really important to her." A dark, possessive relationship with her mother is chillingly outlined in the background. Invention of Hebe's alibis leads to the invention of an imaginary boyfriend, a false fear of assassination, and perhaps an inappropriate trust which leads to her death. "But these are fantasies of the night, when law-abiding people become gangsters and extravagant behaviour demands wild responses. Knowing that, why can't we use this knowledge to help ourselves in the dreadful dreams of night?" I really enjoyed Jane's morbid and gradually revealed madness - although this has now become a staple of the psychological thriller, it is no less disturbing.
I wasn't too satisfied with the ending. After a failed suicide attempt in which Tesham shoots himself in the mouth with a shotgun, I think that his lack of cognitive and reproductive damage is unconvincing. "He had done clever things and stupid things to save his skin but when all that was stripped away he was a little dull." If the message is that aristocrats face little consequence from ruin, I think I would have been more convinced if he just got some six-figure consulting salary and forgot all about it. Still, the prose is compelling and I shall be looking to pick another of Rendell/Vine's books in future.
This quote doesn't really have anything to do with my review, I just thought it was cool:
"Thirty-three is the age we will be when we all meet in heaven, because Christ was thirty-three when he died. One can't help thinking that the people who invent these things chose it because it's an ideal age, no longer one's first youth but not aging either."
September 7, 2017
Listened to in audio format.
I am surprised The Birthday Present was written by Ruth Rendell under her pen name Barbara Vine. This book was well written but it was neither suspenseful or thrilling.
The book was set during the early 1990's before Margaret Thatcher resigned and John Major was prime minister. During that time there were a number of Tory party scandals and the phrase Tory Sleaze was invented.
Tory MP Igor Tesham was having an affair with married mother of one Hebe Furnell. Igor and Hebe enjoyed kinky sex games, as a birthday present for Hebe he arranged a mock kidnapping. The idea was Hebe would be kidnapped in the street, bound and gagged and taken to Igor's home.
On the day before her birthday with her knowledge, Hebe was indeed kidnapped off the street and bundled into a car bound and gagged. However the car crashed killing Hebe and another man, the driver of the vehicle Dermot Lynch survived but was in a coma.
Literally the rest of the book was about Igor worrying that the scandal would be discovered. The book was set over a 4 year period. The story was told by Robin, Igor's brother in law, and diary excerpts from spinster Jane Atherton who was Hebe's best friend and often provided an alibi for Hebe.
Without Jane Atherton this book would of been very dull indeed. Jane's diary showed her to be a bitter, self centred woman. She knew about Hebe's affair with Igor and the mock kidnapping. After being made redundant from the National Library she considered blackmailing Igor but it never actually happened. I wanted to feel sorry for Jane because she was lonely but she did not have redeeming qualities. Towards the end of the book she became more unstable and started hallucinating but no reason was given why.
A crime did not actually occur until nearly the end of the story. The brother of Dermot Lynch was arrested for the crime and that is how Igor's involvement in the accident was uncovered.
I gave this book 3 stars because it was written by the late Ruth Rendell. I did not dislike this story but it could of been much better, overall I think it was just meh!
I am surprised The Birthday Present was written by Ruth Rendell under her pen name Barbara Vine. This book was well written but it was neither suspenseful or thrilling.
The book was set during the early 1990's before Margaret Thatcher resigned and John Major was prime minister. During that time there were a number of Tory party scandals and the phrase Tory Sleaze was invented.
Tory MP Igor Tesham was having an affair with married mother of one Hebe Furnell. Igor and Hebe enjoyed kinky sex games, as a birthday present for Hebe he arranged a mock kidnapping. The idea was Hebe would be kidnapped in the street, bound and gagged and taken to Igor's home.
On the day before her birthday with her knowledge, Hebe was indeed kidnapped off the street and bundled into a car bound and gagged. However the car crashed killing Hebe and another man, the driver of the vehicle Dermot Lynch survived but was in a coma.
Literally the rest of the book was about Igor worrying that the scandal would be discovered. The book was set over a 4 year period. The story was told by Robin, Igor's brother in law, and diary excerpts from spinster Jane Atherton who was Hebe's best friend and often provided an alibi for Hebe.
Without Jane Atherton this book would of been very dull indeed. Jane's diary showed her to be a bitter, self centred woman. She knew about Hebe's affair with Igor and the mock kidnapping. After being made redundant from the National Library she considered blackmailing Igor but it never actually happened. I wanted to feel sorry for Jane because she was lonely but she did not have redeeming qualities. Towards the end of the book she became more unstable and started hallucinating but no reason was given why.
A crime did not actually occur until nearly the end of the story. The brother of Dermot Lynch was arrested for the crime and that is how Igor's involvement in the accident was uncovered.
