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Make Death Love Me
Alan Groombridge had a fantasy. Bored with his life, he dreamed of stealing enough money from the bank he worked in to allow him just one year of happiness. But when the bank is robbed, Groombridge is caught up in a nightmare.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1979
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About the author
Ruth Rendell
457 books1,626 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 93 reviews
June 18, 2020
This broke my heart. I knew it would, because Ruth Rendell is a stern moralist. If you have committed a wrong, you will pay. Even those who you have the utmost sympathy for. Rendell creates a wonderful, multilayered character who makes one atrocious mistake and then, he atones, but too late.
October 29, 2015
the narrative details a sad and sympathetic downward spiral for the handful of characters involved in a bank robbery gone awry. Rendell, per usual, invokes each character with precise psychological acuity and, at times, an almost romantic sense of dignity. the central character, although thoroughly weak and misguided, is a particularly poignant creation. i feel sympathy for any ardent book-lover and dreamer trapped in relentless suburbia; his characterization is strong, maybe even tragic. overall, a typically masterful study of what happens when folks insist on rationalizing their way out of Doing The Right Thing.
July 31, 2017
I’ve just been reading Dickens and it took me a while to acclimatise to Make Death Love Me – but it is no less powerful for all that it is prosaic. Indeed, Ruth Rendell pens the most chilling thrillers with the most ordinary words.
Alan is a bored and boring bank manager who plays out fantasies with wads of cash in his lunch hour.
A bungled robbery and kidnapping (of his assistant, Joyce) finds him catapulted to freedom and largesse.
He acquires a new identity, but realises he is consigned to a life of limbo, and becomes consumed by guilt that he has abandoned Joyce to her fate.
Inexorably he is drawn to track down the crooks, unaware just how desperate they are growing, and that Joyce’s survival hangs in the balance.
Not only does this tale have you turning pages ever faster as the climax approaches, but it has a particularly ingenious wrap-up – the skill of the mystery writer coming to the fore.
Indeed, Ruth Rendell is best known for Inspector Wexford – but I find her edgy suspense novels a cut above the cozy detective series.
Alan is a bored and boring bank manager who plays out fantasies with wads of cash in his lunch hour.
A bungled robbery and kidnapping (of his assistant, Joyce) finds him catapulted to freedom and largesse.
He acquires a new identity, but realises he is consigned to a life of limbo, and becomes consumed by guilt that he has abandoned Joyce to her fate.
Inexorably he is drawn to track down the crooks, unaware just how desperate they are growing, and that Joyce’s survival hangs in the balance.
Not only does this tale have you turning pages ever faster as the climax approaches, but it has a particularly ingenious wrap-up – the skill of the mystery writer coming to the fore.
Indeed, Ruth Rendell is best known for Inspector Wexford – but I find her edgy suspense novels a cut above the cozy detective series.
December 21, 2018
A somewhat bizarre tale of a robbery gone wrong. This crime story is more of a psychological study of several distasteful characters. It is not a mystery novel, since the story is told in real-time. After the seriously under-rated A Judgement in Stone which I absolutely loved, this was my second novel by Ruth Rendell. Writing-wise, I could read her all day without feeling the slightest inclination to go do something else. She just has a way of telling a story which keeps me flipping the pages. However, I do have to say this falls slightly short of "A Judgement in Stone". A cracking good read nonetheless.
February 5, 2023
A four for making me laugh out loud at the end. Alan gets redemption and Joyce gets to forget her month of horror. A sad story about a loveless marriage and two young hapless men who rob a bank and when things unravel.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Sometimes the routine of life is not such a bad thing. Alan the bank manager steals £3000 after a bank robbery and disappears. His assistant Joyce is taken hostage and kidnapped by the inept bank robbers.
Alan finds true love but his conscience and a coincidence in seeing Marty one of the robbers leads to his demise. Nigel the other robber goes mad and in the end meets his own demise trying to escape after killing Alan and wounding Joyce.
A good early Rendell.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Sometimes the routine of life is not such a bad thing. Alan the bank manager steals £3000 after a bank robbery and disappears. His assistant Joyce is taken hostage and kidnapped by the inept bank robbers.
Alan finds true love but his conscience and a coincidence in seeing Marty one of the robbers leads to his demise. Nigel the other robber goes mad and in the end meets his own demise trying to escape after killing Alan and wounding Joyce.
