What do you think?
Rate this book
Live Flesh
Victor believes that the ten years in prison were a mistake and that he had never intended to harm anyone. Now, out of prison, he still isn't free. He goes back to his past and so begins a new chain of accidents and tragic mistakes.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1986
173 people are currently reading
945 people want to read
About the author
Ruth Rendell
457 books1,631 followersA.K.A. Barbara Vine
Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, who also wrote under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, was an acclaimed English crime writer, known for her many psychological thrillers and murder mysteries and above all for Inspector Wexford.
Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, who also wrote under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, was an acclaimed English crime writer, known for her many psychological thrillers and murder mysteries and above all for Inspector Wexford.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 130 reviews
March 31, 2010
I wasn't going to write a review of this but I feel like I want to get back into the "swing" of Goodreads.
This is my first Ruth Rendell book but I know a fair bit about her. I know that her corpus is divided into two camps--the detective mystery series starring a recurring police inspector (my mom loves these books but they sound boring to me; all whodunits are boring to me unless they were written by hard-drinking badasses in the mid-20th century), and the non-series crime novels which are more psychological thrillers than whodunits. This novel, later made (loosely, I understand) into a movie by Pedro Almodovar, of all people, is of course one of the latter. It's about a serial rapist who gets out of prison and embarks on a weird relationship with the policeman he crippled via gunshot during a standoff 10 years earlier.
As much as any book can be while still being marketed as a thriller, Live Flesh is plotless. It's all inside-the-mind-of-a-psycho, baby. Psycho runs errands. Psycho visits his aunt (and steals cash from her house). Psycho flashbacks to earlier episodes of his life as a rapist. And we are privy to all the minutiae of his psycho thought-processes throughout his mundane existence.
Sounds maybe kinda boring? Well, here's something that'll make it sound even boringer: this rapist dude, Victor, has got to be the single most mild-mannered psycho in the history of literature. He is so polite and quiet. At first I was like, is this what all British rapists are like? And there is a sense of that, of this being the tea-cozy Merchant-Ivory version of The Killer Inside Me or whatever. But then I figured that Rendell was just sidestepping sensationalism and trying to provide a more realistic psychological portrait of a pathological violent criminal. In fact the tone is closer to Greek tragedy than to crime thriller, almost. Rendell paints Victor as a lonely man, prone to panic attacks, who never developed social skills and suffered at the hands of seemingly neglectful parents. He's not violent except in isolated moments when he loses control, he can't figure out why he did what he did, and his waking hours are consumed with plans and hopes for redemption--most of which involve befriending aforementioned wheelchair-cop...and his sexy girlfriend. UH-OH!!!
I said this played like Greek tragedy so you can guess that things don't go as planned for Victor. There's never much doubt about that. But what makes the book work is that Rendell doesn't allow us to escape from Victor's head. All his rationalizations and delusions keep mounting to a point where they accumulate a tragic weight. The forced identification means that it's always jarring when Victor reminds us that he is, in fact, a rapist (and worse...of course there's a murder at some point). Like the policeman and his girlfriend, who gradually come to like Victor and want to help him, the reader would have to be a truly heartless bastard not to root for this pathetic creature, even as we know how undeserving he is of our sympathy. Don't criticize someone until you walk a mile in his shoes, goes the old aphorism of childhood? Indeed: after several miles in those shoes, you may well start defending rapists. Rendell really breaks in those shoes. The heels are frayed, the soles worn.
It's not a great book. That same virtue of relentless psychological immersion inside the protagonist can also make the book feel suffocatingly monochromatic. It's really dry. And I think Rendell could have eliminated some of the repetitive, mundane details. Honestly the book is boring about half the time. But I think what Rendell's trying is interesting and I'd like to read more of her psychological thrillers.
This is my first Ruth Rendell book but I know a fair bit about her. I know that her corpus is divided into two camps--the detective mystery series starring a recurring police inspector (my mom loves these books but they sound boring to me; all whodunits are boring to me unless they were written by hard-drinking badasses in the mid-20th century), and the non-series crime novels which are more psychological thrillers than whodunits. This novel, later made (loosely, I understand) into a movie by Pedro Almodovar, of all people, is of course one of the latter. It's about a serial rapist who gets out of prison and embarks on a weird relationship with the policeman he crippled via gunshot during a standoff 10 years earlier.
