by Ruth Rendell
First published 2014
Benet remembers the train ride when she was fourteen. Her mother Mopsa had pulled out a carving knife and tried to stab her in their empty carriage. Years have passed since that attack, and now Mopsa steps off the plane at Heathrow wearing a drab grey suit. She looks colorless and dowdy, but Benet fights against the hatred rising in her chest. A family death sets off a chain reaction that spirals beyond anyone's control. Kidnapping follows murder. Deception layers upon deception. Guilt and longing consume the characters as events accelerate toward catastrophe. In a hospital ward hangs a strange collage called The Tree of Hands. This bizarre artwork becomes a focal point for the overwhelming emotions that drive everyone toward their fate. Rendell weaves together multiple lives caught in circumstances they never anticipated, showing how one tragic event can destroy families and push ordinary people toward extraordinary crimes.
Genres: mystery, crime, contemporary, psychological-thriller, family-drama
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: deception, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Heathrow
Period: 20th-century
MP3 CD · Brilliance Audio
Content warnings: child-abuse, murder, violence