Very disappointing, tedious. ( )

This is one of Ruth Rendell's last books, and perhaps it is appropriate that it is about a group of older people, reunited at the discovery of a gruesome, decades-old crime. It definitely contains elements of mystery, a genre that Rendell did very well, but it is also a rumination on aging and the many ways it affects people. The group of disparate friends and lovers met first as children in the rural outskirts of London during WWII, and many of them never left that small community. But their reunion brings unexpected consequences, dragging long-buried secrets into the light, and igniting passions that were previously unknown, or at least long dormant. It is an interesting story about old people, most of whom spend a lot of time wondering how it is they got to be so old, or else feeling like they really aren't so old, and acting in perhaps inappropriate ways. I've got a ways to go before I can truly empathize with this stage of life, but I can only imagine it rings true for many readers. ( )

During WWII, a group of children in the suburbs of London discover underground tunnels beneath a house which become their clubhouse. They play games, have pretend tea parties, read aloud. One girl tells fortunes. The fun lasts for a few months until one of the neighborhood dads yells at them to get out and don't come back.

Years later when the remains of the tunnels are demolished, workers find a metal box containing two mummified human hands. We readers know part of how they got there. The investigation brings the neighborhood gang of kids, now old, back together. Some have been friends all along, others have lost touch. Soon there are new friendships and romances among the group, proof that you don't have to be young to feel passion and anger.

The story is from the point of view of several of the older characters, but we get to see how their children and grandchildren see them, too. When they tell the young detective about their days playing the tunnels he asks, "But what did you do there?" They look at him in astonishment. Can't he imagine the kind of fun they made? Other characters observe changes, like how nobody says "quarter to" the hour any more, just "9:45". A woman rolls her eyes when her granddaughter refers to the bathroom "sink" - the proper term is "basin" and only the kitchen has a "sink".

It's a completely satisfying novel and mystery - not a who done it, but who was done to, and what happened after. ( )

I will miss her story telling ( )

Like Tana French, Ruth Rendell's mysteries are just an excuse for her to write about troubled souls, quirky characters and difficult scenarios that involve life and death. Read any one by her or her pen name, Barbara Vine. She's prolific. This was the last one before her death. Her muse is incredible. Stephen King says, “no one surpasses Ruth Rendell when it comes to stories of obsession, instability, and malignant coincidence.” What higher praise could you ask for? ( )