A good early Rendell.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 9, 2016
Rendell's book brings togeth two story lines. We are introduced first to Alan Groombridge, an unhappily married manager at a small bank in a Suffolk village. Groombridge is a bookish daydreamer. A man who, when his shotgun wedding brought him a dull and unfulfilling life, retreated to the pages of poetry and plays and the romantic classics of the past. Each week when he must get into the safe, he allows himself to fantasize about running off with 3000 pounds of the bank's money. That would be the amount he has calculated would allow him to spend one year of freedom doing exactly what he pleased in a small bed-sit somewhere--somewhere far away from his wife and his obnoxious father-in-law. But he knows he could never really do it. When you have a small bank with only two employees and one of the employees disappears at the same time as nearly half of the on-hand cash....well, it wouldn't take a Sherlock Holmes to figure out who took the cash.
Enter two young misfits who are down on their luck, without jobs or a suitable source of income and who happen to meet up with someone who gives the (unknowingly) just the information needed to plot a bank robbery at Groombridge's bank. They plan the robbery for lunchtime and manage to make off with 4000 pounds--and the leggy, busty teller Joyce who has the misfortune to see their faces. The young men panic and set Joyce up as an unwilling roommate while they try to figure out what to do with her so they can make their escape.
Meanwhile, Groombridge was busy fondling his 3000 pounds in a closet and takes the opportunity presented by the robbery to disappear as well. He runs away to London with his small fortune to finally realize his dream. He finds the perfect room in basement filled to the brim with books and also finds his ideal woman and settles down to enjoy her and her books. The setup is prefect--the police and his family believe that both he and Joyce have been snatched by the robbers, so no one is really hunting him for his embezzlement. But the chivalrous streak that makes Groombridge love the poetry and classic romances and tales of knights-errant won't allow him ignore clues to the robbers' identities when they present themselves. He can't quite bear to go to the police with his knowledge, after all they will make him give back the money and return to the bosom of his "loving" family, so he follows the trail himself hoping to concoct a story that will allow him to rescue Joyce and manage to maintain the new life he has begun to build.
Rendell gives us a dark drama filled with enough tragedy for a Shakespeare play. There are the pathetic, panicky bank robbers and poor Groombridge and his dismal homelife. The two bright spots are Joyce's strong character in the face of her imprisonment and the brief moments when Groombridge is allowed to live out his dream. This isn't really a mystery--there's no secret about who did what, but there is suspense in waiting to bind out if the robbers will be caught and what will happen to Joyce and Alan Groombridge. Rendell provides deft characterizations and superb, if rather bleak atmosphere. ★★★ and a half.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
Enter two young misfits who are down on their luck, without jobs or a suitable source of income and who happen to meet up with someone who gives the (unknowingly) just the information needed to plot a bank robbery at Groombridge's bank. They plan the robbery for lunchtime and manage to make off with 4000 pounds--and the leggy, busty teller Joyce who has the misfortune to see their faces. The young men panic and set Joyce up as an unwilling roommate while they try to figure out what to do with her so they can make their escape.
Meanwhile, Groombridge was busy fondling his 3000 pounds in a closet and takes the opportunity presented by the robbery to disappear as well. He runs away to London with his small fortune to finally realize his dream. He finds the perfect room in basement filled to the brim with books and also finds his ideal woman and settles down to enjoy her and her books. The setup is prefect--the police and his family believe that both he and Joyce have been snatched by the robbers, so no one is really hunting him for his embezzlement. But the chivalrous streak that makes Groombridge love the poetry and classic romances and tales of knights-errant won't allow him ignore clues to the robbers' identities when they present themselves. He can't quite bear to go to the police with his knowledge, after all they will make him give back the money and return to the bosom of his "loving" family, so he follows the trail himself hoping to concoct a story that will allow him to rescue Joyce and manage to maintain the new life he has begun to build.
Rendell gives us a dark drama filled with enough tragedy for a Shakespeare play. There are the pathetic, panicky bank robbers and poor Groombridge and his dismal homelife. The two bright spots are Joyce's strong character in the face of her imprisonment and the brief moments when Groombridge is allowed to live out his dream. This isn't really a mystery--there's no secret about who did what, but there is suspense in waiting to bind out if the robbers will be caught and what will happen to Joyce and Alan Groombridge. Rendell provides deft characterizations and superb, if rather bleak atmosphere. ★★★ and a half.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
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February 27, 20233.5⭐
Would have rated it lower if not for the ending...the remaining was mostly similar stuff as in her other books. The endings are always shocking so in a way, thats also similar :) I guess I am getting used (bored?) to the style from reading too many Ruth Rendells!
Would have rated it lower if not for the ending...the remaining was mostly similar stuff as in her other books. The endings are always shocking so in a way, thats also similar :) I guess I am getting used (bored?) to the style from reading too many Ruth Rendells!
