Vine homophobic as usual, 03 Dec 2008
A deeply homophobic book which centres on a wildly improbable plot of identical brother and sister twins. The central male character (impossibly beautiful, we're constantly told, but I never believed it for a moment) has relationships with both. Identical relationships, except when described with the women it is ecstatic and romantic, when described with the man dark, tortured and vaguely kinky. I had to read this for my Book Club and resented every moment.

Least enjoyable of all Ruth Rendall's books, 15 Jul 2008
Having enjoyed pretty much all of Barbara Vine's other books, this was a big disappointment - too 'tricksy' and self-consciously clever and I really didn't care what happened to any of the odious characters!

Ruth Rendell prejudiced? Absurd!, 28 Feb 2007
I felt I had to repudiate the ridiculous assertions made in the previous review. Ruth Rendell has been an active gay rights campaigner for decades; she frequently deals with issues of sexuality in her books and it is always with great sympathy and sensitivity. The reviewer below claims there are no happy gay couples in the Rendell / Vine books (in fact, there is a such a couple in Asta's Book)- well, are there many happy straight couples in her books either? Considering the dark tone and subject matter of her fiction, would anyone expect to find them populated with happy couples of either preference? Besides, Rendell clearly wants to highlight some of the injustices that gay men and women face through her work, and an endless parade of blissful relationships would hardly serve the purpose. I suggest the reviewer vents his anger upon a source of genuine homophobia, instead of directing his paranoid accusations against a writer who has shown nothing but sympathy for the gay community throughout her career.


Beautiful but prejudiced, 14 Feb 2007
As a gay man I was reluctant to read this book, despite being a deeply appreciative reader of Rendell/Vine for years. The story is beautifully told, as we would expect from Rendell, but once again a familar theme of latent homophobia builds and builds throughout her text. Has anyone else, I wonder, ever noticed how Rendell/Vine's gay men always fall into two categories and end up meeting two fates? The happy ones get killed, often horribly: Desmond in 'The Chimney Sweeper's Boy' beaten to death, Peter, 'King Solomon's Carpet' riddled with AIDS, Ivo, in this work, stabbed to death very conveniently for the suddenly-heterosexual hero. We'll gloss over the hinted-at but similarlly violently truncated relationship between Henry Nanther and Richard Hamillton (train disaster doing for Richard) in 'The Blood Doctor'. The unhappy ones get magically, and implausibly, straightened out: Gerald, 'The Chimney Sweeper's Boy', for example, and here again, the character Tim, who ends up practically making love to his new-found heterosexual lover over Ivo's corpse. Given the enormous sensitivity of this writer of intelligence, one wonders what it is that leaves her incapable of producing a single work where a suceessful gay relationship is portrayed. In this book, the violence against the character Ivo isn't even necessary and seems only included to tidy things up so that the smuggly triumphant Tim and Ivo's sister can have their straight happy-ever-after. Sorry, but this book is little more than old prejudices romantically repackaged, fit only for straight readers thinking themselves liberal - just so long as the gay guy ends up dead. Again.

Some Books Are Too Short, 25 Feb 2004
After reading the very first chapter, I knew i was going to love this book. I was mesmersised by the first chapter, and already felt so involved in the story that it was unbelieveable. I've long been aware of Rendell's genius, but this was a shock even for me.

The story actually moves pretty slowly, but the suspense and tension is just unbearable. You know very well that cataclysmic events are going to occur, but of how and when you know nothing. The sense of wonderment you feel at Rendell (in any of her incarnations) is simply awe-inspiring. You read and read and read, completely unable to tear your eyes from the story, even though its moving with a slow pace. Its thrilling, suspenseful and beautifully tense. And I loved it.

The plot is simple - a telling of how a gay love-affair leads to the chill Pacific north, and fromt hence to murder - but very strong. There are good, strong, simple, sensible, realistic twists. They turn the story once or twice, adding just the right amoung of freshness and surprise.

The characters are superbly well drawn and believeable. and quite likeable, despite their flaws. The completely unsettling thing about Rendell's books are the fact that, in this case at least, the people seem quite, quite normal. Tim is just a normal young man, struggling with his identity and sexuality, experiencing the world for what it really is. He's nothing special. Has no psychological abnormalities, is not in any damaged And yet he is driven to murder. This novel is a bravura display of how circumstances can drive people to commit horrible deeds. Quite sane, normal people, slowly taken hold of.

This is a wonderful book. A masterpiece. The writing is just first class, cold, icy, gripping, and the descriptions of the places in which this novel are set are simply stunning. I have never been to Alaska (in particular) but through her descriptions i found myself transported there. And now, my window to it is closed, I want to visit it. It's a desire that should pass in a few days, but it's a powerful thing to feel simply after reading a book. No Night is Too Long is a dark, icy wasteland of a novel; an erotic and disturbing slice of Rendell's dangeorus world.

