Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Reviews of VANITY DIES HARD

VANITY DIES HARD
VANITY DIES HARD
Author: Ruth Rendell
ISBN-13: 9780345292865
ISBN-10: 0345292863
Publication Date: 9/12/1980
Rating:
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 2

3.8 stars, based on 2 ratings
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Type: Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

5 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

reviewed VANITY DIES HARD on + 35 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is an early work by Ruth Rendell who may now be the best crime writer in the world. She had already won 5 major awards and this is well written, but I don't think reaches the level she obtained later. I found it interesting though as an early attempt to write the kind of pyschological suspense that she has since assigned to her Barbara Vine persona
reviewed VANITY DIES HARD on + 114 more book reviews
An earlier book by the prolific Ruth Rendell. Very suspenseful.
reviewed VANITY DIES HARD on + 3389 more book reviews
This is one of Rendell's more interesting novels, and she seems to be having a lot of fun with the conventions of the genre : in another of her novels she tells us who murdered who, when, where, how and even why in the first paragraph. Here she once again twists the rules of the mystery novel, but in another way of course and any real analysis of that twist of the rules would destroy the fun of the first read, sorry. But I have reread this novel a couple of times, with a great deal of enjoyment at how well she twists expectations and very gently pokes fun at the genre. Great novel.
reviewed VANITY DIES HARD on + 49 more book reviews
oldie but well written (published 1966, printed 1985)

an old favorite author, with an old favorite book
reviewed VANITY DIES HARD on + 683 more book reviews
WEathy Alice Whittaker-now Alice Fielding-is known for her generositly, and when her friend Nesta

fanishes Alice is determined to find her and help her. If that means money, well Alice has plenty of it.
Then Alice starts to feel sick- a virus perhaps, something she just can't shake. Her handsome husband, who is ten years younger than she is seems determined to keep her home. Does he want her to feel better? Or is he trying to keep her from finding Nesta?
Ill though she is , Alice can't help asking questions.The more she learns about Nesta disappence the more certain she becomes that her own life peril...