Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable, but ultimately disappointing
Review: A disappointing Barbara Vine book is still quite an accomplishment. The characters in this one are very interesting, well-drawn and three-dimensional. The story is also interesting, but as I approached the ending, I began to realise that the surprise we're used to getting from Vine/Rendell (and let's face it, we expect this surprise as well as all the other aspects of a good novel) wasn't going to be that interesting or even surprising. The ending here is very weak. It doesn't really seem to follow from the rest of the book (and it's hard to believe that no one would have guessed; when a man is no longer sexually interested in his wife or any other woman, what do most people usually assume?) and it ends very abruptly, as if Vine had reached it too exhausted to go on any further.Anyone coming to Barbara Vine for the first time would be much better off getting A Fatal Inversion, House of Stairs or A Dark-Adapted Eye.
Rating: 
Summary: Vine Climbs to the Top with "Chimney Sweeper's Boy"
Review: Barbara Vine is arguably one of the most prolific of contemporary writers and her creative genius is never more obvious than in "The Chimney Sweeper's Boy." (Vine is the pseudonym of author Ruth Rendell.) And in this novel, Vine departs from her "regular" thrillers and embarks on a different route from what we've come to expect from her. Granted, Vine's ability to capture her reader totally, as in her thrillers, is once again to the fore. In this book, famed writer Gerald Candless early on suffers a fatal heart attack and one of his daughters, Sarah, is persuaded to write a biography, a memoir of what it was like to be the daughter of such a famous writer. Thus begins the odyssey: she quickly discovers that Candless is not her father's real name. And what she unearths is at once chilling, emotionally trying, sentimental, and tragic. Sarah is in for a long haul. And Vine is at her best as she lays bear the souls of her principle characters. Perhaps what keeps the book alive--and the reader so absorbed--is Vine's penchant for capturing her audience completely. And while "Chimney's Sweeper's Boy" is not a Rendell-mystery, complete with police procedural revelations, it is a book that is compelling, almost impossible to put down. That is the beauty of the work, the genius of Vine's writing ability. Vine scores easily in this scholarly, sophisticated, yet readable, missive. The characters, in addition to Sarah, are complete and believable. Early on, Candless and his Girls play The Game, an esoteric, snobbish parlor contest. No rules are explained but the object is for the players to pass a scissors a certain way and to be able to explain the move, thus the "solution" to the riddle. Few solve it and Candless and company make buffoons of their guests (which is basically why they play it), belittling them for their inability to solve The Game. This turns out to be a metaphor for his own life and for Vine's intricately written and cleverly presented work. One of Vine's chief characteristics is the pace she applies to her works. There is never a doubt whether the author is in control of the plot development, her characters, or any other literary aspect. Nothing goes awry as she orchestrates the book's denouement and the reader's reactions. It is a treat to see such writing and to see such a writer display her command of her prose. In the Inspector Wexford novels, Rendell is content to stay within the bounds of police investigation and solution--and feels quite comfortable in doing so--and has created one of the best of current British mysteries, but when she lets loose her writing psyche as Vine, watch out! And in "Chimney Sweeper's Boy," she leaves no ash unturned!
Rating: 
Summary: Going Through a Phase
Review: I "discovered" Ruth Rendell some twenty-five years ago. I was overseas and books in English were hard to find and expensive when you could find them. From time to time, my mother would send me a carton of paperbacks that she had chosen from secondhand bookshops and library sales. She was guessing at what might interest me. The combination of her good judgment and my desperation for books of any kind meant that I usually read or at least started to read just about everything in the carton. One carton included Rendell's One Across, Two Down. I didn't read much detective fiction or murder mysteries, but I had gone through an Agatha Christie phase in my teens, and later I would go through a similar Sue Grafton phase. Ruth Rendell's book was unlike anything I had read. There was no hero ("protagonist," the author in The Chimney Sweeper's Boy would correct me) in the conventional sense. None of the characters was particularly likeable. I couldn't identify with any of them. But I was fascinated by the odd story and couldn't stop reading until I had finished. I continue to be a Rendell fan, but I prefer her work as Barbara Vine, the psychological thrillers with no hero. However, I have no patience for Inspector Wexford. This still leaves dozens of Rendell books for me to read, when I am in a rare mood for fiction. The Chimney Sweeper's Boy is a fine thriller. The characters are fascinating, the plot moves along like a pulp novel, and I really wanted to know what happens next. And like many thrillers and throw-away fiction, I didn't know what was going to happen until the author wanted me to know. I thought I knew several times, but I was wrong. Everything was tied up in a neat package at the end. Unfortunately, as with much fiction, The Chimney Sweeper's Boy doesn't bear scrutiny. As I stopped to think about the story after I was done, I became less satisfied. Real people wouldn't act like that, would they? And the shocking revelation didn't strike me as being quite as earth-shattering as the characters seemed to think it was. Come to think of it, I haven't much cared for the last few Rendell books I have read. Grasshopper was far too long and I actually found myself skimming the last third. The Blood Doctor was tedious. Can it be that I have come to the end of a twenty-five year Ruth Rendell phase?
Rating:
Summary: More than a mystery
Review: I have a very high opinion of Rendell/Vine and enjoyed every single book I read. This one was one of the best with fully developed characters, a strong story and the spicy unexpected turns. What distinguishes this author's mysteries from the rest out there is a depth in exploring what motivates people's behavior and acts, no matter whether these are acts of love and loyalty or hatered and shalowness.
Rating:
Summary: Great but not my kind of ending......
