(Larger Image)
|
A Fatal Inversion
by Barbara Vine
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Bantam Books (1987-08-01)
ISBN: 0553052152
EAN: 9780553052152
Dewey Decimal #: 823.914
Binding/Media: Hardcover - 268 pages
Edition: 1st U.S.
Release Date: 1987-08-01
SKU: 7036A-0000002-J
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comments: Tight spine, clean pages with slight edge wear on DJ.
|
Editorial Reviews
|
Product Description
In the long hot summer of 1976, a group of young people are camping in Wyvis Hall. Adam, Rufus, Shiva, Vivien and Zosie hardly ask why they are there or how they are to live; they scavenge, steal and sell the family heirlooms. In short, they exist. Ten years later, the bodies of a woman and child are discovered in the Hall's animal cemetery. Which woman? Whose child? "I defy anyone to guess the conclusion! The clues are cunningly planted, so that it seems one should have known all along. A most satisfying end" - "Daily Telegraph".
|
Customer Reviews
|
not very thrilling
Rating  (2)
Date: 2010-01-28
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
From the comments I read,I thought I was about to embark in a nail-biting thriller - nothing farther from the truth. The story is well written; characters are finely developed, but the story does not thrill. Medium pace; series of flashbacks; does not really climax anywhere, just fizzles.
|
|
Outstanding!
Rating  (5)
Date: 2009-09-09
1 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
If you like a suspense/mystery involving everyday people, it does not get much better than this.
|
|
A banal plot
Rating (2)
Date: 2007-02-01
2 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
During the summer of 1976, Adam Verne-Smith inherits a big old country house in Suffolk, Wyvis Hall. He collects around him a group of shady and careless young people: Rufus, Shiva, Vivien and Zosie. With carelessness of youth they plunder, steal, pawn, scavenge and sell the family heirlooms. In 1986 the bodies of a young woman and child are discovered in a strange animal cemetery by the owners of Wyvis Hall. Adam, Rufus and the others have reasons to fear as the truth about what happened at Wyvis Hall in 1976 slowly comes to light.
The characters are not particularly well drawn, the plot a succession of banal events. Although Mrs Vine is interested in borderline personalities, the psychology of her characters in this novel can be described as uninteresting at best.
|
|
Tensions build and build as you read this book.
Rating  (4)
Date: 2005-08-01
5 out of 6 customers found this reveiw helpful
No one can create an atmosphere of tension like Ms. Rendell writing as Barbara Vine. I know as soon as I begin one of her books, that I'm on an unstoppable ride until the very last pages. This particular book is wonderfully written, and there's a nifty little surprise at the end. The best thing about Barbara Vine is the way she unfolds her plots, and weaves past and present together so it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. She also has an uncanny way of building the scene for her books, so that readers feel that they are right there where the usually horrible act occurs. The fun is in the unravelling of the mystery. In this book we have five young people spending an idyllic summer at a grand country estate. Irrevocable occurences happen during this summer of 1976 which come back to haunt these people almost eleven years later. Tensions and stress build and build until the final shocking ending. Great stuff!
|
|
Dance To The Music Of Time
Rating (5)
Date: 2002-11-03
14 out of 15 customers found this reveiw helpful
The ephemeral bygone quality of Ms. Vine's characters during their summer long idyll at Wyvis Hall reminded me of Anthony Powell's dream-like but objective viewings. The author toys with us in this complex novel. The reader spends two-thirds of the book not mulling over what has happened, but what is going to happen.New owners of beautiful Wyvis Hall uncover human bones in the pet cemetery on the grounds of the estate. This sets in motion events which have been hidden for the past eleven years. The story goes back and forth from the present to the fateful summer of 1976. The tale is told from the viewpoints of Adam, Rufus and Shiva. Adam earns his father's undying enmity by inheriting his great-uncle's estate Wyvis Hall when he is 19. Adam with casual friend, Rufus drives down from London just intending to have a look at the property and going on for holidays in Greece. The estate works its magic on the young men and their stay extends to the entire summer. They sell off items in the house to keep themselves in money, drink quantities of wine, laze about and keep the world at bay. The party enlarges to include Zosie, a fey childlike homeless girl, Shiva, a highly proper Indian and his companion, the mystic Vivienne. The reader knows something is going to happen this summer because of the prologue when the bones are discovered. But what? We know the event has had a profound effect upon Adam and Shiva that has entirely changed their lives. Rufus seems to have escaped unscathed and is living according to his original plan. None of the characters are particularly likable, let alone lovable. We don't connect with them, but do feel this terrible unease as the tale unfolds. The buildup is masterful, the horror is cataclysmic and the epilogue is chilling. Contrary to a few of the reviews posted here, this book does not have a "happy" ending at all. Ms. Vine/Rendell deserves all the prizes she received for this craftily constructed novel. Some of the issues touched upon are profound; yet we are never allowed to be sidetracked into a case of the existential vapors. Recommended.
|
|
|
|
|