February 12, 2021
Loved this one.
February 13, 2016
Not my favourite Ruth Rendell book.
The story centres around a bank robbery and the aftermath. The two inept robbers take the female teller with them. The bank manager takes this opportunity to abscond with the three thousand dollars in the safe, abandon his wife and children and try to make a new life for himself.
The two robbers are living on the edges of society and take Joyce, the teller, to live with them in their room in a house. They keep her, against her will, for over a week. During that time, one of the robbers becomes ill with cirrhosis of the liver and is hospitalised; the other one goes crazy and tries to negotiate with Joyce to let her have the money in exchange for two days head start to leave the country. Joyce refuses out of loyalty to the bank.
Meanwhile the bank manager, Allan, goes to live in a room in another, better house. He falls in love with the landlady, Oona, and decides to stay with her.
All the characters are awful in different ways. None of them evoke sympathy from this reader. A terrible ending.
The story centres around a bank robbery and the aftermath. The two inept robbers take the female teller with them. The bank manager takes this opportunity to abscond with the three thousand dollars in the safe, abandon his wife and children and try to make a new life for himself.
The two robbers are living on the edges of society and take Joyce, the teller, to live with them in their room in a house. They keep her, against her will, for over a week. During that time, one of the robbers becomes ill with cirrhosis of the liver and is hospitalised; the other one goes crazy and tries to negotiate with Joyce to let her have the money in exchange for two days head start to leave the country. Joyce refuses out of loyalty to the bank.
Meanwhile the bank manager, Allan, goes to live in a room in another, better house. He falls in love with the landlady, Oona, and decides to stay with her.
All the characters are awful in different ways. None of them evoke sympathy from this reader. A terrible ending.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 22, 2018
An assured, satisfying, standalone thriller from crime supremo Rendell about a dull bank manager who fantasises about a different life and sees an opportunity to achieve it when his branch is robbed. It’s the characters that make this, defiant bank teller Joyce, somewhat hapless robbers Marty and Nigel, and bank manager Alan. All 4 are believable and engaging, none of them perfect but all with enough that is sympathetic about them to make the reader really care what happens. The book was published in 1979 and the depressing backdrop of 70s Britain, filled with shallow dinner parties, casual racism and the shadow of the IRA is perfect for this bleak tale of crime, punishment and redemption. It’s an elegantly told, suspenseful tale, with no bloat at all in its 200-odd pages. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
June 15, 2015
I'm having another go at this 1979 Rendell novel, which I recall as one of her best. The thing is, although I liked it very much, I also seem to recall it as one of her gloomiest, as it plays out almost like a Greek tragedy. So, except for an aborted attempt within the past few years, I haven't re-read it since the late 1980s. Anyway, here goes. . .
01/09/11: Decided, after a few chapters, not to proceed with a re-read at this time, and am instead re-reading Agatha Christie's Ordeal By Innocence .
01/09/11: Decided, after a few chapters, not to proceed with a re-read at this time, and am instead re-reading Agatha Christie's Ordeal By Innocence .
May 21, 2017
I have an obsession with Rendell's crime novels. They are just so good. Different from any other type of crime writing I've read. Minette Walters comes very close, but in a different way. I think it is the creepiness factor more than anything else. Watching people slip into madness is just so disconcerting.
May 14, 2022
It is 1979 and Alan Groombridge, the manager of a small, provincial town bank, has a fantasy. One day, he’ll steal all the money from the bank’s safe and run away from his suffocating life. A life with a wife and children he no longer loves and doesn’t even like. But he only gets as far as taking the money out of the safe, when he is alone in the bank, putting the money in his pocket, fantasying about where that money will take him, before putting the money back. Then one day, as he holds the money from the safe, the bank is robbed at gunpoint. But these robbers, Marty and Nigel, are almost comically inept; they end up taking the bank’s cashier Joyce and one other employee hostage and leaving with a fraction of the bank’s money. On a wild impulse, Alan runs away with the rest of the money to fulfil his own fantasy.
This is only the premise of this novel.
This is no comic story of a failed bank robbery but instead a downward spiral of four characters swept up in a moment’s bad decision. Ruth Rendell charts these characters’ lives and bad decisions with spot-on physiological skill; her plot comes out of her characters’ psychology rather than forcing them into her plot. She unnervingly captures the changing dynamics in her characters’ relationships, the shifting power dynamics. An illegally acquired gun becomes a lightning rod for the power between three of the characters, corrupting and ultimately destroying them.
