The Bridesmaid
a passionate love story with a chilling, dark twist from the award-winning queen of crime, Ruth Rendell
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3.0 • 3 Ratings
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
Would you kill for love? A breathtakingly tense and taut exploration into the criminal power of love from multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell. Perfect for fans of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon.
'Every sentence is appallingly, shockingly convincing . . . a memorably harrowing journey through sick and weak minds, written with a skill that makes it relentlessly gripping' -- The Times
'To read her at her best - and The Bridesmaid is perhaps her best book - is like stepping on to a trundling country bus and feeling it turn into a roller coaster' -- Sunday Times
'Absorbing and unputdownable' -- ***** Reader review
'Ruth Rendell at her very best' -- ***** Reader review
'Couldn't put it down' -- ***** Reader review
'Top class, as usual' -- ***** Reader review
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Philip Wardman's feminine ideal is the statue of the Roman goddess Flora in his mother's garden. His marble Flora doesn't fade, doesn't alter, doesn't die.
But then he meets Senta Pelham, a beautiful, sensual, childlike actress and a living incarnation of the statue.
The two embark on a passionate affair that soon becomes dangerous when Senta sets Philip a test; to prove their love, they must each commit the ultimate crime against humanity...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A young man fearful of violence, an extravagantly eccentric young woman and three deaths figure in this atmospheric but insubstantial mystery from one of England's finest horror/suspense writers. Philip Wardman, beginning his career as an interior designer, lives with his widowed mother and two sisters in a small house outside London. At his sister Fee's wedding, Philip meets Senta Pelham, cousin to the groom and a bridesmaid, with whom he falls quickly into bed and in love. Soon Senta, with her silver-dyed hair and exotic ways, tells Philip they must prove the unconventionality of their love: each must commit a murder. Secretly appalled, Philip demurs, but Senta is adamant and soon he tells her that a recent killing mentioned in the newspaper was done at his hand. When Senta files her own report, Philip is much relieved, believing through a series of misunderstandings that she too has laid false claims to murder. The reality of Senta's imbalance is gradually revealed, however, and the police appear on the scene just as she unveils her grisly history. While Rendell depicts her characters with crystal clarity and renders Philip's sexual obsessiveness convincingly, the plot, woven of flimsy circumstances, doesn't hold up.
