The Girl Next Door

A teenage girl is held captive and brutally tortured by neighborhood children. Based on a true story, this shocking novel reveals the depravity of which we are all capable. This novel contains graphic content and is recommended for regular readers of horror novels.

A teenage girl is held captive and brutally tortured by neighborhood children. Based on a true story, this shocking novel reveals the depravity of which we are all capable. This novel contains graphic content and is recommended for regular readers of horror novels.

In all her novels, multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell digs deep beneath the surface to investigate the secrets of the human psyche and The Girl Next Door is no exception. This compelling and captivating mystery, with its taut plotting and spine-tingling twists and turns is perfect for fans of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon. 'This novel reminded me of the singularity of Ruth Rendell's talent, her effortless mastery of language and her uncanny genius for mapping a criminal mind.' -- The Times 'Rendell is as masterful as ever; her writing tense, brittle, and brilliant.' -- Sunday Mirror 'Couldn't put it down' -- ***** Reader review 'Fantastic book' -- ***** Reader review 'Fabulous read' -- ***** Reader review 'Love the way Ruth Rendell weaves the plot - she never disappoints me' -- ***** Reader review 'Brilliant storyline, couldn't put it down' -- ***** Reader review ************************************************************************************ Beneath the green meadows of Loughton, Essex , a dark network of tunnels has been dug. A group of children discover them. They play there. It becomes their place. Seventy years on, the world has changed. Developers have altered the rural landscape. Friends from a half-remembered world have married, died, grown sick, moved - or disappeared. Work on a new house called Warlock uncovers a long buried grisly secret: the bones of two severed hands are discovered in a box , and an investigation into a long-buried crime of passion begins. The friends, who played together as children, begin to question their past. And a weary detective, more concerned with current crimes, must investigate a case of murder.

In all her novels, multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell digs deep beneath the surface to investigate the secrets of the human psyche and The Girl Next Door is no exception. This compelling and captivating mystery, with its taut plotting and spine-tingling twists and turns is perfect for fans of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon. 'This novel reminded me of the singularity of Ruth Rendell's talent, her effortless mastery of language and her uncanny genius for mapping a criminal mind.' -- The Times 'Rendell is as masterful as ever; her writing tense, brittle, and brilliant.' -- Sunday Mirror 'Couldn't put it down' -- ***** Reader review 'Fantastic book' -- ***** Reader review 'Fabulous read' -- ***** Reader review 'Love the way Ruth Rendell weaves the plot - she never disappoints me' -- ***** Reader review 'Brilliant storyline, couldn't put it down' -- ***** Reader review ************************************************************************************ Beneath the green meadows of Loughton, Essex , a dark network of tunnels has been dug. A group of children discover them. They play there. It becomes their place. Seventy years on, the world has changed. Developers have altered the rural landscape. Friends from a half-remembered world have married, died, grown sick, moved - or disappeared. Work on a new house called Warlock uncovers a long buried grisly secret: the bones of two severed hands are discovered in a box , and an investigation into a long-buried crime of passion begins. The friends, who played together as children, begin to question their past. And a weary detective, more concerned with current crimes, must investigate a case of murder.

INCLUDES AN EXCERPT OF RENDELL'S FINAL NOVEL, DARK CORNERS From crime legend Ruth Rendell, a psychologically intriguing novel about an old murder that sends shockwaves across a group of astonishingly carnal and appetiteful elderly friends: "Refined, probing, and intelligent...never less than a pleasure" ( USA TODAY ). In the waning months of the second World War, a group of children discover a tunnel in their neighborhood outside London. For that summer of 1944, the subterranean space becomes their "secret garden," where the friends play games, tell their fortunes, and perform for each other. Six decades later, construction workers make a grisly discovery beneath a house on the same land: a tin box containing two skeletal hands, one male and one female. As the hands make national news, the friends come together once again, to recall their long ago days for a detective. Then the police investigation sputters, and the threads holding their friendship together begin to unravel. Is the truth buried amid the tangled relationships of these aging men and women and their memories? Will it emerge before it's too late? Stephen King says, "no one surpasses Ruth Rendell when it comes to stories of obsession, instability, and malignant coincidence." In The Girl Next Door --"yet another gem" ( The Washington Post )--Rendell brilliantly shows that the choices people make, and the emotions behind them, remain as potent in late life as they were in youth. "Rendell's wit, always mordant, has never been sharper than when she skewers patronizing assumptions about the elderly" ( Chicago Tribune ).

INCLUDES AN EXCERPT OF RENDELL'S FINAL NOVEL, DARK CORNERS From crime legend Ruth Rendell, a psychologically intriguing novel about an old murder that sends shockwaves across a group of astonishingly carnal and appetiteful elderly friends: "Refined, probing, and intelligent...never less than a pleasure" ( USA TODAY ). In the waning months of the second World War, a group of children discover a tunnel in their neighborhood outside London. For that summer of 1944, the subterranean space becomes their "secret garden," where the friends play games, tell their fortunes, and perform for each other. Six decades later, construction workers make a grisly discovery beneath a house on the same land: a tin box containing two skeletal hands, one male and one female. As the hands make national news, the friends come together once again, to recall their long ago days for a detective. Then the police investigation sputters, and the threads holding their friendship together begin to unravel. Is the truth buried amid the tangled relationships of these aging men and women and their memories? Will it emerge before it's too late? Stephen King says, "no one surpasses Ruth Rendell when it comes to stories of obsession, instability, and malignant coincidence." In The Girl Next Door --"yet another gem" ( The Washington Post )--Rendell brilliantly shows that the choices people make, and the emotions behind them, remain as potent in late life as they were in youth. "Rendell's wit, always mordant, has never been sharper than when she skewers patronizing assumptions about the elderly" ( Chicago Tribune ).

Suburbia in the 1950s, a dark side emerging in the Chandler house for teenage Meg and her crippled little sister Susan - captive to an Aunt, who is rapidly descending into madness. "The Girl Next Door is alive.... in a way most works of poplular fiction never attain; it does not just promise terror but actually delievers it. But it's a page-turner, all right; no doubt about that." - Stephen King

Suburbia in the 1950s, a dark side emerging in the Chandler house for teenage Meg and her crippled little sister Susan - captive to an Aunt, who is rapidly descending into madness. "The Girl Next Door is alive.... in a way most works of poplular fiction never attain; it does not just promise terror but actually delievers it. But it's a page-turner, all right; no doubt about that." - Stephen King