Against expectations - I only picked this up because I couldn't find anything else to read - I was hooked. The book features a quadraplegic detective, Rhyme, his able bodied - and able - assisant Amelia Sachs, a top-of-the-range killer who has an inner voice in the form of an army officer, and an exciting, time-limited plot: the action takes place within 45 hours. The villain is almost unbelievably talented, Rhyme almost unbelievable in his ability to second-guess the villain's moves. But I did suspend disbelief, and was thoroughly sucked in to the plot, rooting for all the characters, even from time to time, the villain. I have a reason for not using his name. Read it and you'll find out why.
I was convinced by this moving story of a young teenage girl, Shabanu, raised in a nomadic desert family. Her account of her daily life - it's written in the first person - gave me some real insight into her life, and its real differences from 21st century European life. But her emotions as she confronts the marriage choices made for her as circumstances change around her are ones it's easy to identify with too. She has some very hard lessons to learn which are not the kind of lesson it would be palatable for a young western girl to accept. But as her mother warns, 'Shabanu, you are wild as the wind. You must learn to obey. Otherwise . . . I am afraid for you.'
Ho hum. A bit of a holiday read. I usually enjoy Ruth Rendell's books, but in this acase, there was little mystery, and the outcome was fairly predictable. The characters were usually unlikeable, and cardboard cut-outs at that. Dialogue was stilted. But it was well written enough to keep me turning the pages in the middle of the night when sleep was elusive, and I'll read Ruth Rendell again. Just not this one.
