Talking to Strange Men

by Ruth Rendell

A thriller featuring Mungo Cameron, for whom the mysterious world of espionage is his whole existence. From the author of AN UNKINDNESS OF RAVENS, THE VEILED ONE and THE SPEAKER OF MANDARIN.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Thriller, British Literature, Mystery Thriller, Novels

300 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

A.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.

Reviews

[Kinga · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this because I was in a mood for some good classic mystery novel. Unfortunately, it was neither of those things.

First of all, I should've picked something American, as I find all mid-sized English towns dreary, and can hardly ever muster any enthusiasm for books taking place in mid-sized English towns.

This wasn't a crime novel per se, more of a story of a pathetic, depressed man whose wife left him for some scoundrel and who becomes obsessed with decoding messages of what he think is a dangerous spy/drug ring but in reality is just a bunch of public school twats.

What follows is a chain of coincidences, resulting in a total tragedy of errors and some paedophilia, as well as countless loose ends that beg to be tied up somehow. It's a weird, and ultimately unsatisfying book, because the climax, while definitely climactic, does not involve any main characters, only a couple of despicable secondary ones we never cared for in the first place.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I considered one star, but this is Ruth Rendell, one of my bygone favorite authors...whose books occupy book shelves in my homes. But then, were my actual favorites the Barbara Vine variety?
I don't think I own this one. This was a library loan in this case because I thought it would be fun to get the Rendell twist on Soviet spy craft just following after the Daniel Silva book I read.
No.
There are codes, English school boy spy games and many other oddities with a full cast of wacky and depressed characters and out of control situations that do not please and cannot be understood.

I was without my decoding ring and could not make out what this book was about.

[Hilary G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ruth Rendell novels adapt very well to the audio format and the ones I have listened to have all been enjoyable. Her plots are intricate. Have you seen those pseudo-family trees that "prove" connections between rock stars and royalty, politicians and criminals...? Rendell plots are like that. They remind me of dropping a small blob of ink on blotting paper and seeing the tendrils creep out and join up. Her characters are not always very likable, and often have curious names, but they always seem real and true to life. Surely we all know people like Colin, who still lives with his mother, or Fergus, who worries about everything? She even takes trouble with minor characters. I loved the teacher who peppered his conversations with Latin phrases and the old mother who assumed an invitation to her son to meet for a pint at the pub included her. The plot is very original, I doubt you'll have read anything like this before. Spookside is a very inventive creation, but Rendell keeps it credible. The handling of all the different plot strands is deft, with no loose ends left. I also like the way the reader is left wondering what would happen next. A clever and complex plot.

This said, there were a few things I found puzzling. What was the Gavin/Mynah bird thing all about? Was it just local colour? Or was it showing you how people react when losing someone/thing they care about or want. John, Mark, Peter, Jennifer and Gavin all seemed to me to be foiled in love, be it for birds, wives, boys or whatever. Love is pretty dangerous in Ruth Rendell's world, isn't it, and leads to unwelcome consequences for everyone. I also felt there was a slight lapse in credibility at the point when Jennifer let Charles clean the car just after John's revelation about Peter. Was she in denial, was it a test, was she stupid?

All in all, I thought this was an enjoyable listen as I went up and down the M1 last week. Christian Rodska (whoever he is) was an excellent reader. Mind you, I reckon whoever reads Ruth Rendell, it is still her voice that you hear. Her writing is quite distinctive.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not really sure what I thought of this "two stories that eventually intersect" story. On the one hand I couldn't follow nor was interested in the schoolboy spies story. On the other I was interested in the "hopelessly wants to get back with his ex-wife" story and the very bizarre revelations that came with it. There was definitely a build up of tension once the stories intersected and I'm very glad that one of those stories didn't go the way it could have as that would have been very hard to read. At the end of it all I felt slightly dissatisfied though I can't articulate why. Maybe it's because of all the descriptive passages that don't really add anything to the story or its mood.