This isn’t a conventional crime novel, where a crime is committed and a detective must solve it. This is a novel about the effects of a crime, the effects it has on all the lives touched by that crime, the guilty and the innocent. Rendell wrote these psychological crime novels alongside her Chief Inspector Wexford detective novels and later alongside her Barbara Vine novels. At their best, and this novel is her at her best, these psychological novels are refreshingly interesting and darkly original, and several of them were her best novels.
Make Death Love Me is an uncomfortably original novel and, if you have never read one, a good place to start reading Rendell’s psychological crime novels.
This is only the premise of this novel.
This is no comic story of a failed bank robbery but instead a downward spiral of four characters swept up in a moment’s bad decision. Ruth Rendell charts these characters’ lives and bad decisions with spot-on physiological skill; her plot comes out of her characters’ psychology rather than forcing them into her plot. She unnervingly captures the changing dynamics in her characters’ relationships, the shifting power dynamics. An illegally acquired gun becomes a lightning rod for the power between three of the characters, corrupting and ultimately destroying them.
This isn’t a conventional crime novel, where a crime is committed and a detective must solve it. This is a novel about the effects of a crime, the effects it has on all the lives touched by that crime, the guilty and the innocent. Rendell wrote these psychological crime novels alongside her Chief Inspector Wexford detective novels and later alongside her Barbara Vine novels. At their best, and this novel is her at her best, these psychological novels are refreshingly interesting and darkly original, and several of them were her best novels.
Make Death Love Me is an uncomfortably original novel and, if you have never read one, a good place to start reading Rendell’s psychological crime novels.
December 20, 2009
an early Rendell and an enjoyable one.
She reminds me of Highsmith but Highsmith is much darker. Rendell has a real romantic streak. At least in this one (spoiler alert!) the new-found romance is short-lived...but that's because there is unfinished business which must be attended to (and which claims the would-be lover).
There, I've said little, explained nothing.
I think this romantic vein of hers gets stronger in the later novels.
In Rendell's books (I'm including her Barbara Vine novels), those who've never fallen in love or experienced real passion get to do so before they die (if they are worthy of course). There is a sort of righting of wrongs. The wife who was never loved by her husband, the husband who's only read about passion but never felt it...
In this way her books are as much romances as psychological mysteries. There are likely many readers who love her more for this. I'm not one of them (I'm already a bit of a mystery junkie, I'm not going to succumb to the romance genre as well!)
She reminds me of Highsmith but Highsmith is much darker. Rendell has a real romantic streak. At least in this one (spoiler alert!) the new-found romance is short-lived...but that's because there is unfinished business which must be attended to (and which claims the would-be lover).
There, I've said little, explained nothing.
I think this romantic vein of hers gets stronger in the later novels.
In Rendell's books (I'm including her Barbara Vine novels), those who've never fallen in love or experienced real passion get to do so before they die (if they are worthy of course). There is a sort of righting of wrongs. The wife who was never loved by her husband, the husband who's only read about passion but never felt it...
In this way her books are as much romances as psychological mysteries. There are likely many readers who love her more for this. I'm not one of them (I'm already a bit of a mystery junkie, I'm not going to succumb to the romance genre as well!)
September 23, 2015
The more I read Rendell's standalone novels, the more I love her descriptive abilities and the more I am confused by the arcs of her stories. This one, so far, has my least favorite ending (it's very abrupt and unsatisfying to my way of thinking) and, yet, I'm still glad I read it. (!) I think one thing I'm realizing about myself reading through Rendell's oeuvre is that I place a higher value on language and the experiences I have reading than I do on the beginning, middle and end of stories. If a book takes me somewhere that feels real and characters in their books feel real, I can sort of ignore weaknesses or offensive actions/behaviors/results which make up the story. Interesting.
June 7, 2012
You can't beat Rendell for a good British mystery! I love the way she spins a story, develops her characters, and ties the whole thing up neatly at the end.
November 5, 2020
Spoilers! I tend to forget the ending of books so my reviews are summaries for mainly myself. Also I listen to audiobooks so please excuse any misspelled names.
I wish I could give 3.5stars. Good story but I didn't like the ending. It ended how it should've but not what I wanted. Which is why I can't decide between 3&4 stars. I'm torn between rating based off my feelings or rating off the originality of the story.
Alan and Joyce work at the bank. Alan prefers losing himself in books to his own country life. Alan has had a propensity for taking out some cash and imagining a more adventurous life.
One day, while Alan is supposed to be at lunch, the bank is robbed by Nigel and Marty. They clear the safe and kidnap Joyce. During lunch Alan realizes he left his adventure cash in his desk and returns to the bank to put the money back in the safe. While in his office he hears the robbers enter and hides. With the bank robbed and Joyce taken, Alan sees this as his perfect escape. He takes the adventure money and goes to London letting everyone believe he was taken or killed by the robbers.
