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A Sight for Sore Eyes
Bloodline
The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza
The Lost Army of Cambyses
Closed Circle
Wycliffe and the Dunes Mystery
Beholden
Stone Cold
Separation of Power
Death of a Hollow Man (Midsomer Murders - Featuring Chief Inspector Barnaby)
Skinner's Trail (A Bob Skinner Mystery)
The Assassin in the Greenwood (A Medieval Mystery Featuring Hugh Corbett)
A Tournament of Murders (Canterbury Pilgrimage Mysteries)
Justice
The Narrows
Skinner's Ghosts (A Bob Skinner Mystery)
Cobraville
Over the Edge
Blood Test
Devil's Novice (Cadfael Chronicles)
River's End
Doctor Death (Alex Delaware S.)
A Plague on Both Your Houses: The First Chronicle of Matthew Bartholomew
A Secret Life (Alias S.)
On Dangerous Ground

A Sight for Sore Eyes: A Novel (Random House Large Print)

Average customer rating:

Five stars for a great story I couldn't put down, as usual...
Too much backstory
The most DISTURBING novel I've read in a long, long time--that ending!
Enjoyable but other Rendell Novels were better
One of my favorites

A Sight for Sore Eyes: A Novel (Random House Large Print)
Ruth Rendell
Manufacturer: Random House Large Print
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Dispatch (Signet Novel)

ASIN: 0375705732
Release Date: 1999-03-02

Amazon.com

Nobody does North London squalor better than Ruth Rendell. Describing in vivid detail the cultural sewer in which a monster named Teddy Brex grows up, she uses hideous furniture, slovenly housekeeping habits, even his mother's diet while pregnant to root us in the setting's hopeless ugliness. In contrast, Rendell introduces people and places of stunning beauty: Francine, a mentally fragile girl who became mute after witnessing her mother's murder; and Orcadia Cottage, scene of a famous painting that is at the center of much of the story's anguish. "It was far and away the most beautiful place he had ever seen," Rendell writes when Teddy--a gifted woodcrafter--first views the cottage. "The proportions of this hall, this room... the windows, the walls, the carpets, the flowers, the furniture, the paintings, all of it dazzled him."

Teddy is another of Rendell's frightening moral cripples, a seemingly ordinary person capable of the vilest crimes. When he becomes obsessed with Francine after meeting her at art school, we know to expect murder--we just aren't sure when, or who will be the victim. Equally vile is Julia, Francine's stepmother, a psychologist of such immense and malevolent ineptness that we would swear she couldn't possibly exist if real life hadn't taught us otherwise. Other important characters are Harriet, a faded beauty who connects the past to the present; Teddy's uncle Keith, who first recognizes the boy's madness; and a bright red, lovingly restored Edsel, which becomes a hearse.

Like all of her books, Rendell's latest is really about the secret acts of insanity that occur behind closed doors. Among her best books available in paperback are From Doon with Death, A Guilty Thing Surprised, The Keys to the Street, and, from the excellent Inspector Wexford series, Kissing the Gunner's Daughter, Road Rage, and Simisola. --Dick Adler

Book Description

A Sight for Sore Eyes tells three stories, and for the longest time, the reader has no inkling of how they will come together. The first is a story of a little girl who has been scolded and sent to her room when her mother is brutally murdered; as Francine grows up, she is haunted by the experience, and it is years before she even speaks. Secondly, we become privy to the life of a young man, Teddy, born of unthinking young parents, who grows up almost completely ignored. Free of societal mores, he becomes a sociopath, who eventually discovers that killing can be an effective way to get what he wants. Thirdly, we meet Harriet, who from an early age has learned to use her beauty to make her way in the world. Bored by marriage to a wealthy, much older man, she scans the local newspapers for handymen to perform odd jobs around the house, including services in the bedroom.

When these three plots strands finally converge, the result is harrowing and unforgettable. A Sight for Sore Eyes is not just the work of a writer at the peak of her craft. It is an extraordinary story by a writer who, after 45 books, countless awards, and decades of international acclaim, is still getting better with every book.

Customer Reviews:

Five stars for a great story I couldn't put down, as usual..........2007-04-01

As usual, Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine is/are to-die-for storyteller(s). How does she (they) do it? They hit the mark every time. Amazing! This book has a very Joyce Carol Oates-like theme: a horrible event catapults us into the lives (and motives) of the main characters...it shows us how a violent, traumatic experience can shape an entire life, in this case that of Francine, a sensitive young beauty who must carry the burden of having been, as a little girl, present at her mother's murder. Teddy is the gorgeous psychopath, Julia the suffocating stepmother Francine attracts, almost a self-fulfilling prophecy. The story is at once gruesome and fascinating, and impossible to put down. Thank you to the alter-egos of this super-fun writer.

