[.ca] Adam and Eve and Pinch Me (ISBN 0770428983)

From Amazon.com:
In Adam and Eve and Pinch Me, the mills of the gods appear to have ground Jock Lewis to dust--or have they? Jock's obsessive-compulsive girlfriend, Minty, thinks he was killed in a train crash and is tormented by his ghost. But the cheerfully amoral Jock--AKA Jerry Leach and Jeff Leigh, depending on which woman he's romancing--faked his death to move on to yet another unsuspecting lady. His one legal wife has swept their union hastily under the rug and married a conservative member of Parliament, who has his own urgent secrets. Jock's most recent fiancée, a successful banker, hasn't minded keeping him in the manner to which he's become accustomed--that is, until the day he doesn't come home. When his body is found in a cinema, the intersections of his past collapse in a way that destroys some lives and rebuilds others. Adam and Eve and Pinch Me is no whodunit: the murderer is known from the outset. The suspense arises from the uncertainty of whether justice will be served. That deftly handled angle draws the reader into the book, while Ruth Rendell's famously acute insight into all forms of borderline madness makes it all so believably chilling. --Barrie Trinkle

new ground:
Yes, this latest by Ruth Rendell is breaking new ground for her, and we can understand her interest in exploring new territory, but this story doesn't have the tight plotting and exciting mysteries of her famous Inspector Wexford series. This one is more of a "psychological thriller" than mystery, and it suffers by the exclusion of a mystery component. An interesting story, but we have to hope the author returns to her justly-famous mysteries and gives us another winner.

Suspenseful psychological thriller:
I have always known the expression as Adam and Eve and Punch me, this is apparently the British equivalent. It is s a thrilling read. We feel special to our mates, so it is a shock to discover an affair going on, the plot many writers use as a resort. However, Ruth Rendell uses it as a recourse of a different colour. When Araminta Knox learns of the death of her ex, (is he really dead?) other women learn too that this dark-haired man, Jock Lewis, fits the description of a man they knew who fleeced them, a con, a thief, and about as suitable a partner as Bin Laden to your daughter. Enter a ghost or two, one so scary Minty starts to carry a knife. She is obsessive, and hears voices. Rendell explores the psyche of her characters who reside in and around London, where a serial killer appears to be at gruesome work. Throughout, this is a strong, suspenseful, psychological thriller.

Here are All the Lonely People:
Ruth Rendell's Adam and Eve and Pinch Me has all the ingredients that have made her novels so compelling but, in this one, the parts do not make for as fulfilling a whole as one expects from such a skilled writer. There is the usual cast of fascinating (not likeable) characters with more than the usual assortment of compulsions and deceits driving them and the plot. At times, the quirks seem a little forced as even very minor characters are burdened with a glaring oddity or two, taking the heat from the major characters. The suspense is toned down to focus on the psychology and too much of the plot is telegraphed. A tighter, narrower focus on a lesser number of characters could have been more compelling. It is still a good read but not as good as one should expect from the author of the wonderful Wexford series, as well as her other delicious, weird mysteries.

Adam and Eve and Pinch Me:
This psycho-thriller tells the story of three women and their connection to a charming con man, Jerry/Jeff/Jock, who lives off women, then disappears and moves on to his next victim. Jerry becomes a victim himself when he is stabbed to death in a movie theater. The stories of the three women, and some supporting characters, are woven together. There is just the right mix of characters, some rather endearingly peculiar, to make the book interesting. This book holds the reader's interest from the beginning to the end. It is one of Rendell's best books.

A "Clean" read:
Minty is a one of a kind character. I was fascinated by her quirkiness and her compulsive flaws. I liked the way the story flowed together. You knew the "who dunnit" of the story, but the author kept your interest piqued regardless. And, you could really see some karmic retribution being doled out to some of the characters! I'd like to read another one of Ruth Rendell's books. I would recommend this story if you are looking for something a little different in the "mystery" genre.