[Elinor Hurst · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave up 70 pages in because I found the intertwined story about the schoolboy “spy ring” to be confusing and implausible. It was boring the pants off me, and I was only ploughing through it to get to the interesting bits about the man grieving his broken relationship. However I decided life is too short to waste my time reading boring and irritating fiction, as I mainly read fiction for escapism and pleasure.

I also found the obsessively detailed descriptions of the urban landscape at the start rather tedious. Ruth Rendell is a good writer, but in this case I think she got rather too carried away with her descriptive abilities.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

THE GOOD: A couple of interesting tidbits about espionage and the Cold War.

THE BAD: Pretty much everything else. Rendell is usually great, but this one really missed the mark. Nobody’s perfect, I guess.

WOULD I REREAD: Definitely not.

[Poojan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started reading Talking to Strange Men cause there were many quotes in the Cryptography and Network Security.

Thinking of it as Detective and Mystery, but the moment I knew it is children playing prank around novel I stopped reading it.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chilling. Want to play spy? Not after reading this.

Really enjoyed theis one because of the story and the ending.

Rendell's novel tells the story of several people who don't know each other and how thier lives intersect. An example of unintended evetns.

[Mary Monks · Rating 1 out of 5]

As you can see by my 1-star rating, I did not enjoy this book.
I have read lots of Ruth Rendell books over the years, but this one did not appeal at all.
Many times I felt "lost" in the plot and the many characters.
It would be classified as mystery genre, but I can't say I'd recommend it.

[Leola · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of my 18th Birthday bookshelf down! This one was from Grandad! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Definitely not something I’d usually read but the twists were shocking and the writing was solid and the concept was very interesting. Overall a great read!!

[Nageen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Urgh. DNF. My first (and probably last Ruth Rendell)

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps my favourite Rendell yet?

[Alison C · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Creevey has lost a lot in his life - his parents, his sister (murdered) and most recently his wife, who just left him to go back to the man she was going to marry until she was dumped at the last minute. He’s got his job running a gardening centre, a couple of casual friends and a hope that he can win his wife back, but mostly he’s just alone. When he stumbles across some coded messages sort of hidden in plain sight, he takes it as a sign that he should try to interpret them, wondering if they were from a violent gang, a drug ring, perhaps international spies - but the truth is far different than his imaginings, and the events he unknowingly sets into motion lead only to death….This is a stand-alone novel by Ruth Rendell from 1987, and as with all her work, the inner lives and psychological profiles of her characters are extremely well-drawn and very human. The plot is, also as always, quite involved and convoluted; the reader knows that something is going to happen, but not quite what it will be until nearly the end. I found the main characters to be really unappetizing, though, and so while I enjoyed her writing as much as I have ever done, this book left me somewhat angsty, a bit depressed.

[Maria Woltersdorf · Rating 2 out of 5]

Schon spannend, aber teilweise einfach doch an manchen Punkten unrealistisch. Außerdem sind offene Enden ja, wenn sie an sich ein Ende haben und beispielsweise den Blick in die Zukunft oder so offen lassen ok, aber hier das geht gar nicht. Man sitzt dann am Ende da und denkt sich WTF? Was war der Sinn von einigen Kapiteln oder Passagen? Was hatte das eine nun mit dem Anderen zu tun? Warum ist das und das passiert, wenn es absolut keinen weiteren Bezug zu irgendeiner anderen Handlung hat? Ich dachte gewisse Fäden laufen am Ende zusammen und es läuft auf Verwirrungen, Zusammenhänge usw. hinaus, die man als Leser nicht wissen kann oder meint zu erahnen, aber da ist nix - es endet, wie man es sich einige Kapitel zuvor schon denken kann, aber man bleibt mit so vielen offenen Fragen zurück. Die Grundidee des Buches ist spannend und den größten Teil des Buches fand ich es auch nicht schlecht, aber man hätte mehr daraus machen können, ich habe auf einen Paukenschlag gewartet, der nicht kam. Leider dann doch enttäuschend.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ruth Rendell is one of my favorite writers, but this is my least favorite Rendell book so far. It is well done, but I just couldn’t get invested in either “side” of the story. A group of teenagers has created an elaborate game of codes and mock espionage. A lonely man longing to reunite with his ex-wife stumbles on their game, and the paths of the two begin to intertwine. The man thinks he has come across a real nest of spies, while the youths are trying to figure out whether someone within or outside their game is playing a lone hand. Additionally, there is a real-life child molester in the city, preying on young boys. Rendell weaves it all together beautifully and believably, but it was a letdown for me. Ah, well, a mediocre Rendell is still better than the best from other writers!

