The Thief

From the author of End in Tears comes a chilling thriller for “Quick Reads” — books for emergent readers, published as part of the UK’s World Book Day Adult Literacy Initiative 2006.

What you do in childhood may come back to haunt you. Stealing things from people who had upset her was something Polly did quite a lot. There was her Aunt Pauline; a girl at school; a boyfriend who left. And there was the man on the plane… Humiliated and scared by a total stranger Polly does what she always does. She steals something. But she never could have imagined that her desire for revenge would have such terrifying results.

Ruth Rendell is celebrated around the world as a novelist at the peak of her craft. The British Crime Writer’s Association has honored her with four Gold Daggers, a Silver Dagger, and the Diamond Dagger for outstanding contribution to the genre. In the United States she has been acknowledged by a remarkable total of three Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America, as well as the organization’s Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement. Over the past forty years Ruth Rendell has created an extraordinary body of literary work. In addition to seven volumes of short stories, one novella, and two works of nonfiction, Dame Rendell has written fifty-two novels, including tales of psychological suspense, the Inspector Wexford mysteries, and eleven novels under the pseudonym Barbara Vine. She lives in London.