As much as any book can be while still being marketed as a thriller, Live Flesh is plotless. It's all inside-the-mind-of-a-psycho, baby. Psycho runs errands. Psycho visits his aunt (and steals cash from her house). Psycho flashbacks to earlier episodes of his life as a rapist. And we are privy to all the minutiae of his psycho thought-processes throughout his mundane existence.
Sounds maybe kinda boring? Well, here's something that'll make it sound even boringer: this rapist dude, Victor, has got to be the single most mild-mannered psycho in the history of literature. He is so polite and quiet. At first I was like, is this what all British rapists are like? And there is a sense of that, of this being the tea-cozy Merchant-Ivory version of The Killer Inside Me or whatever. But then I figured that Rendell was just sidestepping sensationalism and trying to provide a more realistic psychological portrait of a pathological violent criminal. In fact the tone is closer to Greek tragedy than to crime thriller, almost. Rendell paints Victor as a lonely man, prone to panic attacks, who never developed social skills and suffered at the hands of seemingly neglectful parents. He's not violent except in isolated moments when he loses control, he can't figure out why he did what he did, and his waking hours are consumed with plans and hopes for redemption--most of which involve befriending aforementioned wheelchair-cop...and his sexy girlfriend. UH-OH!!!
I said this played like Greek tragedy so you can guess that things don't go as planned for Victor. There's never much doubt about that. But what makes the book work is that Rendell doesn't allow us to escape from Victor's head. All his rationalizations and delusions keep mounting to a point where they accumulate a tragic weight. The forced identification means that it's always jarring when Victor reminds us that he is, in fact, a rapist (and worse...of course there's a murder at some point). Like the policeman and his girlfriend, who gradually come to like Victor and want to help him, the reader would have to be a truly heartless bastard not to root for this pathetic creature, even as we know how undeserving he is of our sympathy. Don't criticize someone until you walk a mile in his shoes, goes the old aphorism of childhood? Indeed: after several miles in those shoes, you may well start defending rapists. Rendell really breaks in those shoes. The heels are frayed, the soles worn.
It's not a great book. That same virtue of relentless psychological immersion inside the protagonist can also make the book feel suffocatingly monochromatic. It's really dry. And I think Rendell could have eliminated some of the repetitive, mundane details. Honestly the book is boring about half the time. But I think what Rendell's trying is interesting and I'd like to read more of her psychological thrillers.
January 8, 2016
3,5 το βιβλίο το οποίο ηταν η έμπνευση για τον Αλμοντοβαρ στην ταινία του live flesh ( τίτλος στα αγγλικά ) . Πολυ ενδιαφέρον .....
August 27, 2018
In her self-help treatise Patrica Highsmith describes the essence of writing suspense as the constant threat of violence – and this Ruth Rendell achieves through her ex-con (gunman, rapist) psychopathic protagonist Victor Jenner. Her portrayal from his warped point of view is expertly described.
I have mentioned rape and violence. Actually there are few graphic details, other than one (non-sexual) attack – but be prepared for the manifestation of Victor’s unsavoury proclivities at any moment.
Freed from jail after serving 10 years for shooting and paralysing detective David Fleetwood, Victor tracks down his victim, misguidedly wishing to ‘explain himself’. A relationship of sorts now develops between Victor, wheelchair-bound David, and his attractive girlfriend, Clare. But where will it lead? Read to find out.
Actually, I listened to the audiobook. And – on reflection – a master class in narration by Ian Holm perhaps adds a gloss that the underlying, rather mundane story does not in itself possess. The plot is simple, and lacks the ingenuity of, say, Ruth Rendell’s The Bridesmaid.
Notwithstanding, it is a creepy classic of a very high order.
I have mentioned rape and violence. Actually there are few graphic details, other than one (non-sexual) attack – but be prepared for the manifestation of Victor’s unsavoury proclivities at any moment.
