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The Monster in the Box (Chief Inspector Wexford #22)
by
Ruth Rendell
Inspector Wexford returns in his most surprising case yet
"He had never told anyone. The strange relationship, if it could be called that, had gone on for years, decades, and he had never breathed a word about it. He had kept silent because he knew no one would believe him. None of it could be proved, not the stalking, not the stares or the conspiratorial smiles, not t...more
"He had never told anyone. The strange relationship, if it could be called that, had gone on for years, decades, and he had never breathed a word about it. He had kept silent because he knew no one would believe him. None of it could be proved, not the stalking, not the stares or the conspiratorial smiles, not t...more
Hardcover, 304 pages
Published
October 13th 2009
by Scribner
(first published 2009)
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I really enjoyed this Inspector Wexford book. This book takes place in a more modern setting with mobile phones, computers and modern subject matter, with a throwback to earlier times in Inspector Wexford's life. The Inspector comes up against someone from his past and remembers incidents back when he was working on his first murder case. As always, his personal life and his work are intertwined.
Rendell accurately portrays the past and the present, although the characters seem to hav...more
Rendell accurately portrays the past and the present, although the characters seem to hav...more
How could I not give Ruth Rendell five stars? She is my hero. I told Grace I realized, looking at the back flap of this book, that she's now 80; I'm hoping she lives to be at least 100, because I'm not sure what I'll do when there are No More Wexford Books. (Answer: probably start reading all of them again, which will be OK, because I've already forgotten most of the plots anyway.) (Which is my fault, and due to brain waste--not hers.) Anyway, this is another fabulous Wexford novel; as far ...more
Here’s another book in which Ruth Rendell manages to infuse novelistic substance and characterization into a mystery story featuring her long-time protagonist, Inspector Wexford. Wexford reencounters a man that he “knows” committed murder but whom he was never able to find evidence to justify prosecuting. Could this same man be responsible for later and more recent crimes? While the mystery unfolds, Inspector Wexford also recalls his own youthful affairs of the heart, from his first steady relat...more
Rendell, Ruth. THE MONSTER IN THE BOX. (2009). ****. This is Ms. Rendell’s twenty-second book in her Inspector Wexford series. It’s hard to believe that it has been going on for that long. In this episode, she takes us back to Wexford’s beginnings on the force, back to a case that has resurfaced into today’s world. Back as a rookie, Wexford was present at his first homicide case – a woman strangled in her bedroom – when he noticed a short, muscular man wearing a scarf and walking a dog. ...more
Rendell's latest has a dreamy feel to it, and almost an elegiac tone for the lost village of the 50s and 60s, even though all was not perfect in that village. This is her most reflective Wexford so far, alternating the recent past with the 50s, and it's almost as if she is at last rounding out Wexford's character or at least filling in some blanks for all her steadfast fans, but not of course like the typical gimmicky prequel. Being the savvy social commentator she is, Rendell does a marvelous...more
Philip
rated it
Recommends it for:
Rendell fans, Wexford fans, Mystery Fans
Recommended to Philip by:
Nobody had to!!!
With the publication of FROM DOON WITH DEATH, author Ruth Rendell and her creation, Reginald Wexford, appeared in bookstores at the same time - 1964 to be exact - she was 34 and he was 52. Rendell has said that had she known she would continue writing about Wexford for so long she'd have made him younger at the start!
In THE MONSTER IN THE BOX she gives us what she has never given us before: a glimpse of the pre-DOON Wexford, in a novel which transports the reader back and forth betw...more
In THE MONSTER IN THE BOX she gives us what she has never given us before: a glimpse of the pre-DOON Wexford, in a novel which transports the reader back and forth betw...more
Ruth Rendell’s latest Inspector Wexford novel is another polished performance by a practiced artist. Monster in the Box, as is often the case with Rendell, is a tale about a character so repellent and unsympathetic that he never gains the reader’s understanding or tolerance.
