Harm Done : A Chief Inspector Wexford Mystery - Softcover

Rendell, Ruth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099281341 ISBN 13: 9780099281344

Publisher: Vintage Crime / Black Lizard, 2000

Synopsis

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 ...Chief Inspector Wexford is not only concerned very personally with the effects of violence and prejudice, but is involved with a new programme to help victims of domestic violence. And his daughter, Sylvia, has come to work nearby in a refuge for battered women. Her marriage is also in difficulties, although her husband has never raised a hand to her. They are merely incompatible. Other women in Kingsmarkham are not so lucky, and, after those early disappearances, two far more serious crimes are committed which will affect the lives and attitudes of police and public alike.

About this title

Review:

In Harm Done, Rendell has added a remarkable strand of acute social commentary to a book that still functions as an utterly compelling piece of detective fiction. In exploring the controversial subject of pedophilia, she takes the mainstay of her work--the problems of modern life--to a level of passion and commitment that gives the book a truly powerful underpinning.

Back in the familiar Sussex town of Kingsmarkham, Rendell's dogged sleuth Wexford is investigating the strange abductions of two young girls: Rachel, a bright middle-class student, and Lizzie, a mentally disabled 16-year-old living with her unsympathetic parents on a grim council estate. When both girls return home, apparently unharmed, Wexford is faced with a curious mystery: what really happened to them? As Wexford begins to uncover the disturbing truth, the dark psychological world that Rendell is so adroit at exploring suddenly comes into focus. And her gift for sharp but concise characterization remains untouchable, as in the case of a reluctant witness: '''We don't talk about that sort of thing.' She very nearly but not quite tossed her head." --Barry Forshaw, Amazon.co.uk

From the Publisher:

10 1.5-hour cassettes

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage Crime / Black Lizard
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0099281341
• ISBN 13: 9780099281344
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 480