The Birthday Present

Starred review from January 26, 2009
British master Vine (the pen name of Ruth Rendell), a life Labor peer who used her knowledge of politics in 2002’s The Blood Doctor
to explore the personal rather than the political ramifications of power, does both in this intricate novel, which charts the wreckage caused by Ivor Tesham, a Conservative member of Parliament, who concocts a kinky present for his married mistress—a mock kidnapping that results in a mixup of identities and murder. While nothing links the MP to the crime, the elitist Tesham, with his callous attitude toward people and public service alike, realizes justice may eventually catch up with him. Vine knows “how we walk all the time on that thin crust that covers terrible abysses.” The consequences for the innocent victims of Tesham’s recklessness provide the book’s deep and genuine pathos. Full of psychological insight, this is an absolute must for Vine/Rendell enthusiasts—and those who have yet to encounter her genius.

February 1, 2009
Ruth Rendell's 13th pseudonymous novel traces the four years of unintended consequences following a Conservative MP's ill-advised attempt to spice up his sex life.

If they hadn't been sexually adventurous, precocious, well-regarded statesman Ivor Tesham and glamorous housewife Hebe Furnal never would have gotten together so quickly and combustibly. But Ivor's birthday present to Hebe, in addition to the pearl necklace prudently indistinguishable from paste that he's already given her, raises the stakes several levels from dressing up and role-playing. Warning her only that she'll get a nice surprise if she's on a certain street at a certain time, he hires two men to kidnap her and deliver her, bound and gagged, to his bed—or rather to the bed of his sister Iris and her husband Rob Delgado, who've obligingly lent him their house without knowing what he has in mind. When this naughty but innocuous plan goes disastrously wrong, two people are killed; a millionaire's wife suffers a miscarriage and a nervous breakdown; Hebe's best friend, librarian Jane Atherton, is saddled with guilty knowledge without knowing what to do with it; and Ivor is left bobbing on a bubble of rising success that's threatened by any number of objects with the lethal potential of unexploded bombs (Jane's diary, Hebe's box of sex toys, that string of pearls) and variously complicit parties—his fiance Juliet Case, Hebe's benighted husband Gerry, IRA terrorist Sean Lynch and, finally, Jane, whose agonized inner conflicts and deepening madness show once more Rendell's unrivaled insight into the unacknowledged dark places of the psyche. The string of calamities that inevitably ensue is expertly braided with the political fortunes of the Conservatives and afterwards in a masterly rebuke to critics who think suspense novels are too insulated from social reality.

Less dense and gloomy than most of Vine's work (The Minotaur, 2006, etc.), though that's a matter of degree. Despite an untidy and anticlimactic ending, as gripping a tale as you'll read this year.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from March 1, 2009
Ivor Tesham, a dashing member of Parliament, decides to give his married mistress, Hebe, an unusual birthday gift. He hires two men to kidnap her and transport her, bound and gagged, to their weekend love nest. Everything has been carefully plannedwhen the kidnappers' car is hit by a truck shortly after the abduction; Hebe and one of the kidnappers are killed, the other one is seriously injured. Ivor fears obsessively that the man will recover and tell the media the truth about his involvement. Vine ("The Minotaur") paints a disturbing picture of a man whose dark secret is driving him to the edge of sanity. The setup is a bit slow, but once everything is in place, the tension remains high. Highly recommended.Linda Oliver, MLIS, Colorado Springs

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2009
Vine, the pen name of Ruth Rendell (whose Reginald Wexford mysteries are among the best of contemporary British procedurals), turns in anotherinvolving stand-alonethat explores the twists and turns ofhuman behavior.Flipping between theperspectives of two unacquainted narrators, she chronicles the rise and fall of a self-indulgentBritish politician, whose careercollapses, in part, becauseof a tragic stroke of bad luck. Ivor Tesham, a rising star inJohn Majors liberal party, is shocked when he learns about the death of his mistress, killed in a car accident while on her way to him, bound andblindfolded, as the willing victim of a faux kidnapping meant to set the stage for a birthdaygift of adventurous sex. Fearing public censure, Tesham stays quiet, despite the advice from his sister and brother-in-law.As might be expected, hisselfish decisiongradually ripples outward, leading to unexpected consequences not only for himself but also for the other vicitims of the accidentespeciallythe womans troubled friend.As with her other psychological thrillers, Vine writes with calm elegance, slowly unravelling the story whileconstructing a strong sense ofplace, politics, and social class to support her players. Its the very ordinariness of her characters and the randomness of their lives thatcreate the drama here.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)