Alan arrives in London, finds out Paul's personal information for his new identity, finds a flat, and falls for his lovely landlady. One day Alan decides to walk past real Paul's house, and then winds up in a pub where he recognizes the voice of one of the robbers! With the knowledge that the robbers are close by Alan feels the need to at least try to save Joyce. He continues to watch the robbers house. Alan and the landlady decide to create a new life together away from their exes in the countryside.
Meanwhile the robbers, Marty and Nigel, hole up in Marty's flat with Joyce. Nigel tries to seduce Joyce and makes Marty go out and do all the shopping. Nigel thought Marty got a fake for the robbery but one night Joyce steals the gun and takes the safety off shooting at the wall. Having a real gun makes Nigel go crazy with power.
Marty gets very sick and is taken to hospital one day when he is out. Joyce and Nigel being deserted run out of food and starve for about a week. Finally the police find Marty but his contradictory web of lies does little for their case.
Realizing it's his last chance to try to save Joyce and live with the landlady guilt free, Alan decides to accost the robbers. He doesn't want landlady to realize he himself is a bank robber so he gets a briefcase to carry the money around with him all the time.
A neighbor lets Alan into the building and then he barges into the robbers flat. Nigel has Joyce tied up in another room but Joyce frees herself. Alan and Joyce try to leave but Nigel shoots them. Alan protects Joyce sacrificing his own life for her.
Nigel grabs his money from the robbery and Alan's briefcase. He gets into a car but having little driving experience he rear end another vehicle. Nigel tries to flee the scene but soon the other car catches up with him. The gang in the other car beat him up and he falls on glass....and dies. The police later find Nigel's body, and the car and ALL the money from the robbery.
TL;DR: everyone dies and the money goes back to the bank!!! (Joyce survives and Marty is arrested)
I wish I could give 3.5stars. Good story but I didn't like the ending. It ended how it should've but not what I wanted. Which is why I can't decide between 3&4 stars. I'm torn between rating based off my feelings or rating off the originality of the story.
Alan and Joyce work at the bank. Alan prefers losing himself in books to his own country life. Alan has had a propensity for taking out some cash and imagining a more adventurous life.
One day, while Alan is supposed to be at lunch, the bank is robbed by Nigel and Marty. They clear the safe and kidnap Joyce. During lunch Alan realizes he left his adventure cash in his desk and returns to the bank to put the money back in the safe. While in his office he hears the robbers enter and hides. With the bank robbed and Joyce taken, Alan sees this as his perfect escape. He takes the adventure money and goes to London letting everyone believe he was taken or killed by the robbers.
Alan arrives in London, finds out Paul's personal information for his new identity, finds a flat, and falls for his lovely landlady. One day Alan decides to walk past real Paul's house, and then winds up in a pub where he recognizes the voice of one of the robbers! With the knowledge that the robbers are close by Alan feels the need to at least try to save Joyce. He continues to watch the robbers house. Alan and the landlady decide to create a new life together away from their exes in the countryside.
Meanwhile the robbers, Marty and Nigel, hole up in Marty's flat with Joyce. Nigel tries to seduce Joyce and makes Marty go out and do all the shopping. Nigel thought Marty got a fake for the robbery but one night Joyce steals the gun and takes the safety off shooting at the wall. Having a real gun makes Nigel go crazy with power.
Marty gets very sick and is taken to hospital one day when he is out. Joyce and Nigel being deserted run out of food and starve for about a week. Finally the police find Marty but his contradictory web of lies does little for their case.
Realizing it's his last chance to try to save Joyce and live with the landlady guilt free, Alan decides to accost the robbers. He doesn't want landlady to realize he himself is a bank robber so he gets a briefcase to carry the money around with him all the time.
A neighbor lets Alan into the building and then he barges into the robbers flat. Nigel has Joyce tied up in another room but Joyce frees herself. Alan and Joyce try to leave but Nigel shoots them. Alan protects Joyce sacrificing his own life for her.
Nigel grabs his money from the robbery and Alan's briefcase. He gets into a car but having little driving experience he rear end another vehicle. Nigel tries to flee the scene but soon the other car catches up with him. The gang in the other car beat him up and he falls on glass....and dies. The police later find Nigel's body, and the car and ALL the money from the robbery.