When Wexford was a young cop just starting out, he suspected – no, knew -- that Eric Targo was guilty of a handful of random murders. But he had no evidence and kept his suspicions to himself. Now, decades lat...more
When Wexford was a young cop just starting out, he suspected – no, knew -- that Eric Targo was guilty of a handful of random murders. But he had no evidence and kept his suspicions to himself. Now, decades lat...more
Well, as usual, a Rendell book is an easy, engaging, at times compelling digest, with a diverse cast of characters, some humor, some pathos, and some quirky red herrings plus secrets/surprises. The problem is, other than the interesting and oftentimes touching insights into Wexford's past (though none, really, very surprising, after so many other books about him) I kept having the feeling throughout that I'd been there, done that. Most of the commentary on modern society, the UK's immigrant situ...more
One thing I really liked about The Monster in the Box is that the story is interspersed with flashbacks into Inspector Wexford's early years as a policeman, not only his career, but his early romantic involvements and his meeting and courtship of his future wife, Dora. The flashbacks occur as Wexford tells his longtime sidekick, Mike Burden, about his suspicion that a weird, creepy little man named Targo, who has been stalking and taunting him, is a psychopath and has committed a number of murde...more
This book was a big dissapointment. Honestly I do not know how anyone can rate this book a 5 star. As a rule I like Ruth Rendell, but not this one. It was a Washington Post best book of 2009. Unbelievable. I think being in several book reading groups will eventually spoil a persons reading just for pleasure because I can't seem to let these kinds of things go. Some of the interaction in this book between a female police officer, a school teacher, and a Muslem family just would never happen th...more
I would imagine fans of Inspector Wexford would appreciate this book far more than I. It does recount his early romances. Definitely a must-read for the die-hards who have read the previous 21 Wexfords. Rendell is legend in mystery circles and her writing proves the point. This is a classic English procedural but IMHO with some serious plot faults. Avoiding spoilers, I'll just say that far too much of the book proceeds without solid evidence. As for Wexford, who is new to me, I found him sing...more
Reg Wexford spots in the street the man he believes committed a murder and got away with it; the first murder he investigated as a junior officer some 40 years earlier. Not unnaturally seeing Eric Targo like this puts Wexford in a reflective mood and he reveals to his fellow officer Mike Burden the events that occurred during and after that first investigation. He also spends a fair amount of time in contemplation of his early personal life, including how he met his wife and other events that to...more
It has been so long since I read a Ruth Rendell novel, I cannot remember which I read. Recently, I have finished several Barbara Vine mysteries and had fallen under her spell. After reading "The Monster in the Box", I had the surprising sense that I was comparing two different authors!Perhaps it is not fair to do so with this one book. Vine's writing seems to have a more heightened tension throughout, with the constant mental question,"where are we going with this?" Each of h...more
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The main concern of this late outing in the Wexford series is nostalgia, or at least contrasts between past and present. Not only Wexford’s Sussex village, but England has changed since the policeman began his career around 40 years ago, and the most significant change for the plot is the presence of Asian, “Moslem” families. Rendell foregrounds the young, female sergeant’s bumbling attempts to be multicultural (“Do call me Hannah”), suggesting that racism is unavoidable. I did enjoy the detecti...more
No one explores criminal motivation quite so well as Ruth Rendell, and this novel is additional proof of her skill.
Chief Inspector Wexford encounters a man out of his past and it releases a chain of memories, including his initial impression Eric Targo was a psychopath responsible for the murder of a woman.
Another man was subsequently charged with that crime but released on appeal. There was no apparent evidence to link Targo, other than Wexford’s gut instinct stemming fr...more
Chief Inspector Wexford encounters a man out of his past and it releases a chain of memories, including his initial impression Eric Targo was a psychopath responsible for the murder of a woman.
Another man was subsequently charged with that crime but released on appeal. There was no apparent evidence to link Targo, other than Wexford’s gut instinct stemming fr...more
Inspector Wexford is a likeable character and by now seems like a friend. Ruth Rendell writes excellent mysteries and gives her characters human feelings. In this book, Wexford reviews with his partner Burden his suspicions of Eric Targo, a man who Wexford believes has done several murders (including Wexford's first murder case), and has never been a suspect. Many years after his first acquaintance with Targo, he comes back into Wexford's life in Kingsmarkham. Wexford believes that Targo kil...more
Although acknowledging Wexford's fascinating foray back in time, critics expressed mixed opinions about Rendell's latest—perhaps last—Inspector Wexford mystery. The most enthusiastic reviews, adopting a nostalgic tone, reminisced about Wexford's years as a young policeman, his personal growth, and the earlier period's cultural milieu. But more critics felt mixed about Rendell's retelling of Wexford's life 30 years before; others criticized the forced, distracting subplot featuring the Muslim gir...more
I do love Reg Wexford. One cool thing about this one, for a longtime reader of the series like me, is how Wexford is constantly comparing the way things were in Kingsmarkham "back then" with how things are in the present day. Of course, he tends to do that quite a bit in the later novels anyway, but it's woven into the whole "looking back" structure of this story. Actually I guess the "present day" of the tale is sometime in the early- to mid-1990s. Wexford's timeli...more
This is evidently the last of Ruth Rendell's Wexford series. While I enjoyed them as good solid police procedurals, they've never been one of my favorites. Wexford always seemed old and stodgy, not one to seek much excitement from his work. This book goes back to his youth and shows someone with a little more zest for living. As a rookie policeman, he notices a man outside a murder scene, walking a dog. The man gives Wexford a look which convinces him that he is the killer. As a rookie policeman...more
Another entertaining mystery from Ruth Rendell. As with her other books, she weaves the mystery along with a social commentary. In this case, the topic of arranged marriages within the Moslem community.
I still find the PC-ness of some of the characters to be highly annoying, but I suppose it's done to make a point. I personally think that the same effect could be achieved without the in-your-face descriptions of how Hannah and others try to be so open-minded and politically correc...more
I still find the PC-ness of some of the characters to be highly annoying, but I suppose it's done to make a point. I personally think that the same effect could be achieved without the in-your-face descriptions of how Hannah and others try to be so open-minded and politically correc...more
What a dissapointment.
