Product Description

When successful author Gerald Candless dies of a sudden heart attack, his eldest, adoring daughter Sarah embarks on a memoir of him and soon discovers that her perfect father was not all he appeared to be. That in fact he wasn’t Gerald Candless at all. But then, who was he? And what terrible secret had driven him to live a lie for all those years? ‘So ingeniously constructed, its truth and falsehoods are so deftly and convincingly interwoven, that its solution … is as jolting as a flash of lightning’ Sunday Times

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #384927 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

About the Author
Barbara Vine is Ruth Rendell. Twelve novels have been published under this pen-name, including A Dark-Adapted Eye, which won the Crime Writers Association Gold Dagger Award. Ruth Rendell sits in the House of Lords as a Labour peer. She lives in Maida Vale, London.

Customer Reviews

Enthralling
This is the first book I've read by Ruth Rendell writing under the pseudonym of Barbara Vine. However, judging by the other reviews, it is a little different from her usual format. I really enjoyed this story and became more interested in the secret past of Gerald Candless and by the time I reached the last couple of chapters, I was really gripped as the truth about Gerald was revealed. I can understand how some reviewers may have lost interest in the story, as they were probably expecting a thriller, but I must admit that this is my kind of book. I will still try other books by Barbara Vine as I like detective and thriller books as well and, if this novel is anything to go by, I really enjoyed her style of writing.

Lost potential
I am a big Rendell/Vine fan, so it pains me to say this, but this book was rather a letdown in the end. Initially the book seemed to have great potential, but as I read on the characters started to grate and many things didn't ring true, in my opinion. I didn't find any of the characters to be sympathetic...they were all spoilt. I think the reader was supposed to sympathise with Ursula's plight, which I did to a degree (to start with), but soon it became clear that she enjoyed wallowing in her own misery. Her life wasn't horrific at all and she was unwilling to take any responsibility for the break down in the relationship with her two children. She didn't seem to make any effort with them and blamed Gerald for `stealing their love.' I really don't think that's possible, unless you allow it to happen. I can't believe that Sarah ended up with Jason...mightily unrealistic! What was the point of the Adam stuff and the constant references to Sarah drinking too much? (the latter was never cleared up) The shock ending wasn't that shocking at all. I guessed what it was and hoped that it wasn't going to be that, but unfortunately it was. I find it hard to believe that Gerald became asexual after that experience and was jolted into creating a whole new life for himself and never, ever seeing the family again that he purported to love so much. Surely he could have gone to them after Desmond's murder? Gerald also underwent a total personality change after `the fateful incident.' Ending on a more positive note the descriptions of the beach were beautiful.

Disappointing & annoying
An intriguing enough first chapter. The rest of the novel is ponderous and tedious. The 'shock' ending simply fails to convince.