TL;DR: everyone dies and the money goes back to the bank!!! (Joyce survives and Marty is arrested)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 12, 2023
"The next time I do fight
I'll make death love me; for I will contend
Even with his pestilent scythe"
Shakespeare (Antony & Cleopatra Act III scene 13)
This is a reread but a very much overdue one - I probably last read it in the late eighties, the point at which I rather went off her. I have been reading a lot of old favourites recently and have, sadly, been gravely disappointed with many of them; this is not the case here. I was as gripped by the story of a bodged bank raid, an absconding bank manager desperate to escape his suffocating life and the feisty bank teller held hostage by the two inept bank robbers as I was back then.
There were elements that seem strange now; an author whose name escapes me once wrote that you should never put actual amounts of money in your story; if it is still being read 40 years down the line it can date it more quickly than nearly anything and Ms Rendell indulged in this distracting practice quite a lot. However the book was first published in 1979 and there is a great deal about it which is strange to modern eyes, although to me it had almost a glow of nostalgia for an England as vanished as that of Agatha Christie.
I still found the way this book wound its way to the conclusion fairly compelling, with everything the four main characters did being laid out before us yet all the characters outside that circle being completely misled as what had actually happened. I was not, however, as impressed by this as I was all those years ago when I first read it. Then I was 'moving on' slightly from the Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers type of author and thought I had discovered somebody new, daring, insightful. Reading it now, although I was still gripped by the story as I was reading, I realise she was no such thing. Her characters are as hackneyed as anything her predecessors wrote and she used them over and over again. Her ending is clever - but not, really, in any way convincing if given a moment's thought.
I'll make death love me; for I will contend
Even with his pestilent scythe"
Shakespeare (Antony & Cleopatra Act III scene 13)
This is a reread but a very much overdue one - I probably last read it in the late eighties, the point at which I rather went off her. I have been reading a lot of old favourites recently and have, sadly, been gravely disappointed with many of them; this is not the case here. I was as gripped by the story of a bodged bank raid, an absconding bank manager desperate to escape his suffocating life and the feisty bank teller held hostage by the two inept bank robbers as I was back then.
There were elements that seem strange now; an author whose name escapes me once wrote that you should never put actual amounts of money in your story; if it is still being read 40 years down the line it can date it more quickly than nearly anything and Ms Rendell indulged in this distracting practice quite a lot. However the book was first published in 1979 and there is a great deal about it which is strange to modern eyes, although to me it had almost a glow of nostalgia for an England as vanished as that of Agatha Christie.
I still found the way this book wound its way to the conclusion fairly compelling, with everything the four main characters did being laid out before us yet all the characters outside that circle being completely misled as what had actually happened. I was not, however, as impressed by this as I was all those years ago when I first read it. Then I was 'moving on' slightly from the Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers type of author and thought I had discovered somebody new, daring, insightful. Reading it now, although I was still gripped by the story as I was reading, I realise she was no such thing. Her characters are as hackneyed as anything her predecessors wrote and she used them over and over again. Her ending is clever - but not, really, in any way convincing if given a moment's thought.
October 27, 2019
Tercer novela que leo de esta gran autora, y ya puedo establecer un patron. Evidentemente a Rendell le encanta meterse en la psicologia de sus personajes, sobre todo en sus asesinos. Utiliza la novela criminal con estructuras de trama perfectamente construidas, pero es un vehículo para enfocarse mas en porque tal personaje se desequilibra y termina cometiendo un delito. Siempre nos describe los origenes, las relaciones personales, las vivencias que lo marcaron, y con todo ese tapiz trata de explicar el contexto en el que se desarrolla el drama. En Me Parecia un Demonio veiamos la mente de un asesino serial, en Un Juicio de Piedra, una chica analfabeta sin sentimientos, ni remordimientos, aca es un empleado bancario que piensa provocar un defalco en el banco donde trabaja.
Casi no hay muertos hasta el final, la novela se centra en describir la personalidad de Alan Groombidge, para poder entender porque necesita llevarse los 3000 dolares de la caja, y asi empezar la vida que siempre soño, y no la que las circunstancias le llevaron a vivir. Pero una sucesion de hechos fortuitos va a complejizar su vida de manera irreversible.
Se nota que Rendell necesita empatizar con sus personajes cunado desarrolla una histoia, uno siente que ella intenta justificar las actitudes irracionales que cometen, tratando de mostrar que en esas circunstancias cualquiera de nosotros quizas hubiera hecho lo mismo.
Casi no hay muertos hasta el final, la novela se centra en describir la personalidad de Alan Groombidge, para poder entender porque necesita llevarse los 3000 dolares de la caja, y asi empezar la vida que siempre soño, y no la que las circunstancias le llevaron a vivir. Pero una sucesion de hechos fortuitos va a complejizar su vida de manera irreversible.
