At
84, Ruth Rendell’s writing career has now spanned 50 years and
encompassed well over that number of crime/mystery novels – both police
procedural type stories featuring
the popular Reg Wexford, and more stand-alone psychological novels - and
short story collections, including those written as Barbara Vine.
That’s quite an achievement. Although my reading career doesn’t quite
stretch to 50 years (I think I first discovered
Ruth Rendell in the early ‘90s) I’m fairly sure I’ve read all of them at
some point – though some longer-ago ones are definitely due a re-read –
and a new book is always an event to be eagerly anticipated. Rendell
never fails to deliver a good read, even if
some of her earlier works were perhaps more memorable than some more
recent ones. Overall though there is no doubt that she has produced a
remarkable body of work over those fifty years.
“The
Girl Next Door” is perhaps the Rendell novel with the least entitlement
to call itself a crime or mystery novel, although a crime certainly
features, and right
at the beginning too, almost as if it has to be got out of the way
before the real business of the story gets started. There’s little
mystery about it, however. In the very first chapter we learn what crime
has been committed (murder, of course), who committed
it (a very unpleasant man), why he committed it (because he was a very
unpleasant man, more or less), and the identity of one of the two
victims. Taking place in the 1940s, the crime goes undetected for many
years until the grisly discovery in the present day,
or near to it (judging by the ages of the characters it’s more like 2008
or 2009), of two severed hands in a box, long hidden. There is a police
investigation, but this is far from the focus of the novel, and all
that really remains to be determined for the
reader is whether and, if so, how the now very elderly perpetrator will
be brought to justice, and the exact identity of the other victim.
The
murder, or rather its discovery after many years, really serves as a
plot device to bring back together the main characters – the now-elderly
people who as children
in the ‘40s played in underground tunnels - named, by them, “qanats”
because it sounded more exciting - in the area (a place called
Loughton, “twelve miles from London but almost in the country”). This is
quite a large cast of characters and I did find it
a little confusing to remember who was who, particularly the Batchelor
brothers and their various wives. However, the main focus is on a few
characters – Alan and Rosemary, now many years married; Michael, the son
of the murderer; and still-glamorous Daphne,
the “girl next door” of the title, with the others playing more
subsidiary roles. The relationships between these characters form the
main substance of the story and it is refreshing to read a story which
focuses almost entirely on the lives, emotions and shifting
relationships of older people, all interconnected and leading in
different directions rather like those tunnels of the past. My favourite
character was Michael, and I found the depiction of his character and
situation to be quite moving. The other characters
were also believable, though I am not entirely sure what purpose was
served by the eventual reveal of an unsavoury aspect of Daphne’s past.
The character of Clara Moss, former cleaning lady to Michael’s family,
was a delight and provided some very touching
moments. The murderer – that unpleasant man who has evidently become no
less unpleasant with age – also features and I found him to be quite a
memorable character even though no real reasons emerge for why he is the
way he is.
As
ever, Ruth Rendell’s writing flows seamlessly and contains many acute
observations, though a rather trying quirk here is the author’s –
through the characters’
– constant references to things she (erroneously, in my view) believes
nobody under the age of sixty says any more – “chemist’s shop”, “what’s
the matter”, “twenty to five” etc. I may not be in the first bloom of
youth any more but I am still well under sixty
and can say all of these things without a second thought. Surely I can’t
be the only one? Undoubtedly there are some terms and phrases which
have fallen out of usage over a couple of generations, but I don’t
generally think these are among them. Perhaps some
will disagree. Thankfully there is less harping on here about the
supposed obsession of everyone with speaking in a “politically correct”
manner, which did become quite wearing in a couple of previous books (I
really don’t think most people give it that much
thought, whatever the Daily Mail would have you believe). I think the
subject only gets one mention here and I do hope Ruth Rendell gives it a
rest in future.
Though
Rendell is now in her 80s I think this is the first book she has
written to focus almost exclusively on people of a similar age group
(though there are younger
characters – mainly the children and grandchildren of the main
protagonists – they play more minor roles), and clearly she brings her
own experience of ageing to bear on her portrayal of the characters.
It’s a welcome change and if Rendell chooses to focus
future novels on her own generation of characters, I will be quite happy
about that.
This
is a very readable and enjoyable if in some ways rather odd book, much
less about the investigation of a long-ago crime than about rekindled
romance, unforeseen
consequences and changing relationships among a group of elderly people
– for all of whom the past casts a long shadow.
Recommended.
I
was kindly provided with a free copy of this book from the publishers,
Random House UK, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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