Freed from jail after serving 10 years for shooting and paralysing detective David Fleetwood, Victor tracks down his victim, misguidedly wishing to ‘explain himself’. A relationship of sorts now develops between Victor, wheelchair-bound David, and his attractive girlfriend, Clare. But where will it lead? Read to find out.
Actually, I listened to the audiobook. And – on reflection – a master class in narration by Ian Holm perhaps adds a gloss that the underlying, rather mundane story does not in itself possess. The plot is simple, and lacks the ingenuity of, say, Ruth Rendell’s The Bridesmaid.
Notwithstanding, it is a creepy classic of a very high order.
January 17, 2012
After reading the other reviews of this book, I appear to be in the minority since I thought this psychological study of a rapist/murderer was fascinating. No, it wasn't a mystery as we usually expect from Rendell; instead it probes the mind of a very disturbed young man who has recently been released from prison after shooting a policeman, leaving him paralyzed and in a wheelchair. The young man is obsessed with his victim and decides to make contact with him. This begins a game of cat and mouse which is further complicated by the presence of the policeman's girlfriend. Trouble is on the horizon and things begin to go wrong, terribly wrong. I liked it!!!
January 28, 2016
It speaks volumes to Rendell's talent as an author that she was able to take such reprehensive reprobates for protagonists and make their stories be such compelling reads. Traditionally I do prefer likeable heroes/heroines, but it just leaves me all the more amazed at how lost I can get in the tales of the amoral, charmless, pathetic individuals that Rendell used to so vividly bring to life throughout her prolific career. This time around, the miscreant is Victor, a man recently freed after ten years in prison for shooting and paralyzing a cop. This is an older book, one old enough to drink by now, so sentencing must have been very different. Apparently (and frighteningly) the views on rape were certainly different, because Victor's predilections are definitively that of a sexual predator, it's his primary coping mechanism for dealing with uncontrollable rage. Upon his release, he struggles to fit into a changed an indifferent society until he decides to reconnect with the cop, his victim. The fascinating thing to watch here is the inept attempts at happiness but someone who simply isn't equipped, emotionally and experientially, to handle it or any sort of normal life. He tries to buy it, steal it, fabricate it, which all, of course, amounts to the futility of dressing up a turd. And it's doubly fascinating, because this isn't someone from a stereotypically abusive environment, with a stereotypically abusive childhood. There is a tacit understanding in Rendell's books of psychology being such a delicate mechanism that plenty of things, from grand to minute, can throw a wrench in the works. Watching it all spin out of order is what makes her books such awesome reads. Highly recommended.
October 8, 2014
Very much like a Patricia Highsmith psychological thriller. Victor Jenner, in his late 30s, has just been released after a ten-year stint in prison for attempted murder. He shot a police officer, David Fleetwood, paralyzing him below the waist. He is also a serial rapist, but not many people know this; apparently he admitted a few rapes to the court but was not charged for them, weirdly. Aside from the first chapter, we spend the whole novel inside Victor's mind, which is a horrible place to be, waiting for him to rape again. He makes contact with his victim, David, and David's attractive girlfriend Clare, who befriend him and inexplicably actually come to like him. Clare shows herself to be an utter idiot by . At that point I didn't care what bad things would happen to her, because there is no excuse for that level of idiocy. Actually that's a lie: I never cared if bad things would happen to Clare or David, because it was impossible to care about them.
Then there's Victor's Aunt Muriel. Both Victor's parents died while he was in prison, so Muriel is the only relation he's got left. She's a hoarder in a dusty house with purses and cases and closets full of money. Inexplicably, Muriel keeps opening the door whenever Victor stops by. He soon discovers the cash and begins to steal it on his regular visits. One day Muriel
A lot of unpleasantness, and no charm. Victor has zero self-awareness, blaming everyone but himself for everything in his life that has gone badly, rationalizing his rapes, hating his parents for having a lot of sex. There's nothing wrong with this as a psychological portrait, obviously: what sexual predator is fully self-aware? What murderer or rapist's brain is operating on all cylinders? But it does make the novel difficult to sit through. Contrast a novel like this with a novel like American Psycho, which is a thousand times more grotesque but gives us a charming villain.