I would reccomend this to everyone. I have in the past held of reading Barbara Vine, because i assumed that they would be something very different. So different as to need publishing under a different name. My, though, was I wrong. After all, a Rendell by any other name is still a Rendell. These books still contain the intensity of subtle plot, great characters, good twists, and all the things I expect from Rendell. It has been months since i've read anything new by her, and now i have discovered this new rich casket of wonders, my future in reading looks very bright indeed.

Vine homophobic as usual, 03 Dec 2008
A deeply homophobic book which centres on a wildly improbable plot of identical brother and sister twins. The central male character (impossibly beautiful, we're constantly told, but I never believed it for a moment) has relationships with both. Identical relationships, except when described with the women it is ecstatic and romantic, when described with the man dark, tortured and vaguely kinky. I had to read this for my Book Club and resented every moment.

Least enjoyable of all Ruth Rendall's books, 15 Jul 2008
Having enjoyed pretty much all of Barbara Vine's other books, this was a big disappointment - too 'tricksy' and self-consciously clever and I really didn't care what happened to any of the odious characters!

Ruth Rendell prejudiced? Absurd!, 28 Feb 2007
I felt I had to repudiate the ridiculous assertions made in the previous review. Ruth Rendell has been an active gay rights campaigner for decades; she frequently deals with issues of sexuality in her books and it is always with great sympathy and sensitivity. The reviewer below claims there are no happy gay couples in the Rendell / Vine books (in fact, there is a such a couple in Asta's Book)- well, are there many happy straight couples in her books either? Considering the dark tone and subject matter of her fiction, would anyone expect to find them populated with happy couples of either preference? Besides, Rendell clearly wants to highlight some of the injustices that gay men and women face through her work, and an endless parade of blissful relationships would hardly serve the purpose. I suggest the reviewer vents his anger upon a source of genuine homophobia, instead of directing his paranoid accusations against a writer who has shown nothing but sympathy for the gay community throughout her career.


Beautiful but prejudiced, 14 Feb 2007
As a gay man I was reluctant to read this book, despite being a deeply appreciative reader of Rendell/Vine for years. The story is beautifully told, as we would expect from Rendell, but once again a familar theme of latent homophobia builds and builds throughout her text. Has anyone else, I wonder, ever noticed how Rendell/Vine's gay men always fall into two categories and end up meeting two fates? The happy ones get killed, often horribly: Desmond in 'The Chimney Sweeper's Boy' beaten to death, Peter, 'King Solomon's Carpet' riddled with AIDS, Ivo, in this work, stabbed to death very conveniently for the suddenly-heterosexual hero. We'll gloss over the hinted-at but similarlly violently truncated relationship between Henry Nanther and Richard Hamillton (train disaster doing for Richard) in 'The Blood Doctor'. The unhappy ones get magically, and implausibly, straightened out: Gerald, 'The Chimney Sweeper's Boy', for example, and here again, the character Tim, who ends up practically making love to his new-found heterosexual lover over Ivo's corpse. Given the enormous sensitivity of this writer of intelligence, one wonders what it is that leaves her incapable of producing a single work where a suceessful gay relationship is portrayed. In this book, the violence against the character Ivo isn't even necessary and seems only included to tidy things up so that the smuggly triumphant Tim and Ivo's sister can have their straight happy-ever-after. Sorry, but this book is little more than old prejudices romantically repackaged, fit only for straight readers thinking themselves liberal - just so long as the gay guy ends up dead. Again.

Some Books Are Too Short, 25 Feb 2004
After reading the very first chapter, I knew i was going to love this book. I was mesmersised by the first chapter, and already felt so involved in the story that it was unbelieveable. I've long been aware of Rendell's genius, but this was a shock even for me.

The story actually moves pretty slowly, but the suspense and tension is just unbearable. You know very well that cataclysmic events are going to occur, but of how and when you know nothing. The sense of wonderment you feel at Rendell (in any of her incarnations) is simply awe-inspiring. You read and read and read, completely unable to tear your eyes from the story, even though its moving with a slow pace. Its thrilling, suspenseful and beautifully tense. And I loved it.

The plot is simple - a telling of how a gay love-affair leads to the chill Pacific north, and fromt hence to murder - but very strong. There are good, strong, simple, sensible, realistic twists. They turn the story once or twice, adding just the right amoung of freshness and surprise.

