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Harm Done
Harm Done
Apr 24, 2025 2:22 AM

Author:Ruth Rendell

Harm Done

Readers of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon will love this deliciously tense and suspenseful thriller from multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell. An absolute page-turner you won't be able to stop reading...

'The Wexford books clearly display Rendell's great mastery of storytelling at its best' -- Sunday Telegraph

'Rendell's detective fiction stands almost alone as a chronicle of the dark side of modern life...' -- Independent

'Unputdownable' -- ***** Reader review

'Another cracker from Rendell!' -- ***** Reader review

'A masterpiece' -- ***** Reader review

'When does Ruth Rendell ever write anything other than excellent?' -- ***** Reader review

'Thought provoking and absorbing' -- ***** Reader review

**********************************************************************

A young girl disappears, then another.

A notorious paedophile is released back into the community. The residents of the Muriel Campden Estate are up in arms, and even prepared to take the law into their own hands...

As a policeman, Chief Inspector Wexford is faced with the effects of violence and prejudice every day.

His daughter, Sylvia, has come to work nearby in a refuge for battered women. Her marriage is not a happy one, although her husband has never raised a hand to her. They are merely incompatible. Other women in Kingsmarkham are not so lucky...

Wexford is soon called upon to investigate two extremely serious crimes which will affect the lives and attitudes of police and innocent villagers alike...

Reviews

No contemporary writer of suspense stories tries to vary the form's boundaries more than Ruth Rendell

—— Guardian

The Wexford books clearly display Rendell's great mastery of storytelling at its best

—— Sunday Telegraph

It is hard to think of another crime writer who so effortlessly incorporates real events [...] into genre fiction, and in a serious manner... Rendell's detective fiction stands almost alone as a chronicle of the dark side of modern life... Rendell offers sufficient clues and red herrings to satisfy the msot dedicated puzzle-solver... Harm Done is a vivid demonstration of Rendell's contribution to contemporary fiction

—— Independent

One of the greatest novelists presently at work in our language... a writer whose work should be read by anyone who either enjoys a brilliant mystery - or distinguished literature

—— Scott Turow

More lifelike than many sophisticated thrillers

—— Sunday Times

One of the best-written detective series in the genre's history... At any time we can return to Kingsmarkham to explore the darker side of humanity with Wexford as our reassuring and humane guide

—— Washington Post

A real cracker that keeps the reader involved from start to finish

—— Edinburgh Evening News

One of the most suspenseful sequences Child has written yet... the kind of patriotic vigilante fantasy a lefty can love. There's no doubt Reacher is kicking butt for democracy

—— Newsday

Restless drifter Jack Reacher... invariably gets himself in to the kind of trouble that mkaes you wish Child's publisher printed his books on waterproof pages so you don't have to stop reading them after you've stayed up all night and have to take your morning shower. Child really is that good at heroic suspense writing

—— Philadelphia Inquirer

Reacher is [Raymond Chandler's] Marlowe's literary descendant, and a 21st-century knight - only tougher. This is the 13h book in Child's terrific series, and it's the most provocative and thrilling one yet... the summer's best thriller

—— Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Civilised, funny, life-affirming and hugely enjoyable

—— Literary Review

Brilliantly detailed and unexpectedly funny

—— Mirror

Perceptive and engaging

—— Independent

Murder, mystery and Atkinson's skill make for an atmospheric and moving story

—— Eve

Funny, furious fourth novel rumbustiously drives a path through the genre of detective fiction, demolishing its careful, forensic summation of human behaviour and replacing them with bloody, believable, vigorous tales

—— Rachel Cusk

Vivid, multifaceted... Case Histories manages to be such an ultimately joyful novel.. I found myself captivated throughout by the vivacity and big-hearted humour... skilled juxtaposition

—— WBQ

Not just the best novel I have read this year...but the best mystery of the decade. There are actually four mysteries, nesting like Russian dolls, and when they begin to fit together, I defy any reader not to feel a combination of delight and amazement. Case Histories is the literary equivalent of a triple axel. I read it once for pleasure and then again just to see how it was done. This is the kind of book you shove in people's faces, saying 'You gotta read this!

—— Entertainment Weekly

So well-written...Everyone who picks it up will feel compelled to follow it through to the last page.

—— Guardian

Her best book yet...a tragi-comedy for our times.'

—— Katie Owen, Sunday Telegraph

'A greedy feast of a story by a masterful author ... Will stay with you for a long time after you have finished reading it. '

—— Daily Express

'Civilised, funny, life-affirming and hugely enjoyable. I can't recall reading crime fiction quite like this before- honest, ironic, and cheerfully unselfconscious. I urge you to share my surprise and delight.'

—— Philip Oakes, Literary Review

One of the most brilliantly playful, witty and original writers we have.

—— Scotsman

'At heart a comic novelist, who explores the relationship between comedy and crime... In Case Histories, these skills have found their literary home.'

—— Heather O’Donoghue, Times Literary Supplement

'Sharp humour, together with a number of unexpected twists, make this a typically pacey and intelligent read.'

—— Daily Mail

Not just the best novel I have read this year...but the best mystery of the decade. There are actually four mysteries, nesting like Russian dolls, and when they begin to fit together, I defy any reader not to feel a combination of delight and amazement. Case Histories is the literary equivalent of a triple axel. I read it once for pleasure and then again just to see how it was done. This is the mind of book you shove in people's faces, saying 'You gotta read this!'

—— Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly
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