April 7, 2011
i read this because Ian Rankin included it on a list of his five favorite literary crime novels. i liked three of the other books he picked a lot (The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, Bleak House, and The Name of the Rose) so i figured i'd give it a shot. but, yeah... i don't know. rendell's a good writer who stays very focused and the book is hard to put down, but the whole thing is so obvious from the start. it's like the playing out of a foregone conclusion... there's no hope and no humor and no joy to the experience. and no fear either, as you don't care about the narrator. also, people do things in this book that are beyond my comprehension. why would the crippled ex-policeman invite the guy who shot him into his home and introduce him to his girlfriend and never tell her the guy's a rapist? and then leave her alone with him? A LOT? doesn't make any sense. and why wouldn't the girlfriend ask the ex-policeman why the guy who crippled him even shot him? nobody seems to be thinking. infuriating. also, while i like tortoises a lot, i didn't get at all why there was this whole tortoise thing going on. more tortoises in this book than there are people. this book really just made me grumpy.
October 7, 2012
This was an interesting read. Masterfully written indeed.
3.5 to 4 stars
Let's be honest here, the reason I bought the book was because I saw it on a bookstore. But man, it was worth it alright. This is one book that really captures the persona of an accidental criminal with so much context and depth. It shouldn't be considered much of a story but instead an insight of an emotionally-scarred man, and the reasons why he did what he did.
It may be a dull story for some, but it is a kind of different read for me. I love how the character is explored - his past, his dreams, his delusions and most importantly his stubbornness. It touches on his psychological state of mind during his everyday life. If you've read Things Fall Apart, I'd say it is similar in certain ways but told in a modern American concept.
Synopsis:
Live Flesh tells the story of Victor, an accidental criminal. The story of a rapist (who was never charged), Victor after spending more than a decade in jail, he is finally free - released from prison under the charge of attempted murder of a policeman, David. It was all an accident, he believed.
The policeman, David, whom Victor shot in the lower spine, now paralyzed waist down, is going to have a book published about his life, before he was shot by Victor and after. Victor stumbled on an article about him in the papers and decided to visit him, not knowing the reason that made him do so. His initiative eventually grows into friendship with David and Clare, David's girlfriend... But he later fell in love, with Clare. He believes Clare loved him too... He believed it too stubbornly.
3.5 to 4 stars
Let's be honest here, the reason I bought the book was because I saw it on a bookstore. But man, it was worth it alright. This is one book that really captures the persona of an accidental criminal with so much context and depth. It shouldn't be considered much of a story but instead an insight of an emotionally-scarred man, and the reasons why he did what he did.
It may be a dull story for some, but it is a kind of different read for me. I love how the character is explored - his past, his dreams, his delusions and most importantly his stubbornness. It touches on his psychological state of mind during his everyday life. If you've read Things Fall Apart, I'd say it is similar in certain ways but told in a modern American concept.
Synopsis:
Live Flesh tells the story of Victor, an accidental criminal. The story of a rapist (who was never charged), Victor after spending more than a decade in jail, he is finally free - released from prison under the charge of attempted murder of a policeman, David. It was all an accident, he believed.
The policeman, David, whom Victor shot in the lower spine, now paralyzed waist down, is going to have a book published about his life, before he was shot by Victor and after. Victor stumbled on an article about him in the papers and decided to visit him, not knowing the reason that made him do so. His initiative eventually grows into friendship with David and Clare, David's girlfriend... But he later fell in love, with Clare. He believes Clare loved him too... He believed it too stubbornly.
November 12, 2017
Interesting: most readers here rate it lowest of Rendell's books. I rate it highest.
Yes, it is about a detestable character, but I came to sympathize with him. The title is a clue. Rendell has made this character, a serial rapist, one large involuntary twitch.
The psychology strikes me as trendy and not very reliable. But the story is expertly done, and remains my favorite book by this author ... when not writing under the name Barbara Vine.
Yes, it is about a detestable character, but I came to sympathize with him. The title is a clue. Rendell has made this character, a serial rapist, one large involuntary twitch.
The psychology strikes me as trendy and not very reliable. But the story is expertly done, and remains my favorite book by this author ... when not writing under the name Barbara Vine.
