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Original poster

Anything like Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine?

32 replies

29Palms · 04/05/2017 23:07

Ruth Rendell was my favourite author. It was the standalone psychological novels I loved, rather than the Wexford detective ones. She had a way of creating tension as you followed her various characters, knowing that their paths would cross in such a way that something bad was bound to result ..... Or the retrospective ones where something terrible had happened, but you didn't know what it was until the story was cunningly unfolded.

I would love to think that there is someone out there with a similar touch to Ruth's. Can anyone recommend any authors?

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SinisterBumFacedCat · 05/06/2017 19:35

Grasshopper and Minatour are my favourites. Brilliant writer.

SuckingEggs · 03/06/2017 00:44

Loved loved loved BV. Also miss her hugely.

Will re-read them all - thanks for the prompt OP. I've never found anyone like her tbh.

squoosh · 02/06/2017 20:36

Oh I love her Barbara Vine books especially Asta's Book and A Dark Adapted Eye. Have you read Josephine Tey, I'm sure she must have been an influence on Rendell/Vine.

CarmenWedmore · 02/06/2017 20:27

I honestly don't think there is another author out there who can compare to Rendell/Vine! So many of her books are in my top ten and I read them again and again.

Good luck in your search though!

Booksandcrocheting · 01/06/2017 15:41

yes I thought if you didn't get on with Blacklands, you were unlikely to enjoy any of her other books.

BestIsWest · 31/05/2017 15:40

I'm still reading my way through the Wexford books in reverse order and I still think they are wonderful. He's so lovely. I'm on The Speaker of Mandarin now. The way she manages to combine the issues off the day with the story is great - treehuggers, Greenham, radical feminism etc. I'm not bored with them yet.

tormentil · 31/05/2017 15:35

I second the Karin Fossum recommendation - the writing is spare and understated. A good read.

Hannabananarama · 31/05/2017 11:12

Oh I adored RR. Her last books were disappointing (she would have been rather elderly by then, I suppose) but at the height of her power she was peerless.

A Dark Adapted Eye is my favourite, but No Night is Too Long is wonderful, and I really rate The Brimstone Wedding too.

I found Alex Marwell to be quite Rendellian, and I enjoyed Tana French too.

Original poster
29Palms · 30/05/2017 16:52

Sorry to say I thought 'The Shut Eye' was poor. One-dimensional characters and not much of a plot. Dreadful ending, implausible, no proper explanations, loose ends ....
Not sure that I'll bother with any more of hers.

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Original poster
29Palms · 25/05/2017 09:55

Oh dear Sad I hated Blacklands, the chapters from the POV of the killer were repulsive. A far cry from the subtle way Patricia Highsmith draws you in to Ripley's world. It also came over as very dated, it felt as though it was set in the 1970s, rather than present day.

I will try a couple more though.

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BestIsWest · 24/05/2017 22:11

I think The Shuteye was the weakest Belinda Bauer.

Booksandcrocheting · 24/05/2017 18:52

Interesting to see what you make of The Shut Eye, I think Blacklands is the strongest of the four books of hers I have read.

You might like Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent, or The Long Drop by Denise Mina, or Karin Fossum's books (Like Rendell she has a police series and some standalones) or The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson.

Original poster
29Palms · 24/05/2017 15:33

I read all of Patricia Highsmith years ago, good shout! She is certainly fit to share a shelf with Ruth. The Ripley ones are fascinating in how she makes a bad guy the hero. I've enjoyed all her novels, and the short stories too.

Currently reading Belinda Bauer, picked up the only two in the library. Started with Blacklands but did not enjoy it, but made allowances as it is a first novel. Just started The Shut Eye.

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Booksandcrocheting · 24/05/2017 08:31

Patricia Highsmith's Ripley series?

futuristic1 · 19/05/2017 14:40

Have you read No Night is too Long - Barbara Vine?

Amazing, brilliant book - her best I think.

Original poster
29Palms · 15/05/2017 13:56

Hi Hoolio, yes I have read Kate Atkinson, but I'm not keen on series where the detective has a lot of baggage and ongoing personal stuff. I just like a good story! I liked Kate's first novel, but haven't enjoyed any of the others as much. The last one I read was 'Life After Life' but I must admit I got rather bored with it, it was like Groundhog Day.

I haven't read any Sabine Durrant, so thanks for the tip.

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hooliodancer · 13/05/2017 20:14

Nicci French is nothing like RR in my humble.

I have really enjoyed the books I've read by Sabine Durrant, I wish she'd write some more.

Ann Cleeves? Again, not as good, but I like the Vera series.

My favourite is A Fatal Inversion. I totally loved it. Nothing else I've read comes close to Ruth though.

Have you read Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie books?

OutToGetYou · 08/05/2017 11:22

I agree, used to like Walters, but they got a bit samey - phoning it in! (like Grisham!).

Original poster
29Palms · 08/05/2017 11:08

Minette Walters' first three novels are excellent, but I didn't enjoy the later ones so much and a couple of them I thought were awful.

In the same way I used to look forward to Robert Goddard, his 1980s/90s novels are terrific. But they started to decline after that, and frankly I find it hard to believe they are written by the same person, the style is so different.

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hollyisalovelyname · 07/05/2017 11:03

Minette Walters books

OutToGetYou · 06/05/2017 09:43

I like Sayers, of course not the thriller you get from Rendell/Vine but a good mystery usually.

I always think people who rave on about books like The Girl On The Train really ought to go back and read some Rendell, she's so much better!

Original poster
29Palms · 05/05/2017 22:32

I really enjoyed early PD James, but not the later ones as I found her style became awfully turgid and pompous, and the books padded and over-long.

That's just reminded me of Margaret Yorke, whose books I used to find in the library around the same time. I must have a look and see if there are any I haven't read, because her characters and situations were often the kind you might meet in a Rendell novel.

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NataliaOsipova · 05/05/2017 22:20

PD James? Different writing style but still a gripping read.

BestIsWest · 05/05/2017 22:19

Yes, I read the Vault last week (a re-read). Agree, an original idea.

Original poster
29Palms · 05/05/2017 22:07

I thought 'The Vault' was a very original idea, taking Wexford to the crime scene of an old non-Wexford book! Ruth did struggle with Wexford's age in the later books. I always thought it would have been good to take him back in time to some old cases, there's no law that says the books had to be chronological.

Nikki French, I've read a few but no recent ones.

Belinda Bauer sounds promising, I shall look out for those.

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