The characters are superbly well drawn and believeable. and quite likeable, despite their flaws. The completely unsettling thing about Rendell's books are the fact that, in this case at least, the people seem quite, quite normal. Tim is just a normal young man, struggling with his identity and sexuality, experiencing the world for what it really is. He's nothing special. Has no psychological abnormalities, is not in any damaged And yet he is driven to murder. This novel is a bravura display of how circumstances can drive people to commit horrible deeds. Quite sane, normal people, slowly taken hold of.

This is a wonderful book. A masterpiece. The writing is just first class, cold, icy, gripping, and the descriptions of the places in which this novel are set are simply stunning. I have never been to Alaska (in particular) but through her descriptions i found myself transported there. And now, my window to it is closed, I want to visit it. It's a desire that should pass in a few days, but it's a powerful thing to feel simply after reading a book. No Night is Too Long is a dark, icy wasteland of a novel; an erotic and disturbing slice of Rendell's dangeorus world.

I would reccomend this to everyone. I have in the past held of reading Barbara Vine, because i assumed that they would be something very different. So different as to need publishing under a different name. My, though, was I wrong. After all, a Rendell by any other name is still a Rendell. These books still contain the intensity of subtle plot, great characters, good twists, and all the things I expect from Rendell. It has been months since i've read anything new by her, and now i have discovered this new rich casket of wonders, my future in reading looks very bright indeed.

Vine/Rendell at her very best, 02 Aug 2007
Masterfully written, this is the story of a group of young students who gather to spend a long, blazing hot summer vacation at Wyvis Hall in Suffolk, the recently inherited house of medical student Adam Verne-Smith. This hypnotic tale is told mostly through flashback, the threads pulling together gradually and inexorably, weaving the past and present towards a stunning climax. Menace is present from the opening line to the startling denouement. Vine has created a living, breathing world as only she can; this tale of greed and frailty, disaster and triumph places human nature under the microscope and while none of the characters is particularly likeable you are drawn into their worlds as the tale unfolds. The story will imprint itself on your mind long after you have read the final page. One of my Desert Island must haves.

A banal plot, 01 Feb 2007
During the summer of 1976, Adam Verne-Smith inherits a big old country house in Suffolk, Wyvis Hall. He collects around him a group of shady and careless young people: Rufus, Shiva, Vivien and Zosie. With carelessness of youth they plunder, steal, pawn, scavenge and sell the family heirlooms. In 1986 the bodies of a young woman and child are discovered in a strange animal cemetery by the owners of Wyvis Hall. Adam, Rufus and the others have reasons to fear as the truth about what happened at Wyvis Hall in 1976 slowly comes to light.
The characters are not particularly well drawn, the plot a succession of banal events. Although Mrs Vine is interested in borderline personalities, the psychology of her characters in this novel can be described as uninteresting at best.
The only pleasure about the novel is the very good way William Gaminara reads it for Chivers Audiobooks.

Ten Years After..., 01 Jul 2006
A Fatal Inversion is among Barbara Vine's most creepy and atmospheric novels. From the start of the first chapter, death casts its ominous shadow over the entire novel, when Adam, Rufus and Shiva, now three grown men in their thirties are forced to confront something terrible and tragic that took place ten years previously, when they lived together in a commune at Wyvis Hall in Suffolk in the sweltering summer of 1976.

The group of young people who come to inhabit `Ecalpemos', a Georgian mansion, inherited from his Great Uncle by 19-year-old Adam Verne-Smith, are by no means likeable characters - hedonistic, selfish, arrogant, manipulative, weak - yet you become intensely caught up in their world and the landscape of their individual psychologies. Then the wheel of fate is set in motion with the arrival of the seemingly mysterious, disturbed and child-like Zosie. Barbara Vine writes about dysfunctional individuals in a unique way that imbues the mundane with chilling significance.

As ever, with Barbara Vine, buildings and landscape take on a dark and sinister aspect, even as the hot summer sun of '76 beats down, and Vine's Suffolk countryside is at times as menacing and uncanny as that of M.R. James. More than just a crime and mystery novel, this book makes you think about human conscience, lack of it, deception, innocence, guilt, and the hard truth that in life, the amoral do not always get their just deserts.


Absolutely enthralling...., 19 Oct 2003
I had already read a couple of Barbara Vine novels before reading this one, and although I thought the others were good, for me this is the masterpiece: enthralling and unputdownable. The plot is totally original and as you put the pieces together you realise how well crafted the storyline is. The ending is fantastic. A must read.

Once again a great novel!, 06 Jan 2001
This is another of Rendell/Vine's classic books. It is so much more than a whodunit or a whyduunit; the wide variety of characters is very memorable and the reader learns a lot about each of their torment. This is a must-read. And the final twist is absolutely incredible!