Urgh. I could not listen to this story any more. The characters are vile and lack any morals or ethics. Rendell must have a very jaded view of humanity and I found the book poisoning my own outlook on the world.
To be avoided, as you would a venomous snake.

Outstanding narration by the beautiful Juliet Stevenson. This story is not at all what I was expecting. It’s less a crime novel, and more a study of how traumatic life experiences can twist a person’s concept of acceptable behaviour! This book is a slow burn, but I was totally engrossed from start to finish.

If you open this novel expecting the usual crime story, you’ll be very surprised! This Inspector Wexford story is less about Wexford, and more about his right-hand man, Mike Burden.
Yes, there is a missing child, and the usual suspects abound. However, this story is really a study of one man’s grief - the sort of grief that makes you go almost mad. Mike Burden’s wife has died before the novel opens. It was an unexpected and premature death and Mike is left lost and confused.
Rendell deftly weaves this personal story through the ongoing investigation, with Wexford going it alone and missing Burden’s input and companionship.
This is so much more than a crime novel…..highly recommended.