[Bobbie Darbyshire · Rating 2 out of 5]

A man, depressed after his wife has left him, finds a series of coded messages left in a hidey-hole. Cracking the code, he begins to wonder if he can leave a message himself that will help him get his wife back.
It wasn’t bad, I’m sure many would love it, and there were many lovely passages about the hero’s occupation as a gardener, but with apologies to her fans I’m coming to the conclusion that Ruth Rendell, or maybe the crime genre, isn’t for me. One of the two story threads had so many names and complications that I couldn’t be bothered to remember them and started to skim, and the other story thread, though straightforward, never persuaded me to stop noticing plot and author and actually believe in the characters. As with The Dark-Adapted Eye, I also found the resolution unsatisfying. There is one more of hers in my TBR pile, but I’m rather wishing there wasn’t.

[Anke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tegenvaller. Ik vond deze Ruth Rendell tegenvallen. Door de beschrijving lijkt of het een leuk, spannend boek is, maar er zit geen spanning in. De twee verhaallijnen blijven naast elkaar en komen ook aan het einde niet echt bij elkaar, het zijn (en blijven) dus eigenlijk twee aparte verhalen. Toen ik het boek uit had, vroeg ik me af wat Rendell als plot bedoeld had.
Ik vond het verhaal ook wat ouderwets overkomen, het boek is zo'n 25 jaar oud en dat merk je ook. Er zit veel moraal in over o.a. samenwonen voor het huwelijk en de rol van mannen en vrouwen in huis, terwijl dit voor een spannend verhaal niet nodig zou zijn.
Ik ga nog wel meer Rendell's lezen, ze heeft zoveel boeken geschreven, dat het niet erg is dat er een keertje een tegenvaller bij zit!

[arjuna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rendell has an almost magical ability to take perfectly normal things and people doing slightly strange things and turn them into something you really Don't Want To Think About. (And boy can she write "That Guy" - they're always far too creepily real for comfort).

I've enjoyed others of hers more than this - probably because John is a lot like some of her other Sad Male/TG characters - but the "spy ring" subplot gradually won me over (largely due to the awful, wonderful Mabledene). Bit glib in parts, but loved the ending.

[Mauricio Villa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the 20th Rendell book I read and possibly her worst, however it still has some saving graces. I find the plot of the spy network to be a little forced, even as a child's game. It takes very long to get into and is downright boring in certain times. It took a long time to finish even as the plot sped up. I however find the title to be perfect, and it relates to many points of the book. I found the dynamic between Charles and ____ to be sort of controversial and certainly daring, but not inappropriate.

[Judith Cranswick · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is something compulsive about Ruth Rendell's psychological suspense novels. I'm not sure why I enjoy her novels so much. The characters are always dysfunctional and rarely likeable and the endings are never cosy but the novels are hauntingly memorable. Talking to Strange Men certainly kept me wanting to know about the school boys' intrigues and the poor unfortunate
John Creevey. It is possibly my favourite Ruth Rendell story.

[Sibylle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took a while to get into it but had me captivated pretty quickly. Vintage Rendell. Strange how books from the 80s now feel as old as those from, say, the 50s. Shows the high quality of this story that it's still a great read 20 years later.

[lethe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review 1994:
Het verhaal heeft een veel te lange aanloop. Pas na 200 pagina's komt er vaart in.

[Bruce Beckham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ruth Rendell’s suspense novels can be hit-and-miss, and this one offers a bit of both. There is a quite ingenious underlying plot, but the mechanic by which it is delivered relies rather too much upon credulity.

