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Post by Calenture on May 3, 2008 20:28:53 GMT
First published 1984; this Arrow edition 1985 The following synopsis appears fairly detailed, but in fact I’ve naturally omitted a few key incidents, leaving a sort of incomplete skeleton of the first half of this book. This isn’t one of Rendell’s detective stories, more like one of her Barbara Vine thrillers, so there are no clues to give away; but if you plan on reading it soon, you might want to avoid reading the following. So that’s a spoiler warning. Remember I told you... Crouch End. In the tunnel of the old, abandoned railway line, sixteen-year-old Pup Yearman sells his soul to the devil. When their mother Edith dies, Pup’s older sister Dolly decides that she must take her place and be a mother to him. Pup paints the attic walls black and turns it into a magical temple for his study and rituals. He reads the books of Crowley and Eliphus Levi and makes his own set of magical weapons. Dolly, who has a birthmark on the side of her face and no friends, believes he’ll be famous one day and, possibly, he’ll be able to do something about the awful naevus on her face. When their father Harold announces his intention of marrying Myra from next door, the two are dismayed. Myra had been seeing a married man, but when she found he would never marry her, she was quick to accept Harold’s proposal. Myra doesn’t like Dolly as she knows she was responsible for her mother’s cat being run over by a car. She wants to redecorate the house and introduced more exciting meals for Harold. She arranges that the children will live in an apartment she has built in the attic. Harold is nonplussed as he’d expected his life to carry on much as before, though with a new wife. Diarmit Bawne has been sharing a room with his brother Conal, hoping to get a job in his butchery business, but Conal hasn’t come back. Diarmit buys a set of expensive knives anyway. It soon becomes apparent that the room is a squat in an abandoned house, and the demolition gangs are getting closer. Out walking, Diarmit finds the old railway tunnel, and realises that he can hide there behind an old mattress and the huge threatening strangers all around won’t be able to find him. Dolly and Pup are invited to a séance, and Dolly hopes that there might be a message for her from her mother Edith. Her mother duly appears wrapped in flowing grave clothes and gives Dolly her hand. Dolly is thrilled. But Pup is more interested in an attractive young widow, Suzanne, and offers to tell her fortune. They go out on a date, although Pup knows that if he sacrifices his chastity, his magical powers will be impaired. Then the headless body of a woman is found on the old abandoned railway line. Pup continues to see Suzanne. Dolly begins to hear her mother’s speaking to her; and Pup, by now wondering what he ever saw in magic, realises he needs to keep his sister happy. He performs a ritual in which he stabs a doll she made that looks like Myra. And Myra dies. The next time Dolly attends a séance the message comes not from her mother but from a woman who died recently of an abdominal wound. When she goes home, Myra is waiting for her... More to come... |
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Post by Calenture on May 10, 2008 16:55:41 GMT
I finished this book quite a while back, but got stuck doing this second part of the write-up, which was getting so detailed it wouldn’t have left any reason for reading the book. Anyway here’s a much cut down post.
Pup Yearman has remained a virgin to enhance his powers of geomancy; but now, after meeting some attractive young women, he’s begun to reconsider things. Besides, the young women all seem so impressed and interested in him when he tells them he’s still a virgin...
Dolly and Pup have killed their stepmother Myra through magic. Pup says this isn’t true, but Dolly knows he can do anything.
What she doesn’t know is that not all of his evenings out have been to visit The Golden Dawn, as he’s told her. In fact, he’s been to visit Suzanne, but their evenings together haven’t been a great success as - in the room above - Diarmit Boone has been constantly and very audibly pacing the floor.
Dolly begins to drink heavily and develops a strange infatuation, while Diarmit grows more suspicious of the police downstairs who are obviously drugging his food. The inevitable meeting between Dolly and Diarmit hangs over the pages of this one like a hawk.
A beautifully structured book, sometimes blackly comic, this one never slips out of control.
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