Product Description

When Sandor snatched little Joe from the path of a London Tube train, he was quick to make clear the terms of the rescue. ‘I saved your life,’ he told the homeless youngster, ‘so your life belongs to me now’. Sandor began to tell him a fairy-tale: an ageing prince, a kidnapped princess chained by one ankle, a missed rendezvous. But what did this mysterious story have to do with Sandor’s preparations? Joe had only understood his own role: he was a gallowglass, the servant of a Chief… ‘On one level this is a novel about kidnapping. On another its concerns are obsession, the destructive nature of romantic illusions, and love. As Ms Vine unfolds it nothing is quite what it seems’ Guardian.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #244994 in Books
• Published on: 1999-04-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Customer Reviews

very readable.
I would argue that this is one of the best of the Barbara Vine thrillers, simply because it is fast-moving and the characters are so immensely intriguing. Young Joe is an impressionable lad, and when the shifty Sandor tells him, after saving his life, that his life now belongs to him he believes him. Largely this is Joe longing to escape from his bleak home life. Sandor has a ulterior motive in all this though, he is obsessed with a rich married woman, and has played a dark part in her life a few years before. What makes this book good is Joe's version of things, and his pathetic wish to win Sandor's approval, even though Sandor, at best, treats him like a dog. Vine/Rendell is often at her best when writing about disturbed young men, society's misfits, and this is done to great effect here.

breathtaking, tense, brilliantly written
I am a big fan of all of the Barbara Vine books and this is no exception. From the first page it is impossible to put it down. Sandor is obsessive and dark, and yet at the same time the reader can understand why Joe is so drawn to his magnetic charisma. His obsession unfolds in flashback and present day until what you think is going to be the end of the tale. The terror of the "Princess" is palpable throughout, and with the depth and intensity of Sandor's obsession with her, this is understandable. A cracking read, but be warned, you won't want to be distracted from it.