The fallen curtain / Ruth Rendell

The fallen curtain -- People don't do such things -- A bad heart -- You can't be too careful -- The double -- Venus' fly-trap -- His worst enemy -- The vinegar mother -- The fall of a coin -- Almost human -- Divided we stand.

A stranger lures a child into his car with the promise of sweets. A young man spots his fiancée's double in a public park of ill repute. An executive visits the secluded home of a former employee whose intentions are frightfully unclear. A modest soul weds the woman he rescues from suicide&--only to fall victim to an unfathomable form of possessiveness... In the eleven tales gathered in The Fallen Curtain , Ruth Rendell&--the grande dame of the literary mystery -- lays bare the twisted inner workings of the unbalanced mind. Here are eleven tales of haunting psychological accuracy: the gesture that betrays a parents madness, the childhood memory clouded with denial, the utterance that introduces the threat of violence in a situation as benign as a dinner date. Instantly engaging, maddeningly addictive, The Fallen Curtain testifies to the enduring talents of a master of the genre.