Having worked as a couple counsellor some decades ago, I recognised some of the truly ghastly aspects of a dysfunctional marriage in this story – but the real joy was in the storytelling itself.
The complex morality and cringe-making behaviour, all told in a calmly credible voice, made it a uniquely memorable read. We shamelessly take the ‘wrong’ side (as in the Ripley books). Highsmith holds nothing back. No act is too wicked, no motive too banal. One never knows what to expect. A brilliant writer.
Vic and Melinda Van Allen's loveless marriage is held together only by a precarious arrangement whereby, in order to avoid the messiness of divorce, Melinda is allowed to take any number of lovers as long as she does not desert her family. Eventually, Vic can no longer suppress his jealousy and tries to win back his wife by asserting himself through a tall tale of murder-one that soon comes true. In this complex portrayal of a dangerous psychosis emerging in the most unlikely of places, Highsmith examines the chilling reality behind the idyllic facade of American suburban life.
I bought this book in Arizona during a recent road trip. I’ve read several Louis L’Amour stories, because I love Westerns.
This is one of his longest – a real epic. It is set in the deserts of California and Arizona, with a map and totally authentic history. The characters are strong and consistent, the situations exciting. L’Amour employs all the usual stereotypes (strong goodie, terrifying baddie, feisty females) and makes them real.
He is the forerunner of the Jack Reacher books which use many of the same features in an updated setting.
This was the boy’s mantra as he plodded through the desert alone, left to die by his vengeful grandfather. Johannes Verne was soon to be rescued by outlaws, but no one could save him from the lasting memory of his grandfather’s eyes, full of impenetrable hatred. Raised in part by Indians, then befriended by a mysterious woman, Johannes grew up to become a rugged adventurer and an educated man. But even now, strengthened by the love of a golden-haired girl and well on his way to making a fortune in bustling…
The book is a ‘diary’ of a year or so spent in France by a Frenchwoman and her young son in the 1940s.
Madeleine is from Paris, but is living in a small village, where everything is strange. She has to cope with animals, eccentric neighbours, and the fact that her son is a child actor, involved in filming the very successful movie The Fallen Idol with Ralph Richardson.
Told in a very distinctive style, the book was very popular in its day. It captures a time and place with great skill and deserves to be read today.
The 21st – and last – title in the Thea Osborne (now Thea Slocombe) Cotswolds crime series. Thea takes her step-daughter Stephanie with her to Baunton near Cirencester to help find a missing girl. But the search is interrupted by the discovery of a dead woman in a ramshackle shed.
