Adam and Eve and Pinch Me

In Adam and Eve and Pinch Me, celebrated mystery writer Ruth Rendell demonstrates her mastery at creating a rich cast of interacting characters. At the outset, the reader has no idea how a series of vicious stabbings could possibly connect the lives of these four: an obsessive young woman who is beginning to be visited by the ghost of her boyfriend, recently killed in a car crash; a gay Conservative Member of Parliament who marries a childhood friend to avoid being outed; a radio talk-show host whose life is threatened by an eating disorder; and the first black policeman in the U.K. to rise above the rank of sergeant. As Rendell pulls together the colourful strands of these various lives, a pattern emerges, and their ties to the series of vicious murders become ever tighter. Adam and Eve and Pinch Me is a page-turner of the first magnitude from a writer who continues to astonish us with the power and subtlety of her craft.