Se nota que Rendell necesita empatizar con sus personajes cunado desarrolla una histoia, uno siente que ella intenta justificar las actitudes irracionales que cometen, tratando de mostrar que en esas circunstancias cualquiera de nosotros quizas hubiera hecho lo mismo.
December 10, 2020
Make Death Love Me is the second of Ruth Rendell's standalone novels I've read, and I'm enjoying dipping my toe into her dark, witty and pleasantly-absurd brand of crime writing.
The story follows a bank manager, living a life of quiet desperation, who becomes embroiled in a heist. It's dated in some respects, but feels remarkably contemporary in others. Get rid of the Shakespearean title, slap a better cover on it, and this could sit on a shelf with all the other psychological thrillers in Tesco.
Rendell plumbs the depths of suburban ennui, with characters that are achingly realistic. Yes, it's about crime (and, wow, Rendell wraps up her caper with breathtaking ease), but it's also about psychological pain. Like I said: weirdly contemporary.
I did think that, while the beginning and end were excellent, Make Death Love Me suffered from a very slow midsection. The final flourish () also made me roll my eyes. But, in general, I found it a thought-provoking diversion. It won't be my last Rendell.
The story follows a bank manager, living a life of quiet desperation, who becomes embroiled in a heist. It's dated in some respects, but feels remarkably contemporary in others. Get rid of the Shakespearean title, slap a better cover on it, and this could sit on a shelf with all the other psychological thrillers in Tesco.
Rendell plumbs the depths of suburban ennui, with characters that are achingly realistic. Yes, it's about crime (and, wow, Rendell wraps up her caper with breathtaking ease), but it's also about psychological pain. Like I said: weirdly contemporary.
I did think that, while the beginning and end were excellent, Make Death Love Me suffered from a very slow midsection. The final flourish () also made me roll my eyes. But, in general, I found it a thought-provoking diversion. It won't be my last Rendell.
February 18, 2024
Made Death Love Me is a better-than-average murder story. I can't call it a mystery, because the focus is on the criminals, and we see every step of their crimes--we know exactly what happened. I can't call it a detective story, for the same reason. Police activity is mentioned in brief form, and only toward the end of the book.
I tagged the book as "from my lists,", but in this case it was from my video list, where it had been for about 15 years. I thought it had been described as DVD, and requested it in that form from Netflix and from the service I subscribed to before that, Greencine. I have since looked for the remnant of that list in all the video services my library provides, and still didn't fine it. I gave up, and borrowed it as an audiobook! Glad I did!
In the meantime, I did find a short series of other Ruth Rendell stories on one of our streaming services, four stories done is two episodes each. It was good!
I tagged the book as "from my lists,", but in this case it was from my video list, where it had been for about 15 years. I thought it had been described as DVD, and requested it in that form from Netflix and from the service I subscribed to before that, Greencine. I have since looked for the remnant of that list in all the video services my library provides, and still didn't fine it. I gave up, and borrowed it as an audiobook! Glad I did!
In the meantime, I did find a short series of other Ruth Rendell stories on one of our streaming services, four stories done is two episodes each. It was good!
November 29, 2021
Published in 1979, this is a typical Ruth Rendell crime novel, concentrating on characters who possess a dubious moral compass.
Alan Groombridge was in a boring job, acting as a small bank’s branch manager, living out a tedious existence with Alison, a wife he didn’t like, and two ungrateful children. So he fantasised about stealing from his bank and living in freedom, even going so far as to take out £3,000 from the safe and sequester (briefly) in his desk. Then, one day, while he is indulging his fantasy, the bank is robbed, and Alan’s assistant Joyce is kidnapped by the robbers. Alan had managed to hide and decides to disappear as well, taking the money from the drawer…
As ever, the plot is cleverly constructed and the gradual disintegration of the robbers, Nigel and Marty, is fascinating.
Alan Groombridge was in a boring job, acting as a small bank’s branch manager, living out a tedious existence with Alison, a wife he didn’t like, and two ungrateful children. So he fantasised about stealing from his bank and living in freedom, even going so far as to take out £3,000 from the safe and sequester (briefly) in his desk. Then, one day, while he is indulging his fantasy, the bank is robbed, and Alan’s assistant Joyce is kidnapped by the robbers. Alan had managed to hide and decides to disappear as well, taking the money from the drawer…
As ever, the plot is cleverly constructed and the gradual disintegration of the robbers, Nigel and Marty, is fascinating.