I gave this book 3 stars because it was written by the late Ruth Rendell. I did not dislike this story but it could of been much better, overall I think it was just meh!
November 22, 2018
That awful man deserved so much less than what he got and Jane deserved so much more.
Ms Vine, you slay me every time.
Ms Vine, you slay me every time.
July 6, 2019
This should have been fun and interesting but it was somewhat tedious to get through.
June 16, 2024
An entertaining read, cleverly written although I am not sure why one of the narrator's was the brother-in-law and not Ivor, the main character himself. Jane was annoying but a reliable narrator. Still not as sharp or as gripping as some of her earlier works.
August 11, 2010
Basically this book is about a Tory MP, Ivan Tesham – rich, well to do, ambitious, single. He meets a housewife, Hebe Furnell at something or other and they embark upon an affair as both share the same sexual…tastes. For her birthday, Ivan arranges her to be snatched from a sidewalk, blindfolded, tied up and delivered to him in a secret location. Exciting! But it all goes oh so terribly wrong.
The book isn’t told from Ivan’s point of view, nor from Hebe’s. Instead it alternates (with no real clear way of distinguishing who is narrating what bit until you read the first paragraph or two and realise from what they’re talking about) and there is no pattern to the alternations either. Sometimes it switches with each chapter. Sometimes it doesn’t. The narration is shared by Ivan’s brother-in-law Rob (married to Ivan’s sister Iris) and Hebe’s “friend” Jane Atherton, known as ‘the alibi lady’ as it is always Jane that Hebe tells her husband she’s out with whenever she’s meeting up with Ivan somewhere.
The book isn’t so much about the affair, or the actual present itself. It’s about what that brings about. The catastrophic consequences for so many people, the noose hanging around someones neck just waiting for the chair to be kicked out under them. The mystery and suspense is supposed to be wrapped up in not if the secret will come out but when and how. This didn’t really work for me. For a start, I found Ivan so utterly unlikable, that I couldn’t wait to have the secret come tumbling out. Spoiled, self-absorbed, arrogant, upper class, cold and selfish English aristocrat, he annoyed me beyond belief. His callous attitude and the way that people around him just accepted it kind of infuriated me. Do English stereotypes like that still exist? The Landowner with the stiff upper lip who claps someone awkwardly on the shoulder during a tragedy and says “Right o, buck up old chap. Can’t have this wallowing. Must crack on”. I really don’t know. But Ivan certainly fell into that, with a side of drinking whisky and referring to the lodge on his family land as “the Dower house.” I just wanted to smack him.
The character of Jane Atherton was another stereotype. Uptight, unattractive, virgin Librarian who is friends with the much more beautiful Hebe for…what? Jane admits that she never ever really even liked Hebe. They barely saw each other, with Hebe using her only as an alibi. Jane descends into some form of psychosis that is just, quite frankly, bizarre.
There’s also a lot of description of English parliamentary process and intricacies of government. Pages are devoted to Ivan’s move up the ladder and I don’t know anyone that actually understands the way the English government system actually works. I know I certainly don’t and the pages and pages of blah blah blah politics didn’t actually help that in any way. It just made me skim and flick pages until the words MP and Secretary For stopped appearing.
After all I’ve read about the great works of Barbara Vine (which is actually a pseudonym for Ruth Rendell) I was actually pretty disappointed in this one. No real mystery, no real suspense – the pacing was terribly slow, which is a big detraction in a novel of this genre.
The book isn’t told from Ivan’s point of view, nor from Hebe’s. Instead it alternates (with no real clear way of distinguishing who is narrating what bit until you read the first paragraph or two and realise from what they’re talking about) and there is no pattern to the alternations either. Sometimes it switches with each chapter. Sometimes it doesn’t. The narration is shared by Ivan’s brother-in-law Rob (married to Ivan’s sister Iris) and Hebe’s “friend” Jane Atherton, known as ‘the alibi lady’ as it is always Jane that Hebe tells her husband she’s out with whenever she’s meeting up with Ivan somewhere.
The book isn’t so much about the affair, or the actual present itself. It’s about what that brings about. The catastrophic consequences for so many people, the noose hanging around someones neck just waiting for the chair to be kicked out under them. The mystery and suspense is supposed to be wrapped up in not if the secret will come out but when and how. This didn’t really work for me. For a start, I found Ivan so utterly unlikable, that I couldn’t wait to have the secret come tumbling out. Spoiled, self-absorbed, arrogant, upper class, cold and selfish English aristocrat, he annoyed me beyond belief. His callous attitude and the way that people around him just accepted it kind of infuriated me. Do English stereotypes like that still exist? The Landowner with the stiff upper lip who claps someone awkwardly on the shoulder during a tragedy and says “Right o, buck up old chap. Can’t have this wallowing. Must crack on”. I really don’t know. But Ivan certainly fell into that, with a side of drinking whisky and referring to the lodge on his family land as “the Dower house.” I just wanted to smack him.