September 14, 2012
This is a book about a bad man. Rendell doesn't seem to think the reader should feel sorry for him; the book is more of a pyschological study (and perhaps a comment about correctional institutions).
Couldn't put it down though.
Couldn't put it down though.
November 9, 2011
This is a tough one, because I usually like Rendell's work. Her prose is as powerful as ever in this one, there are some really brilliant moments, and you really get inside the characters. The problem for me was that not only is the protagonist detestable, he's also incredibly boring, which makes it a long read as you spend the entire book (aside from the first chapter) inside his head.
Victor is a serial rapist who has never been convicted of any of his rapes, but has done time for shooting a detective in the spine and paralyzing him from the waist down. Not only does he feel no remorse for anything he's done, he doesn't even seem to recognize that anything he's done is wrong, only that raping women is something he might get in trouble for doing. You don't even come to understand why Victor rapes, nor what he actually gets out of it or feels during the assaults. He not only blames others for everything that has happened to him, he even blames others for the things he himself does. There is a short period near the end of the book where it looks like he has a glimmer of understanding that maybe he's done bad things, where he starts to wonder why he does them, but this passes pretty quickly.
Considering we spend so much time inside Victor's head, it's frustrating that we never seem to get a sense of why he does what he does, nor why he has this intense phobia of tortoises. We don't even get to know what it is about tortoises that scares him, and there is a sort of hamfisted attempt to explain where his phobia started. Considering what an usual phobia this is, some sort of clarification is definitely needed, because instead it all comes across as a ridiculous and comical.
David and Clare (the aforementioned wounded detective and his girlfriend) are relatively likeable, but infuriatingly naive and lacking in any kind of common sense. It's admirable that they can feel empathy for Victor, given what he's done to David, but they take it to an extreme that makes it hard to sympathize with them when things go badly, as inevitably they do. At one point Clare tells Victor that he's lovable, which is mystifying, because at no point in their interactions do we see Victor say or do anything remotely likeable, unless it's giving them presents?
Again, spending the entire book inside Victor's head wouldn't be such a drag if he also weren't so entirely boring and lacking in personality. Even his delusions are dull. I don't know if we're supposed to feel empathy for Victor because he's so pathetic and clueless? I just ended up hoping the whole time that bad things would happen to him, and not really caring the way I should about what happened to David and Clare.
Victor is a serial rapist who has never been convicted of any of his rapes, but has done time for shooting a detective in the spine and paralyzing him from the waist down. Not only does he feel no remorse for anything he's done, he doesn't even seem to recognize that anything he's done is wrong, only that raping women is something he might get in trouble for doing. You don't even come to understand why Victor rapes, nor what he actually gets out of it or feels during the assaults. He not only blames others for everything that has happened to him, he even blames others for the things he himself does. There is a short period near the end of the book where it looks like he has a glimmer of understanding that maybe he's done bad things, where he starts to wonder why he does them, but this passes pretty quickly.
Considering we spend so much time inside Victor's head, it's frustrating that we never seem to get a sense of why he does what he does, nor why he has this intense phobia of tortoises. We don't even get to know what it is about tortoises that scares him, and there is a sort of hamfisted attempt to explain where his phobia started. Considering what an usual phobia this is, some sort of clarification is definitely needed, because instead it all comes across as a ridiculous and comical.
David and Clare (the aforementioned wounded detective and his girlfriend) are relatively likeable, but infuriatingly naive and lacking in any kind of common sense. It's admirable that they can feel empathy for Victor, given what he's done to David, but they take it to an extreme that makes it hard to sympathize with them when things go badly, as inevitably they do. At one point Clare tells Victor that he's lovable, which is mystifying, because at no point in their interactions do we see Victor say or do anything remotely likeable, unless it's giving them presents?
Again, spending the entire book inside Victor's head wouldn't be such a drag if he also weren't so entirely boring and lacking in personality. Even his delusions are dull. I don't know if we're supposed to feel empathy for Victor because he's so pathetic and clueless? I just ended up hoping the whole time that bad things would happen to him, and not really caring the way I should about what happened to David and Clare.
