A Judgement In Stone by Ruth Rendell

So here we encounter the problem of having reading goals. Maybe I should do a post about it at some time. But for now, let me just say that The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton and my work schedule had me feeling a tad concerned about my reading stats. I had spent a week on a book! How dare I? I needed to catch up! Make some progress! Read something short! So I picked up A Judgement In Stone by Ruth Rendell. It was, after all, only 218 pages. In other words, a quarter of the length of The Luminaries (if one takes font size into account).

Eunice Parchman, the housekeeper, kills the family that she is working for. That isn't a spoiler, unless discussing the first chapter (which is a whopping 2 pages long) counts as spoiling. The question isn't who did it, but WHY? If you're curious, I suggest you read the book.

So I am overcoming the temptation of just leaving this review at the end of the previous paragraph (which I thought would be funny but acknowledged would also be pointless).

This was an interesting story, unusually done. As I said, in the first chapter, the outcome is revealed. We know who committed the murders and to some extent why. We just don't know what actually triggered the murders. And as a result, Rendell actually keeps one glued to the pages. This book was suspenseful and believable.

The characters she created in here were also quite impressive. I found myself even caring for the murderer occasionally - which says quite a lot. OK, perhaps 'caring for her' is a bit of a stretch. I did sympathise with her though. There were also times when I found the victims a bit annoying - but then, was I seeing them through the eyes of the murderer?

Having said that though, I have so far preferred the one and only Wexford crime novel I have read. While she does pull off these weird psychological crime thrillers quite well (I am referring to The Killing Doll which I read earlier this month - Was that this month? I thought it was ages ago!), I have not felt that they are as enjoyable as the crime series with Inspector Wexford. I have another Wexford here, and I am going to give it a go soon. But I must confess that I will not be fighting off crowds to buy more of her books.

A decent read. Not perhaps one on the top of my recommendation pile, but for a book I got at a super reasonable price, it kept me occupied for a few hours. I gave this a 3 star rating on Goodreads, and a 2.5 rating on my own records. It was decent, not fantastic.