I was expecting something great, like to all the sudden be totally rocked, but I never was. The afterward had an appropriate ending which should have been more what the actual ending was like. The main villain had such a dissapointing death. I felt like I was on a rollercoaster, but the main drop, the main climax, was skipped! There was the build up when you climp that steep incline and then all the sudden the ride was over. WTF!? THIS IS A WASTE OF YOUR TIME TO READ...more
I was expecting something great, like to all the sudden be totally rocked, but I never was. The afterward had an appropriate ending which should have been more what the actual ending was like. The main villain had such a dissapointing death. I felt like I was on a rollercoaster, but the main drop, the main climax, was skipped! There was the build up when you climp that steep incline and then all the sudden the ride was over. WTF!? THIS IS A WASTE OF YOUR TIME TO READ...more
Interesting Wexford tale. At age 80, Rendell has not lost her power. In this outing, Wexford confesses to Burden his obsession that an unsuspected man may be a murderer. This obsession dates back to the very beginning of Wexford's career,so as he remembers his contacts with Eric Targo, he is brought back to memories of his early career, his love life, and eventual marriage, and the changes that have taken place in his community in 40 or so years. There is some social criticism, as usual criticiz...more
Usually, I love Ruth Rendell's books, this was disappointing.
Wexford sees a man, Targo, who he knows from his early policing days, a man he knew to be a killer, but for which there was no evidence, the victims were only loosely connected to the killer and there was no forensic evidence. He had kept quiet because no-one would believe him. Even many years later recounting the information to his close friend Burden, he is not believed. A young Muslim girl goes missing with a tenuous conn...more
Wexford sees a man, Targo, who he knows from his early policing days, a man he knew to be a killer, but for which there was no evidence, the victims were only loosely connected to the killer and there was no forensic evidence. He had kept quiet because no-one would believe him. Even many years later recounting the information to his close friend Burden, he is not believed. A young Muslim girl goes missing with a tenuous conn...more
I like Wexford alot, and so I am naturally biased towards this series, and Rendell is a grand dame of mystery writers. In this one, Iliked the juxtaposition of the 'hunch' that Wexford has about a potential criminal, one who he thinks has gotten away, at least until this book, and his wife's hunch about the Pakistani family next door who she thinks are about to pack off their daughter out of the UK and nto an arranged marriage with someone more "suitable" than the boy she is dating--t...more
Rendell's Wexford is an appealing main character. Although Rendell lingers on the sad side of life, she doesn't do it to a fault, as many mystery writers do. This novel written about an aging Wexford is about intuition, racism, stalking and obsession,but all are done in a tame procedural way. No pulse raising action here, but old fashioned plotting. Although she is hailed as as good as or (gasp) better than Christie, I can't see it. Christie's plot twists and character analysis were and are ...more
It was my first time reading a book written by an English author - it's pretty verbose and the style of writing is very different than American authors. But I guess that's to be expected. Overall, the book was kinda slow but kept a good steady pace throughout. It kept me entertained enough for me to want to finish reading it, but it took me more than a week to do so.
It took a LONG time for the book to ramp up to the climax, and when it finally did at the the end, it was somewhat d...more
It took a LONG time for the book to ramp up to the climax, and when it finally did at the the end, it was somewhat d...more
An unusual Inspector Wexford -- lots of reminiescing on the part of Wexford about old murders --- Rendell makes the reader question whether Wexford's obsession with the villian is worthwhile, or just obsessiveness gone wild. Other characters are also obsessed --- and both Wexford and his new team member turn out to be correct about thier beliefs --- something bad did/is happening! The tension comes from whether the reader will believe Wexford is correct or now --- as the villian ends up murde...more
Inspector Wexford just knows that the man walking his dog has killed someone, maybe several someones. He obsesses throughout the book, trying to find some proof that Targo is a killer. Meanwhile, his assistant is also trying to prove a crime has been committed or is being planned. The two muck about trying to find evidence to back up their assumptions. j
This book was a hard read for me. I didn't feel close to any of the characters, they all seemed a little flat or understated. ...more
This book was a hard read for me. I didn't feel close to any of the characters, they all seemed a little flat or understated. ...more
I first started reading Ruth Rendell's books several years ago when I heard a story about her on NPR (where else?). The idea of an MP who wrote mysteries was intriguing, since it seems that there are only two subjects for politicians who write books in the US--inspirational nonfiction and scathing explanations of why the other side is wrong. Since then I think I've worked my way through most of the Inspector Wexford novels that the library has and I've read several of her other novels. I woul...more
I always enjoy a good Inspector Wexford mystery. This one held my interest all the way through. I liked the serial killer angle much better than the subplot of the arranged marriage social issue, but they did tie together well. I've followed Wexford since the beginning. I'm only hoping Hannah doesn't take over as the new inspector when Wexford retires.
See my indepth review at:
http://murder-mysteries.suite101.com/art...
See my indepth review at:
http://murder-mysteries.suite101.com/art...
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Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, who also writes under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, is an acclaimed English crime writer, known for her many psychological thrillers and murder mysteries.
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