The Fever Tree And Other Stories (1994) - Plot & Excerpts
"The Fever Tree", more so than any of the other stories in this collection, exemplify Rendell's style. Her murderers are rarely obviously psychopathic killers, nor particularly suave or elegant; they are ordinary people seized by idle curiosity and boredom. "The Fever Tree" examines a couple who, in a dutiful effort to make their marriage work, visit an African game preserve. The unfaithful husband's antipathy toward his wife, who he sees as pathetic and childish, manifests in contemplation of murder - with, of course, a twist at the end. Like others in the story, there is a dry understatement and makes the simple grotesque. One follows a man who finds he gets a thrill from scaring young women in the woods at night. He earnestly denies that he means them any harm, and the reader is revolted, but fascinated, because a twist must be coming - the obvious answer, of course, that he will get his comeuppance, is flatly denied, making the resolution that much more interesting.Some are obvious, such as the bored teenager who creates poisons out of scientific curiosity, but the actual murder is not what fascinates, it's the way it is revealed, the dynamics of the characters, and what they choose to do with their knowledge.While not all of them are gems, the ones that are will linger.
Bettie's Books
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