The character of Jane Atherton was another stereotype. Uptight, unattractive, virgin Librarian who is friends with the much more beautiful Hebe for…what? Jane admits that she never ever really even liked Hebe. They barely saw each other, with Hebe using her only as an alibi. Jane descends into some form of psychosis that is just, quite frankly, bizarre.
There’s also a lot of description of English parliamentary process and intricacies of government. Pages are devoted to Ivan’s move up the ladder and I don’t know anyone that actually understands the way the English government system actually works. I know I certainly don’t and the pages and pages of blah blah blah politics didn’t actually help that in any way. It just made me skim and flick pages until the words MP and Secretary For stopped appearing.
After all I’ve read about the great works of Barbara Vine (which is actually a pseudonym for Ruth Rendell) I was actually pretty disappointed in this one. No real mystery, no real suspense – the pacing was terribly slow, which is a big detraction in a novel of this genre.
January 31, 2012
Okay. This is it for me and Ruth Rendell-also known as Barbara Vine. In this book- The Birthday Present-she has made so many glaring mistakes in her writing that I am really starting to wonder if her editors don't correct errors because they are just too scared of her-
For instance, in this book she refers to a debt that amounted to "one thousand million" pounds. ???
I'm sorry but does Ruth Rendell have access to Google? Can she deduce that one thousand million equals one billion?? I mean look it up, sweetheart.
In places she refers to events that I have no idea what she's talking about.
But but but here's the clincher;
The cover flap describes these mysterious anonymous letters that Ivor keeps getting re; The fateful kidnapping of his mistress.Someone is haunting him thru these letters-someone who knows the truth-that being that he-Ivor Trashom was the mastermind behind this vile accident- that killed 2 people and left one a vegetable.
Well here it is- IN THE BOOK- these letters never happen. That's right. The book flap summary has nothing- but nothing to do with the actual book.
Now I'm sorry but I have concluded that that is just plain careless and stupid on Ruth Rendell's part.
In another book she wrote called 'The Grasshopper' she says that one of the characters was electrocuted by 40,000 amps of electricity. 10 pages later she says he was killed with 400,000 amps of electricity.????.I mean-PLEASE just get it right
In that same book she continually refers to repairing a broken fuse. Well,. hear it now - you cannot repair a broken fuse.THAT is why they are called fuses. See what I mean?- Once these fuses are broken open they will shut off the electricity.They cannot be repaired.
I'm sorry. I'm not usually such a stickler- but I think all us Ruth Rendell fans must concede that at this point all she is doing is just churning them out.And most importantly- she is doing that JUST FOR THE MONEY.
Nope- something is very wrong here. Either her editors are too scared of her to correct her-OR none of them care enough to actually READ her books- Like I said-it looks to me like she's become a cash machine- and that is rude and it's insulting. You have to treat your readers with some respect- and if you can't do that- then spare us all and stop writing.
She used to be a good writer. But alas-there is no such thing as one thousand million. Get it right.Or stop writing.
JM
For instance, in this book she refers to a debt that amounted to "one thousand million" pounds. ???
I'm sorry but does Ruth Rendell have access to Google? Can she deduce that one thousand million equals one billion?? I mean look it up, sweetheart.
In places she refers to events that I have no idea what she's talking about.
But but but here's the clincher;
The cover flap describes these mysterious anonymous letters that Ivor keeps getting re; The fateful kidnapping of his mistress.Someone is haunting him thru these letters-someone who knows the truth-that being that he-Ivor Trashom was the mastermind behind this vile accident- that killed 2 people and left one a vegetable.
Well here it is- IN THE BOOK- these letters never happen. That's right. The book flap summary has nothing- but nothing to do with the actual book.
Now I'm sorry but I have concluded that that is just plain careless and stupid on Ruth Rendell's part.
In another book she wrote called 'The Grasshopper' she says that one of the characters was electrocuted by 40,000 amps of electricity. 10 pages later she says he was killed with 400,000 amps of electricity.????.I mean-PLEASE just get it right
In that same book she continually refers to repairing a broken fuse. Well,. hear it now - you cannot repair a broken fuse.THAT is why they are called fuses. See what I mean?- Once these fuses are broken open they will shut off the electricity.They cannot be repaired.
I'm sorry. I'm not usually such a stickler- but I think all us Ruth Rendell fans must concede that at this point all she is doing is just churning them out.And most importantly- she is doing that JUST FOR THE MONEY.
