Adam And Eve And Pinch Me: a superbly chilling psychological thriller from the award-winning queen of crime, Ruth Rendell

Description

'Adam and Eve and Pinch Me went down to the river to bathe; Adam and Eve were drowned. Who was saved?' A chilling mystery from the world's best living crime writer and author of bestselling thrillers, including Thirteen Steps Down. From multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell, this is a strange, seductive and suspenseful psychological thriller with a cunning final twist that will get right under the skin. Perfect for fans of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon. 'Rendell's psychological novels remain in a class of their own' -- Sunday Telegraph 'It is ... her ability ... to tap into registers of feeling which range from the commonplace to the psychopathic. She is to be treasured.' -- Anita Brookner, Spectator 'Ruth Rendell at her very best' -- ***** Reader review 'Excellent story and brilliantly calculated from start to finish' -- ***** Reader review 'Surprising and engrossing' -- ***** Reader review 'A masterpiece' -- ***** Reader review ****************************************************************************************************** Jock Lewis died in the Paddington train crash. His fiancee Minty even received a letter from Great Western. But she never heard from the police, and Jock had left with all her savings. When a mysterious dark-haired man appears at Minty's home, at work, even in the cinema, she knows it must be Jock's ghost. But ghosts are grey and don't wear leather jackets... Five women, all unknown to each other, are the simultaneous unwilling victims of one man, a morally corrupt criminal who exploits them all and then suddenly, suspiciously, disappears. As this mystery man of shadows returns, and five women are haunted by a living nightmare, Minty begins to wonder... Can you kill a ghost?

Ruth Rendell was an exceptional crime writer, and will be remembered as a legend in her own lifetime. Her groundbreaking debut novel, From Doon With Death, was first published in 1964 and introduced the reader to her enduring and popular detective, Inspector Reginald Wexford, who went on to feature in twenty-four of her subsequent novels. With worldwide sales of approximately 20 million copies, Rendell was a regular Sunday Times bestseller. Her sixty bestselling novels include police procedurals, some of which have been successfully adapted for TV, stand-alone psychological mysteries, and a third strand of crime novels under the pseudonym Barbara Vine. Very much abreast of her times, the Wexford books in particular often engaged with social or political issues close to her heart. Rendell won numerous awards, including the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for 1976's best crime novel with A Demon in My View, a Gold Dagger award for Live Flesh in 1986, and the Sunday Times Literary Award in 1990. In 2013 she was awarded the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence in crime writing. In 1996 she was awarded the CBE and in 1997 became a Life Peer. Ruth Rendell died in May 2015. Her final novel, Dark Corners, is scheduled for publication in October 2015

With her usual deft touch, Rendell pulls the strands of the story together, weaving a taut and terrifying narrative -- Val McDermid * Daily Express * Here are the fears that haunt us, the nightmarish urban myths of our time ... One of the most remarkable talents writing today -- Jane Jakeman * Independent * Rendell's psychological novels remain in a class of their own -- Susanna Yager * Sunday Telegraph * It is ... her ability ... to tap into registers of feeling which range from the commonplace to the psychopathic. She is to be treasured. -- Anita Brookner * Spectator * A great storyteller who knows how to make sure that the reader has to turn the pages out of a desperate need to find out what is going to happen next. -- John Mortimer * Sunday Times *