March 4, 2009
I was so glad to be done with this book. It was one of the ones you can't finish because anything else you can find to read seems more interesting.
February 3, 2017
Η πρώτη "πατάτα" της χρονιάς! Επιεικώς Α Θ Λ Ι Ο ! Τζάμπα έχασα τον χρόνο μου.
(θέλω να βρίσω αλλά δεν με αφήνει το επίπεδό μου!!!)
(θέλω να βρίσω αλλά δεν με αφήνει το επίπεδό μου!!!)
March 22, 2014
I really enjoyed this literary crime novel that followed the basic structure of the standard thriller, yet was from the "bad guy"'s perspective. Kind of a thriller, kind of a psychological study, a fun read all around. One of my favorite crime novels I've read in some time.
March 10, 2011
totally not what i expected, reminded me of a lifetime movie.
June 7, 2022
Δεύτερο βιβλίο της που διαβάζω. Το πρώτο το είχα διαβάσει πριν από χρόνια. Μου θυμίζει αρκετά την Highsmith αλλά εδώ είναι διακριτό το καλό και το κακό κ με ποιανού το μέρος είμαστε αν κ ο ήρωας του βιβλίου είναι ο κακός χαρακτήρας. Σαν γραφή μου άρεσε πολύ το ψυχογράφημα της, αλλά το θέμα μου ξίνισε λίγο. Μου φάνηκε εξωπραγματική η αντίδραση του Ντέιβιντ και της Κλερ στην προσέγγιση του Βίκτορ, κάνει χαοτική την απόσταση ανάμεσα στο καλό κ το κακό κ δεν είναι ρεαλιστική.
May 14, 2019
The beauty of Rendell's writing is that she can make the smallest of character traits emerge as a necessary part of the plot. Her central characters are so well developed that you might actually be able to pick them out on the street.
In Live Flesh, we have a criminal who has shot and crippled a policeman fresh out of his jail sentence wondering at how so many things could have conspired against him. He's an admitted rapist, too. But, none of it is his fault. Oh, no. The supposed victims goaded him or pushed him to the actions he took.
I think the policeman character is in other Rendell novels, too--David Fleetwood.
In Live Flesh, we have a criminal who has shot and crippled a policeman fresh out of his jail sentence wondering at how so many things could have conspired against him. He's an admitted rapist, too. But, none of it is his fault. Oh, no. The supposed victims goaded him or pushed him to the actions he took.
I think the policeman character is in other Rendell novels, too--David Fleetwood.
September 5, 2020
AudioBook
Had this been my first Rendell book, I doubt if I'd read another.
This novel tried to be thinky. But failed. Was as if it should've hit the target but missed. All the right ingredients: the unreliable narrator, paradoxical and psychological tie between attacker and victim, taut and tense throughout. But the emporer was wearing no clothes. This book had no soul.
Dragged, dragged, dragged. However, the book kept me reading. That is the reason for 3 stars instead of two.
Had this been my first Rendell book, I doubt if I'd read another.
This novel tried to be thinky. But failed. Was as if it should've hit the target but missed. All the right ingredients: the unreliable narrator, paradoxical and psychological tie between attacker and victim, taut and tense throughout. But the emporer was wearing no clothes. This book had no soul.
Dragged, dragged, dragged. However, the book kept me reading. That is the reason for 3 stars instead of two.
July 21, 2018
Een ‘echte’ Ruth Rendell. Meelezen en –leven met een hoofdpersoon die eigenlijk helemaal niet sympathiek is.
September 12, 2019
Psychological mystery, with self deluded narrrator
January 22, 2021
Definitely one of the creepier novels by Rendell. The writing is excellent, the character development is the best.
April 16, 2018
dragged a lot. not a page turner
December 28, 2018
This may be the most horrendous idea Rendell ever wrote, but it's very clever. And the double meaning of the title is even cleverer.
December 18, 2015
I am giving 3 stars to this book since there are too many rape scenes in this book.
