Show Me 5 Saturday: The Water's Lovely by Ruth Rendell

Alipet at That's a novel idea started a new MEME called Show Me Five Saturday. Unfortunately, our host has been missing in action but Jenners puts up a Mr. Linky if you would like to play along. This meme will give each blogger an opportunity to give a brief description of a book they have read or reviewed during the week. It will work like this: Each Saturday you will post the answer to these questions.

Words that describe book:

1. Title of book: The Water's Lovely by Ruth Rendell
2. Words that describe the book: Psychological thriller
3. Location or characters you met:
   Ismay: Heather's older sister who suffers from recurring nightmares about her stepfather's death by drowning in the bathtub. Ismay is convinced that Heather killed him in order to protect Ismay from his unwanted attentions when she was only 15 years old. Now even 12 years later, Ismay wonders if she should tell Edmund, Heather's fiance, about her fears that Heather might be a murderer. Before taking any actions, Ismay puts all her suspicions on tape and keeps it in her handbag. Unfortunately, Ismay's purse is stolen.
   Heather: younger sister who is now engaged to Edmund despite the machinations of his manipulative and hypochondriac mother still makes it her mission in life to make sure Ismay is happy. When Ismay's boyfriend, the despicable Andrew, leaves her for another woman, Heather tries to get the woman to leave Andrew in the hopes that he would go back to Ismay. Heather is one of the most well adjusted characters in the book despite Ismay's suspicions.
   Marion: a middle aged spinster who ingratiates herself into the lives of elderly people in the hopes that they will put her in their will. At one point, Edmund's mother tried to get him and Marion together. Marion is a truly pathetic and almost creepy character who, by a quirk of fate, gets hold of Ismay's tape of suspicions and decides to blackmail Ismay with it.
4. Things you liked/disliked: I absolutely loved the chilling psychological aspect of the well drawn characters. It's as if you were reading their minds and seeing them sift through all their options before acting on what would serve them best.

   I loved the convoluted overlapping of lives and how they affected the other characters. Rendell drew me in immediately and kept me interested in the many twists in their relationships.

   One thing I didn't like was the way a character from the past seemed to pop up at just the perfect time. Too pat and convenient to tie up one of the loose ends.

   The ending was disappointing.

5. Stars or more for a rating: 4**** Even though there were several things I didn't like about the book, (they mainly occurred towards the end) I still had a very hard time putting this book down.
   

Disclosure: This book is from my personal library.