Gallowglass is a thrilling crime classic from the bestselling, prize-winning author Barbara Vine
When Sandor snatched little Joe from the path of a London Tube train, he was quick to make clear the terms of the rescue. ''I saved your life,'' he told the homeless youngster, ''so your life belongs to me now''.
Sandor began to tell him a fairy-tale: an ageing prince, a kidnapped princess chained by one ankle, a missed rendezvous. But what did this mysterious story have to do with Sandor''s preparations? Joe had only understood his own role: he was a gallowglass, the servant of a Chief...
''On one level this is a novel about kidnapping. On another its concerns are obsession, the destructive nature of romantic illusions, and love. As Ms Vine unfolds it, nothing is quite what it seems'' Guardian
Gallowglass is a modern crime masterpiece that will have you gripped from the first page to the last. If you enjoy the novels of P.D. James, Ian Rankin and Scott Turow, you will love this book.
Barbara Vine is the pen-name of Ruth Rendell. She has written fifteen novels using this pseudonym, including A Fatal Inversion and King Solomon''s Carpet which both won the Crime Writers'' Association Gold Dagger Award. Her other books include: A Dark Adapted Eye; The House of Stairs; Gallowglass; Asta''s Book; No Night Is Too Long; In the Time of His Prosperity; The Brimstone Wedding; The Chimney Sweeper''s Boy; Grasshopper; The Blood Doctor; The Minotaur; The Birthday Present and The Child''s Child.
Industry Reviews
Ruth Rendell's fourth novel as Barbara Vine (A Dark Adapted-Eye, A Fatal Inversion, The House of Stairs) marks a departure from the formula of the first three: the years-after story of a past mystery obligatory for Vine is intertwined with the story of a present-day crime. The story moves back and forth between two narratives: the first-person account of thickheaded, pitiable Joe Herbert, saved from suicide by enigmatic Sander Wincanton, who adopts adoringly grateful Joe as his gallowglass (a servant dedicated to protecting his master's life) in his scheme to kidnap wealthy, frightened Nina Abbott; and the third-person account of another gallowglass, Paul Garnet, the bodyguard hired by Nina's overprotective husband. Sander, it seems, had once been part of a gang that kidnapped Nina in Italy years ago, but something (what was it?) went wrong, and now he wants to try again with the help of Joe and Joe's flaky foster-sister Tilly - a typically lethal case of folie a trois. When Paul refuses an enormous bribe to cooperate with the gang, they kidnap his little girl Jessica and offer a swap, unaware that he's fallen in love with Nina. As usual in Vine, awakening love speaks with the voice of doom - but this time the climax, though carefully prepared, is both more surprising and less satisfyingly inevitable than expected. Not entirely successful as either mystery or psychological study - the characters muffle themselves and retreat just when their pain should be sharpest - but still a powerfully imagined nightmare of devotion gone haywire. (Kirkus Reviews)
