Title : End In Tears
Author : Ruth Rendell
Narrators : John Lee
Genre : Sci-fi
Publisher : Random House Audio
Listening Length : 11 hours 58 minutes
Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2
Narrator Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
These days I am on a listening spree of the Inspector Wexford mysteries by Ruth Rendell, and not in any particular order. The main protagonist of these books, of course, is Inspector Wexford. He is quite a character – a wry old codger, very old school and no-nonsense. He anchors the series.
In End of Tears (#20 in the series) Inspector Wexford is called in to investigate what appears to be two separate murders of young women. As more clues and bodies are uncovered Wexford wonders if the two crimes are not connected. The book also brings into focus Wexford’s family life and the problems with their daughter Sylvia.
Rendell is a master storyteller, giving us the engrossing details, the superb character build up – and the personal detail, the philosophy of the man himself. We get a look-see into Inspector Wexford’s character, his thinking, his personal struggles and we get a good sense of the man. I quite like him. He’s one of those fictional characters you don’t easily forget, kind of like Precious Ramotswe of the Number One Ladies Detective agency or Inspector Barbara of the Inspector Lynley mysteries, or Mark Watney, the intrepid astronaut of The Martian. These characters stick with you because of the people they are, their integrity, their earnestness, their grace under pressure. You remember them, fictional thought they are, with affection.
I have now read, or rather listened to, a couple of Rendell’s Inspector Wexford novels. Ruth Rendel is a superb writer. Her character development is fantastic. Each of the characters is fully fleshed out, fully rounded. They may not be people you always like but you really do believe that they exist in the real world. I really enjoyed “End of Tears”!
End of Tears is read by John Lee, who while marvelous in his own right, seemed a little too astringent for Wexford’s rather gruff character. An earlier Wexford mystery I’d listened to had had Simon Vance as the narrator, and I really did prefer him.