Nope- something is very wrong here. Either her editors are too scared of her to correct her-OR none of them care enough to actually READ her books- Like I said-it looks to me like she's become a cash machine- and that is rude and it's insulting. You have to treat your readers with some respect- and if you can't do that- then spare us all and stop writing.
She used to be a good writer. But alas-there is no such thing as one thousand million. Get it right.Or stop writing.
JM
April 8, 2014
Like all of Vine's novels, it is about guilt and its consequences, about repressed emotions and suppressed truths, about the insidious appearance of madness in ordinary life, about twisted sex among the upper classes. And about politics, and how all of the above impinge on politics. A horny MP tries to set up a wild night of sex as a birthday present for his mistress--he has her "kidnapped" by confederates, to be brought to him bound and gagged, so much fun can ensue. But as a result of a fatal car wreck the MP has to try to cover up his involvement. But, of course, it eventually comes out.
Told by two narrators, the MP's brother-in-law, an upright ordinary chap, and the mistress's friend, a mousy librarian, sexually repressed, dominated by a ditsy mother, friendless and increasingly mad. A complex narrative perspective, two auxiliary characters who find themselves caught up in a larger story, but always looking from the outside, yet able to parse the events to give a clear, if complex picture.
I will remember the mousy librarian who contemplates blackmail, the complicated sex life of the MP, the savvy perspective on political ambition and the way a promising career can fall apart.
Told by two narrators, the MP's brother-in-law, an upright ordinary chap, and the mistress's friend, a mousy librarian, sexually repressed, dominated by a ditsy mother, friendless and increasingly mad. A complex narrative perspective, two auxiliary characters who find themselves caught up in a larger story, but always looking from the outside, yet able to parse the events to give a clear, if complex picture.
I will remember the mousy librarian who contemplates blackmail, the complicated sex life of the MP, the savvy perspective on political ambition and the way a promising career can fall apart.
April 26, 2010
Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell, writing her non-series suspense novels) seems to have recurring character types, which is why I never quite remember the names of the protagonists of her novels. But she arranges them around plots of Byzantine complexity and fabulous creepiness, and so I always enjoy her novels. The Birthday Present is no exception to the rule: in this, a tryst between Ivor Tesham, an up-and-coming Tory MP, and Hebe Furnal, his married mistress, goes horribly wrong, and the lives of many, some of whom never knew either Ivor or Hebe, are disastrously affected. Less a who-dunnit than a "what-happens-afterwards", it's a fine quick read that kept me guessing even to the very last page (and I must shamefacedly confess to coveting the shoes that adorn the cover of my paperback copy!)
February 15, 2009
I quite enjoyed this, despite it being a little different to what I think of as Vine's usual style. In fact, in its slightly detached storytelling it reminded me of Vine's work as Ruth Rendell, in her non-Wexford novels. It's very much a novel of a time, and of the political scenery of that time, as well as a story about Ivor, a young conservative MP, and his affair with glamorous housewife Hebe. Things go awry after Ivor arranges a faux kidnapping for Hebe's birthday, and spiral downwards from there as Ivor desparately tries to keep his role in the birthday present quiet.
Don't go in expecting a tense thriller, because it's not that, but it's very enjoyable nonetheless.
Don't go in expecting a tense thriller, because it's not that, but it's very enjoyable nonetheless.
June 6, 2019
Yes, it's a skilfully crafted genre piece; yes it's complex; yes, it's populated by interesting and developed characters; yes there are multiple viewpoints; yes there are some terrific narrative shocks; yes big themes are explored like power and corruption at the highest level. And yes, the contexts and settings are convincing.
Ultimately, the pursuit of truth is revealed to be problematic; justice and morality, similarly so.
But....the whole narrative fell very flat. Couldn't care less about any of the characters. Most are verging on vile, some unspeakable. I felt little emotional engagement with them and even less empathy.
A smart read, but that's all. Psychological thriller? Nah!
Ultimately, the pursuit of truth is revealed to be problematic; justice and morality, similarly so.
But....the whole narrative fell very flat. Couldn't care less about any of the characters. Most are verging on vile, some unspeakable. I felt little emotional engagement with them and even less empathy.
A smart read, but that's all. Psychological thriller? Nah!
April 13, 2009
I don't think this is one of Vine's best. The plot revolves around an MP's affair with a married woman, which turns from a potential sex scandal into something much larger when the woman is killed in a car crash during a faux kidnapping set up by the MP. Vine slowly unravels the wealth of complications caused by the kidnapping gone wrong, but there's less tension than in her best books, and the end is simply anticlimactic.
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