The keys to the street : a novel of suspense

by Ruth Rendell

Hardcover, 1996

DDC/MDS

823/.914

Publication

New York : Crown publishers, 1996.

Original publication date

1996

Description

Fiction. Mystery. HTML: Set in and around London's Regent's Park, where the city's wealthiest, poorest, kindest, and most vicious citizens all cross paths, The Keys to the Street tells of the deadly thanks a young woman risks receiving in return for an act of selfless generosity. "Is it true that we dislike those who have done us a service?" asks Mary Jago's grandmother. One of many questions about the best and worst of human nature, it is one with an answer Mary will discover for herself as a consequence of donating her own bone marrow to save the life of a young man she doesn't know.... "It's us he's after," says Dill, "our sort." Dill's sort are the homeless who seek refuge in the park, whose corpses have lately been turning up impaled on the spiked railings that surround it.... Mary is not their sort at all and would under ordinary circumstances be separated from such horror by social barriers stronger than iron bars. But she has performed a bold act, and the circumstances of her life are now extraordinary -- she is receptive to previously undreamed of happiness, and vulnerable to the darkest grief. From the Trade Paperback edition..… (more)

Status

Available

Call number

823/.914

Tags

Collection

User reviews

LibraryThing member Bookish59
Another outstanding work by Rendell.
LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
A mystery that stresses the people whose lives are impacted by the deaths. Mary Jago was an interesting character and I liked the evolution of her character as she got into relationships and out of relationships.
LibraryThing member lsh63
I am loving Ruth Rendel aka Barbara Vine right now. Keys to the Street is the story of Mary Jago who performs an act of selflessness for someone she doesn't know only to be condemned for it by her abusive boyfriend Alistair. When the opportunity to escape from Alistair presents itself, Mary takes a
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housesitting job for the summer to think things through hoping to end her relationship once and for all. Soon she is surrounded by grisly murders of homeless people, an very strange dog walker and maybe experiences real love for the first time in her life.

This is a great book, I loved how the characters eventually became tied together.
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LibraryThing member jayne_charles
This was a book of personalities more than mystery - the whodunnit took something of a back seat, though there was a definite twist at the end that I didn't see coming. The strengh of the book was in the variety of different people Rendell introduces us to, many of them rather seedy, all with a
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different story to tell. The man who lives on the streets by choice was an interesting character - I could not imagine reaching that decision myself but Rendell makes the state of affairs believable.
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LibraryThing member mickieturk
In the past twelve years I have read The Keys to the Street four times. it is always first or second at the top of my list of favorite suspense novels. The characters are as flawed as they are dynamic. The plot and pace take you across sweeping fields of emotion and crime. Taut writing and generous
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storytelling will haunt your memory for a long time to come.
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Physical description

326 p.; 24 cm

ISBN

0517706857 / 9780517706855
Page: 0.2229 seconds