The Fallen Curtain - by Ruth Rendell (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A stranger lures a child into his car with the promise of sweets. A young man spots his fiancée's double in a public park of ill repute. An executive visits the secluded home of a former employee whose intentions are frightfully unclear. A modest soul weds the woman he rescues from suicide--only to fall victim to an unfathomable form of possessiveness...
In the eleven tales gathered in The Fallen Curtain, Ruth Rendell--the grande dame of the literary mystery--lays bare the twisted inner workings of the unbalanced mind. Here are eleven tales of haunting psychological accuracy: the gesture that betrays a parent's madness, the childhood memory clouded with denial, the utterance that introduces the threat of violence in a situation as benign as a dinner date. Instantly engaging, maddeningly addictive, The Fallen Curtain testifies to the enduring talents of a master of the genre.

Review Quotes

"Rendell transcends the mystery genre and achieves something almost sublime."- Los Angeles Times

"One of the best concoctors of plots since the early Agatha Christie."- Daily Telegraph, London

"Ruth Rendell leads the field."- The Observer

About the Author

Ruth Rendell is the author of Road Rage, The Keys to the Street, Bloodlines, Simisola, and The Crocodile Bird. She is the winner of the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award. She is also the recipient of three Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America and four Gold Daggers from Great Britain's Crime Writers Association. In 1997, she was named a life peer in the House of Lords. Ruth Rendell also writes mysteries under the name of Barbara Vine, of which A Dark Adapted Eye is the most famous. She lives in England.