4* Going Wrong
4* The Keys to the Street
3* The Fever Tree and Other Stories
4* A Judgement in Stone
3* Fall of the Coin
4* People Don't Do Such Things
3* The Girl Next Door
3* Harm Done (Inspector Wexford, #18)
2* To Fear a Painted Devil
3* Dark Corners
3* Live Flesh
Inspector Wexford series
3* Shake Hands Forever (Inspector Wexford, #9)
3* The Veiled One (Inspector Wexford, #14)
4* Kissing the Gunner's Daughter (Inspector Wexford, #15)
TR From Doon With Death (Inspector Wexford, #1)
TR A New Lease of Death (Inspector Wexford, #2)
TR Wolf to the Slaughter (Inspector Wexford, #3)
TR The Best Man to Die (Inspector Wexford, #4)
TR A Guilty Thing Surprised (Inspector Wexford, #5)
TR No More Dying Then (Inspector Wexford, #6)
TR Murder Being Once Done (Inspector Wexford, #7)
TR Some Lie and Some Die (Inspector Wexford, #8)
TR A Sleeping Life (Inspector Wexford, #10)
TR Death Notes (Inspector Wexford, #11)
TR Speaker of Mandarin (Inspector Wexford, #12)
TR An Unkindness of Ravens (Inspector Wexford, #13)
TR Simisola (Inspector Wexford, #16)
TR Road Rage (Inspector Wexford, #17)
TR The Babes in the Wood (Inspector Wexford, #19)
TR End in Tears (Inspector Wexford, #20)
TR Not in the Flesh (Inspector Wexford, #21)
TR The Monster in the Box (Inspector Wexford, #22)
TR The Vault (Inspector Wexford, #23)
TR No Man's Nightingale (Inspector Wexford #24)
4* Going Wrong
4* The Keys to the Street
3* The Fever Tree and Other Stories
4* A Judgement in Stone
3* Fall of the Coin
4* People Don't Do Such Things
3* The Girl Next Door
3* Harm Done (Inspector Wexford, #18)
2* To Fear a Painted Devil
3* Dark Corners
3* Live Flesh
Inspector Wexford series
3* Shake Hands Forever (Inspector Wexford, #9)
3* The Veiled One (Inspector Wexford, #14)
4* Kissing the Gunner's Daughter (Inspector Wexford, #15)
TR From Doon With Death (Inspector Wexford, #1)
TR A New Lease of Death (Inspector Wexford, #2)
TR Wolf to the Slaughter (Inspector Wexford, #3)
TR The Best Man to Die (Inspector Wexford, #4)
TR A Guilty Thing Surprised (Inspector Wexford, #5)
TR No More Dying Then (Inspector Wexford, #6)
TR Murder Being Once Done (Inspector Wexford, #7)
TR Some Lie and Some Die (Inspector Wexford, #8)
TR A Sleeping Life (Inspector Wexford, #10)
TR Death Notes (Inspector Wexford, #11)
TR Speaker of Mandarin (Inspector Wexford, #12)
TR An Unkindness of Ravens (Inspector Wexford, #13)
TR Simisola (Inspector Wexford, #16)
TR Road Rage (Inspector Wexford, #17)
TR The Babes in the Wood (Inspector Wexford, #19)
TR End in Tears (Inspector Wexford, #20)
TR Not in the Flesh (Inspector Wexford, #21)
TR The Monster in the Box (Inspector Wexford, #22)
TR The Vault (Inspector Wexford, #23)
TR No Man's Nightingale (Inspector Wexford #24)
September 10, 2013
This book was not exactly what I was expecting. I was recommended Ruth Rendell by a friend, but I think I picked a poor book as my first choice to experience this author.
This book was quite creepy. The story is told through the eyes of Victor, a known rapist and attempted murderer, who in a nutshell is a narcissistic psychopath. It was quite eerie to read, and it did keep my attention for most of the book...I'd say about 3/5, then the last part dragged on until the resolution.
I understand Victor is not supposed to be likable, but I couldn't find anything to like about him. I enjoyed reading the plot through the eyes of someone other than the "good guy" but I would have liked an element of Victor that would have made me at least empathize with him, even a tiny bit. In my opinion, he was a very empty human. In all, I didn't really love any of the characters. Muriel was okay, but I found Clare and David to be too unrealistic.