And, while there is a central protagonist, other candidates weave in and out, causing the main thread to fray at times.

John Creevey is a jilted husband. Ignoring his estranged wife Jennifer’s pleas for a divorce, he makes futile efforts to tempt her back. When he realises she is set upon another man – her first love, Peter Mullin, returned from somewhere unknown – John sets about undermining the relationship.

In parallel, boys from local public schools play at spies. John stumbles across one of their dead-letter drops. He believes it must be a criminal gang, involved in protection and suchlike. He cracks their code, and toys with the idea of setting them upon his marital nemesis.

The two strands of the story overlap further when John discovers that Peter harbours a dark secret, a criminal conviction. He is not to be trusted around young boys. Through John’s misguided devices, a situation of grave jeopardy arises.

So, you can see the plot has potential.

But I have always thought that research was never Ruth Rendell’s forte. Where this tale falls down is in the mores, manners and machinations of the public schoolboys – and it is a struggle to follow their exploits and consider them plausible.

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I registered this book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14829516

A small group of private school boys are engaged in a spy game. It's fairly elaborate - there are two opposing groups, each with a leader and with "drop" locations, safe houses, and coded messages.

John Creevey, an adult suffering from his wife's departure, happens upon one of the drops and starts to copy the messages and try to decipher them. He becomes quite involved in the puzzle, and tries to figure out who the rival groups are. Street gangs? Drug lords? Actual spies?

John is obsessed, however, with getting wife Jennifer back. She has taken off with a former lover, boldly. This lover had left her almost at the altar yet she still wants him. John cannot understand it. He tries to find the key - what can he do to win her back?

Through an intersection of John's needs and the boys' spy game, something unexpected and unplanned happens. Was John too careless?

With Rendell you can never be sure of the outcome. She loves to develop complex characters whose motives may not be pure, or may just be muddied. This is a lovely representation of her brilliant mind.

[Rupesh Goenka · Rating 1 out of 5]

John Creevey, owner of a gardening shop, was devastated when his wife left him to return to her ex-lover, a shadowy figure by the name of Peter Moran. He aspires to get back together with his wife and wants to exact revenge on her boyfriend. He discovers a string of encrypted messages hidden beneath a highway bridge. The coded texts are a component of a fictitious spy network that a group of school children had made for their espionage game. John believes that he has deciphered the messages sent by a gang of drug dealers. He doesn't realize that the messages are merely a part of a child's game. He sends a hidden note to the gangsters in an attempt to trap and punish Peter for breaking up his marriage. He unintentionally sets in motion a series of events that lead to tragedy. There are two distinct storylines inside the plot that eventually come together in the end. An excessive number of characters make the espionage ring narrative confusing. The climax is unsatisfactory and lackluster. The book moves slowly because the long botanical descriptions are tedious to read. WASTE OF TIME.

[Kay C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thus far, this is not my favorite Rendell book. It is intricate and complicated with lots of discussion about codes and spy games organized by school boys. I skipped a lot of those chapters, just getting enough of the essence of them to move into other chapters involving other characters - most of them quirky, lonely, and strange. Makes for interesting reading and I've hung in there long enough to finally start enjoying it.

[Dark-Draco · Rating 1 out of 5]

Grrr ... had to give up on this one. Just got very, very, very bored. The premise seemed promising, but by page 100, not really much had happened. The main character is a bit of drip and although I found the whole 'spy' ring fascinating, I started longing for anything interesting to occur. Not one for me.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were times when I couldn't figure out where this story was going. But it came together toward the end. There are actually two stories here. One is about a lonely man whose wife has left him, the other is about some teens who play at being secret agents who use special codes send messages to one another. The two stories come together in an intriguing fashion.

[Anthony Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. Myriad threads weaved together. All the male characters are strange men. Good illustration of unintended consequences.
One of the few books in my life I started retreading as soon as I’d finished it.

[Kevin Shoop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like much of Rendell's work, this book has some disturbing content but stops short of being graphic. Even though I found one of the plot threads (school boys playing at espionage) to be a bit tiresome, the book as a whole was entertaining and ultimately profound.