The Fallen Curtain: Stories

by Ruth Rendell

   A stranger lures a child into his car with the promise of sweets. A young man spots his   fiancée’s double in a public park of ill repute. An executive visits the secluded home of a former employee whose intentions are frightfully unclear. A modest soul weds the woman he rescues from suicide—only to fall victim to an unfathomable form of possessiveness... 
   In the eleven tales gathered in The Fallen Curtain, Ruth Rendell—the grande dame of the literary mystery—lays bare the twisted inner workings of the unbalanced mind.  Here are eleven tales of haunting psychological accuracy: the gesture that betrays a parent's madness, the childhood memory clouded with denial, the utterance that introduces the threat of violence in a situation as benign as a dinner date.  Instantly engaging, maddeningly addictive, The Fallen Curtain testifies to the enduring talents of a master of the genre.

• ISBN10: 0375704922
• ISBN13: 9780375704925
• Publish Date: 9 January 2001 (first published 1 January 1976)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 208
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780375704925

Reviews

[Cameron Trost]

Another perfect collection of short suspense tales from the late Ruth Rendell. This collection includes my favourite tale of Rendell's short tales, The Venus Fly Trap. 'The Fallen Curtain', 'The Fever Tree', and 'Piranha to Scurfy' are three of the best short story collections I have ever read. If you haven't delved into Rendell's world yet, find any one of these three collections, lock the doors, and lose yourself.