The Crocodile Bird
a gripping psychological thriller from the award-winning Queen of Crime
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4.4 • 7 Ratings
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
From multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell, this is a tense, taut and twisted psychological thriller about a dark mother-daughter relationship that will keep you hooked. Perfect for fans of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon.
'Here is Ruth Rendell on such fantastic form that you'll want to stay up all night racing through to the end' - Daily Mail
'The most brilliant mystery novelist of our time' - Patricia Cornwell
'A powerful and absorbing narrative told with elegance and subtlety' - Daily Telegraph
'I just couldn't put it down'-- ***** Reader review
'I was totally enthralled by this from start to finish'-- ***** Reader review
'Great read with a twist at the end' -- ***** Reader review
'A fascinating, compelling and powerful book' -- ***** Reader review
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Liza has never been allowed to set foot outside the secluded gatehouse in which she has always lived with her mother, Eve. Her world reduced to four walls, there has only ever been enough room for two in their cocoon; intruders enter at their peril, only to mysteriously disappear...
Now, at sixteen, Liza is not the only one to discover the truth behind her mother's pathological violence, or the dead bodies. When the police arrive on their doorstep, Eve throws her daughter into the real world, to protect her from the consequences of her own chilling crimes.
Little by little, Liza begins to see the logic behind her mother's gruesome crimes, and must accept the possibility that she has inherited Eve's lust for murder...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Like a modern-day Scheherazade, young Liza Beck tells her story over a span of nights and in the process finds salvation. After the police question her mother, Eve, about the death of Jonathan Tobias, the owner of Shrove House, 16-year-old Liza runs away with Sean, the young garden hand at the remote English manor. It is to him, over the course of 101 nights, that Liza gradually reveals her strange upbringing, living alone with Eve in the gatehouse of the Tobias estate. Rigorously schooled by her mother, isolated from all society except, on occasion, the mailman or groundskeeper and the few men, including Tobias, whom Eve admits into their world, Liza learns early that others may have something to fear from Eve, but that she does not. Credibility never flags as Edgar Award-winning Rendell ( Kissing the Gunner's Daughter ) reveals the specifics of Liza's increasing contact with the world, creating suspense in the gradually meted out details of Eve's intense attachment to Shrove House and her determination to protect Liza from civilization. Although unpredictable, the payoff seems a little weak and the careful pace somewhat slow; nevertheless, there are no holes in this psychological puzzler that has a strong afterlife. Author tour.