Review: I love Rendell/Vine books and this one was incredible! I couldn't wait to see how it ended..... and then it ended in a way that wasn't really appealing to me. Although the ending wasn't my style, I don't feel that I wasted my time in reading it. I couldn't wait to read the next chapter to see what happened to these sad characters and hoped that they would find some happiness at some point before the end. I can't say that the ending was to my liking however, isn't that what makes the world go round...? Rendell/Vine is still one of my favorite authors.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely well-written novel by one of my favorite authors
Review: I'm a big fan of Ruth Rendell/ Barbara Vine. Thats why I had high expectations for The Chimney Sweeper's boy when I picked it up last week. This book, for the most part, did not disappoint. Running in the same detective/ horror/ I-don't know-how to describe it vein as the Blood Doctor and others, this book follows the life of the acclaimed author Gerald Candless- after his death. His daughter Sarah is given the task of writing a memoir on the life of her famous father- and in the process runs into a few closet skeletons, so to speak.
This is a perfectly-written novel; its a shame that the author isn't quite as well known in the US as she is in other parts of the world.
Rating:
Summary: A terrific novel
Review: It is evident that people have strong reactions to this book. I liked it more than any other Rendell/Vine book, with the possible exception of "Dark Adapted Eye." One of the most fascinating features of the book is the way in which forms of sexual pathology get repeated, with variations, through three generations of a family. Gerald's mother's relationship with her second husband gets echoed in Gerald's relationship with his wife, and Gerald's two daughters act it out in their own peculiar ways, until the very end, when one of them wakes up. There's great insight into what might be called the erotic lives of families, and the writing is first rate.
Rating:
Summary: Challenging, intriguing, outstanding
Review: It's no secret that Barbara Vine and Ruth Rendell are one in the same. Rendell writes police procedurals under her own name, while using the Vine pseudonym for novels more psychological and less police-driven. Her books are novels rather than mysteries-character-rich and plot-complex, surprising, and often haunting. "The Chimney Sweeper's Boy" is her best Barbara Vine book since the remarkable "No Night is Too Long." Barely into the story, Gerald Candless, a writer both critically acclaimed and popular, dies at the age of 71. Vine has already deftly revealed his family-the detached wife, the adoring, unkind daughters and Candless himself as unfeeling and even cruel. They've invited guests to lunch, treat them with indifference and get them to play a parlor game, the only point of which seems to be to mock those not part of their inner circle. When Candless dies, his daughter Sarah is asked by his publisher to write a biography of her father. Almost immediately, Sarah discovers that her father was not what he seemed-in fact, his name wasn't even Gerald Candless. But who was he? How does she find out, and does this self-centered woman who reveled in her father's love really want to find out? As in "Simisola," the Ruth Rendell book where the source of the title was not revealed until the very end, "The Chimney Sweeper's Boy" uses an interesting narrative process to unroll the story. How she tucks the ends of the story together will both intrigue and satisfy readers, although she wisely knows that no story should give all the answers.
Rating:
Summary: Bring on the Prudes
Review: It's quite clear that the negative reviews of this excellent novel were mainly written by people unnerved by the subject matter. Hence they make such vitriolic and ridiculous claims - to call Barbara Vine's work "tabloid sensationalism" is stupid beyond belief, considering what a sensitive writer she is. As for the narrow-minded cretin who found the book "nauseous", I pity you. If you aren't comfortable reading about sexuality, that's YOUR problem, not Barbara Vine's. And with regard to the ending being 'guessable', so what? We're not talking about an Agatha Christie novel, where the only worthwhile feature would be the surprise ending. Vine's books are rich and absorbing character studies with an element of mystery; enjoyment of them is not based around working out 'whodunnit'.
Rating:
Summary: Sharper Than the Serpent's Tooth
Review: This fine psychological study is long on characterization and suspense, but short in the thriller department. I think Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell) has surpassed herself in the creation of Ursula, the ignored wife and mother. Gerald Candless, famous author, devoted and adored father, husband of Ursula dies of a heart attack at 71 in his home on the Devon coast. His two daughters, to whom he has dedicated his life, are devastated. Ursula feels nothing, but as both Gerald and her daughters have disregarded her since they were born, no one particularly notices. Elder daughter Sarah is commissioned to write a memoir of her celebrated father. During her preliminary research, she finds that Gerald Candless reinvented himself at age 25, that the real Gerald Candless died when he was six years old. This seems to be an impossibility given the extreme closeness among Gerald (who wasn't really Gerald) and his daughters. Sarah is ambivalent about going forward with her research. The daughters who are in their early 30's are just about as spoiled as you would expect them to be and shockingly indifferent to their mother. Ursula is almost paralyzed by her apathy toward Gerald and unable to reach out to her daughters after being thoroughly rebuffed for so many years. This is the mystery that is to be solved. Ms. Vine cleverly gives us more and more well-placed psychological clues that lead us toward Gerald's secret. Each chapter heading is supposedly a quote from one of Gerald's books and they are engagingly witty---"The meek may inherit the earth, but they won't keep it long." --- and serve as clues to the upcoming events. Great importance is placed upon "The Game" which Gerald and his daughters trot out to torment those not in their inner circle. It is so stupid; the entire trio should have been smacked. Ursula wisely has never taken part. (Not that she was asked!) The problem with "The Chimney Sweeper's Boy" is the setup is great, but the denouement doesn't live up to it. Some readers might feel they have invested a great deal of their time and energy for very little. I felt like getting there was half the fun and admired the way Ms. Vine breathes life into all these people. Even the enigmatic Gerald is more to be pitied than scorned. I would recommend reading Ms. Vine's "Dark Adapted Eye" first. If you find that enjoyable and are anxious for more, pick up "The Chimney Sweeper's Boy." Hint: The title is a clue. -sweetmolly-Amazon.com Reviewer
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