 | This article needs a plot summary.(June 2010) |
| Author | Ruth Rendell |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Crime, Mystery |
| Publisher | Hutchinson (UK) Pantheon Books (US) |
Publication date | 5 March 1984 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 237 pp |
| ISBN | 0-09-155480-2 |
| OCLC | 10700508 |
| 823/.914 19 | |
| LC Class | PR6068.E63 K5 1984c |
The Killing Doll is a novel by British writer Ruth Rendell, published in 1984. [1]
Pup Yearman, a 16-year-old who lives in a rundown area of London, experiments with magic. Dolly, Pup's older sister, does more than just dabble in magic. Dolly is deformed due to a facial birthmark, and her fixation with Pup's magic takes her on a perilous downhill trajectory into uncertainty, madness, and maybe murder. In the meantime, a young Irishman sharpens a set of butcher knives in a run-down boardinghouse nearby. [2]
Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times called the novel a "stunning piece of work, darkly horrific but also with common sense, with a peculiar and bizarre poetic justice prevailing at the most dramatic, unpredictable ending I can lately remember." [3] Paul Bailey of the Evening Standard called the novel "excellent" and praised the dialogue. [4] Seth Williamson of The Roanoke Times wrote that the novel "has a satisfying unexpected ending, though it's not quite as terrifying as some earlier Rendells one could name." [5]
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