To wrap it up, It wasn't a book I loved, but it wasn't one I hated either. Rendell has very easy flow with her words and an interesting voice. When I'm at the library next I'm going to definitely pick up another of her works, I'll check Goodreads for a higher rated one this time.
This book was quite creepy. The story is told through the eyes of Victor, a known rapist and attempted murderer, who in a nutshell is a narcissistic psychopath. It was quite eerie to read, and it did keep my attention for most of the book...I'd say about 3/5, then the last part dragged on until the resolution.
I understand Victor is not supposed to be likable, but I couldn't find anything to like about him. I enjoyed reading the plot through the eyes of someone other than the "good guy" but I would have liked an element of Victor that would have made me at least empathize with him, even a tiny bit. In my opinion, he was a very empty human. In all, I didn't really love any of the characters. Muriel was okay, but I found Clare and David to be too unrealistic.
To wrap it up, It wasn't a book I loved, but it wasn't one I hated either. Rendell has very easy flow with her words and an interesting voice. When I'm at the library next I'm going to definitely pick up another of her works, I'll check Goodreads for a higher rated one this time.
February 26, 2025
Es un buen libro. La historia relata la prácticamente nula reinserción social de un violador y psicópata, el cual se obsesiona, una vez en en libertad, con el policía al que disparó y dejó paralítico antes de ser finalmente detenido y condenado. El personaje principal es un narcisista y la autora lo relata maravillosamente… su falta de culpa y siempre pensando que el mundo está en su contra, incluso creyendo que está por encima del bien y el mal. La historia es sencilla, se lee muy fácil, como toda la literatura inglesa, pero te absorbe y no te aburre. Lo único que me deja mal sabor de boca es su poco consecuente final. El final parece no encajar con la historia es si. Es como si de repente la autora se encontrara sin ideas después de un buen relato. A pesar de eso, recomendaría leer este libro.
July 14, 2013
I had a hard time getting into this one, but about 90 pages in it picked up. I was really uncomfortable reading from the perspective of a rapist however, and this was one time I didn't feel like Rendell wrote with the intention of making the reader sympathize with the bad guy. That said, I didn't care for or about the main character so I wasn't drawn into this one or moved by it. Perhaps if he wasn't a rapist and an obvious misogynist, and was just a robber or kidnapper I might have felt differently, but I didn't like this one. More the subject matter than the writing, but distasteful nonetheless.
January 6, 2016
Hmmm. This actually was an in-depth portrait of what might go on inside the head of a rapist who also shot a cop. Now he's out of jail, and putting his life back together. He gets mixed up with the policeman again, and there is also a lot of insight here about what it is like to be paralyzed and in a wheelchair. So this is more than the ordinary crime thriller. Usually the villain is just said to be a villain and that's that. But here Rendell tries to tell us something about why and how he became such a villain. There is more insight here than usually exists in this drama, and it makes the read both compelling and creepy.
September 6, 2016
How does she do it? I don't think I've read a bad Ruth Rendell, and I've read a fair few! This was the third time I've read it, and it was still as engrossing as before.
We follow a disturbed young man, who after serving 10 years in prison for shooting a police officer in the back, paralysing him, he is inexorably drawn to that officer again, to attempt to befriend him. The characters are drawn with such care and detail, and the descriptions of what Jenner is going through, his ups and, in particular, his downs, pulls you right into the narrative.
Definitely worth a punt.
We follow a disturbed young man, who after serving 10 years in prison for shooting a police officer in the back, paralysing him, he is inexorably drawn to that officer again, to attempt to befriend him. The characters are drawn with such care and detail, and the descriptions of what Jenner is going through, his ups and, in particular, his downs, pulls you right into the narrative.
Definitely worth a punt.
September 8, 2017
It is difficult to review this book because it is so beautifully written. Rendell's writing is great, she's got a way of giving details and characteristics from atmospheres and places that doesn't bore you. However, when it comes to the story, I'm sorry, universe, but to keep the narrative completely from a rapist's point of view was not engaging. Even though in the beginning I actually thought it could have been interesting, but in the end it was not. So Live Flesh is a great movie, but a disappointing book, because of the POV choice.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 130 reviews