August 19, 2020
Alan is a bank manager who yearns to break free of the monotony. He wants the romance of books and to see that all life has to offer without the chains of his wife. An opportunity arises when there's a robbery and he disappears. Alan is punished in the end for the crime and I love how the story ends in a way happily for everyone. That is Alan lives the other life he yearned for. He gets this fascinating love. Una is in her bubble unaware but still hopeful... she's the one I feel most sorry for.
The bank robbers meet their fate.
Overall, I thought Alan was much older and the initial story so slow but necessary to understand why he did what he did. Nicely done. I'll read more by this author.
The bank robbers meet their fate.
Overall, I thought Alan was much older and the initial story so slow but necessary to understand why he did what he did. Nicely done. I'll read more by this author.
May 17, 2024
Adoro a forma como Ruth Rendell desenvolve as suas personagens.
As personagens meticulosamente construídas ganham vida em ambientes detalhadamente descritos e situações intricadas, muitas vezes provocadas pelas suas próprias ações.
Pessoas comuns a realizar atividades quotidianas são subitamente envolvidas nas situações mais inusitadas.
Coisas simples que muitas vezes levam a desfechos catastróficos.
Uma profunda jornada de reflexão da condição humana.
Uma história muito triste de alguém que deseja mudar a sua vida.
Uma leitura que recomendo para os fãs deste género e para quem aprecia uma boa narrativa sobre a complexidade das relações humanas e as consequências dos nossos actos.
As personagens meticulosamente construídas ganham vida em ambientes detalhadamente descritos e situações intricadas, muitas vezes provocadas pelas suas próprias ações.
Pessoas comuns a realizar atividades quotidianas são subitamente envolvidas nas situações mais inusitadas.
Coisas simples que muitas vezes levam a desfechos catastróficos.
Uma profunda jornada de reflexão da condição humana.
Uma história muito triste de alguém que deseja mudar a sua vida.
Uma leitura que recomendo para os fãs deste género e para quem aprecia uma boa narrativa sobre a complexidade das relações humanas e as consequências dos nossos actos.
February 20, 2021
Classic Rendell psychological novel from 1979 and it travels well. Yes, some of it would be considered politically "un-woke" today. but the writing is terrific and the story is perfect tension. Rendell's books are not "who did it?" in any sense. You know what's done, what should have been done, but have no idea what's happening next. In this book, the cast of characters is more Elmore Leonard-ish...small time criminals, with petty dreams and smaller brains.
September 1, 2022
Another brilliant read by Rendell. I just love her character development. She presents mundane people doing mundane things who get caught up in the most unusual situations. Her plots are amazing too. Simple things leading to catastrophic outcomes.
I liked the way this one finished. It was so neat and tidy at the end. I did wonder about Marty though, left to carry the can and no-one would have believed him if he had told the truth. Poor Marty!
I liked the way this one finished. It was so neat and tidy at the end. I did wonder about Marty though, left to carry the can and no-one would have believed him if he had told the truth. Poor Marty!
July 6, 2024
The title comes from Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, Act 3, Scene 13, which is quoted in the closing scenes of the novel (p. 207) and applied to the actions of Alan Groombridge, the bank manager for whom the literature he reads becomes more real than his own life as a husband, father, and bank manager.
In the play, Antony says,
"The next time I do fight,
I'll make death love me; for I will contend
Even with his pestilent scythe."
In the play, Antony says,
"The next time I do fight,
I'll make death love me; for I will contend
Even with his pestilent scythe."
May 29, 2025
When I first began reading mysteries, I began with all the classic writers; Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Ruth Rendell, Martha Grimes, etc. With the introduction to each new detective, I read all of the books by these writers I could find. I recommend any reader who has never read a mystery to begin with these writers and see how far the genre has advanced.
September 17, 2025
*Not one of my Rendell favorites. Such a good premise, but still, it lacked.
Definitely enjoyed this quote: "Her mother used to make a joke about this fashion of getting oneself clean, saying that one washed down as far as possible and up as far as possible but what happened to poor possible?" (69). *It was great already and the inclusion of "poor" made it transcendent. Well done, Ms. Rendell.
Definitely enjoyed this quote: "Her mother used to make a joke about this fashion of getting oneself clean, saying that one washed down as far as possible and up as far as possible but what happened to poor possible?" (69). *It was great already and the inclusion of "poor" made it transcendent. Well done, Ms. Rendell.
June 19, 2020
Fair?y enjoyable but a lot of unnecessary text in my opinion. Good, surprising ending.
Quite enjoyable but a lot of unnecessary text I thought. Surprising ending. I liked the almost dark humour. Would actually have given 3 & half stars if able
Quite enjoyable but a lot of unnecessary text I thought. Surprising ending. I liked the almost dark humour. Would actually have given 3 & half stars if able
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