Book Review: The Minotaur

The Minotaur
​A mystery is often a labyrinth, taking the reader through umpteen breathless twists and turns, at times befuddling and confusing, before it can reveal itself as the light at the end of the tunnel, arriving at a conclusion that can either make or break it. This path the reader is taken along is crucial to its staging (and its consequent unravelling), and only by taking him down that very path can an author spring surprise upon surprise, skewing the mystery in the most unexpected direction, thus making him, the reader, guess, and guess again as more intricacies are introduced. But Ruth Rendell, writing as Barbara Vine, interestingly sets up a literal labyrinth in The Minotaur. This isn't so much a nail-biting tension-ridden tale as it is a slow suspense-soaked gothic whodunit about a family pushed to the edge of sanity resulting in the inevitable. Phenomenally written (as always), The Minotaur is an unsettling psychological story you wouldn't want to miss.

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