Too much backstory.......2007-01-22

This was my first Ruth Rendell novel. I picked it up after seeing her name appear with very high praise on a list of top psychological thriller reads.

Based on this novel, I'd call her more of a literary fiction mystery writer. The action doesn't really pick up until the half-way point in the book, but then steadily increases to the strong ending.

I rated the book so low because I thought too much of the book (likely half) was superfluous narration to fill in the main characters's history. I think I could have understood the position of both main characters without so much detail.

If it hadn't been for the list of thrillers to read, I might not have finished the book. It began without a "hook", prompting me to read on, but I kept thinking that there must be more if she is such a prominent author.

Some day I might try another Rendell/Vine novel, but I'd make sure it came with plenty of hot reviews and a quicker pace.

The most DISTURBING novel I've read in a long, long time--that ending!.......2007-01-09

I'm never disappointed by a Ruth Rendall novel.

This was more of a character study so it's not really plot driven, but hang in there. Like a tightly wound clock, everything "clicks" together in the end.

And WHAT AN END!

This had to be one of the most disturbing novels I've ever read--extremely creepy ending and you'll never see it coming!

I heard they made it into a pretty bad movie, so stick to this book!

Enjoyable but other Rendell Novels were better.......2006-09-20

This was a very nice read. I started it on an airplane and read it all the way through. It has the usual elements of Rendell/ Vine mystery, but seems more like a Vine novel except it is told by a narrator in multiple points of view. Teddy Brex is a real nasty human being and its a pleasure to see the outcome of this novel. I did not however figure out if there was any connection between the back story of Francine and the present day action. I suspect there is, and that this background is not just a psychological element. Then again, perhaps it is.

One of my favorites.......2006-08-06

Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine is one of my favorite authors and I think that this is one of her very best books. Another reviewer summed it up perfectly when she said "It is beautifully twisted." A twisting plot, twisted characters and great writing make this one you will love.

Average customer rating:

A Sight For Sore Eyes
Ruth Rendell
Manufacturer: Book Club Associates
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 009180101X

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A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES
RENDELL
Manufacturer: ARROW
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000S3EW80

Average customer rating:

A Sight for Sore Eyes
Ruth Rendell
Manufacturer: Seal Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000DEMV8C

A Sight for Sore Eyes (A Sight for Sore Eyes (95577) MARC Record)

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A Sight for Sore Eyes (A Sight for Sore Eyes (95577) MARC Record)

Manufacturer: RB
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
ASIN: 078872505X

Product Description

Unabridged Cassette 15.5 Hours /11 Cassettes Having published 45 books, Ruth Rendell is an internationally popular mystery writer. She has won four Gold Dagger and three Edgar awards. She has been presented with the Commander of the British Empire honor, and named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America. In A Sight For Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendells exceptional literary talent shines from each word. Teddy Brex is a handsome young man. Raised by parents who never loved him, he has grown to put his trust in objects. Things rarely disappoint him the way people do. Francine Hill is a lovely sight. And, like Teddy, she carries deep psychological scars. What brings these two young people together, however, isnt beauty. It is death. As Ruth Rendell probes the dark forces childhood has created in Teddys and Francines lives, an emotionally gripping story unfolds. Narrator Jenny Sterlin voices all the subtle layers of suspense that are the hallmark of Rendells incomparable work.

Thank You Angelica & Sight for Sore Eyes : 2 Books in 1 (Nickelodeon Book Club/Rugrats)

Average customer rating:

Thank You Angelica & Sight for Sore Eyes : 2 Books in 1 (Nickelodeon Book Club/Rugrats)

Manufacturer: Grolier Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Sight for Sore Eyes (Rugrats Series)

Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster (Juv)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES.
Ruth. Rendell
Manufacturer: P/B
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O8QWLO

Average customer rating:

Sight For Sore Eyes (Rugrats (8x8))
Luke David
Manufacturer: Simon Spotlight/Nickelodeon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Humorous | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0689822626

Book Description

In this brand-new story, Tommy and the babies are baffled by Spike's sudden inability to see clearly, so they make it their mission to help him!

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Sight for Sore Eyes-Canadian E
Ruth Rendell
Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0609502026
Release Date: 1999-05-06

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