Books Tasted - Everything bookly (and a few other things)

Maybe mysteries are not my thing. I've never really been interested in picking up a mystery, but decided to branch out on my last library foray and picked up The Minotaur by Barbara Vine, a pen name of writer Ruth Rendell.

The Minotaur is about a genteel 1960s English family that hides enormous dysfunction and secrets in its decaying manor house. The story is told by Kerstin, a young Swedish women hired to be the family's only son's caretaker. The son in question is middle-aged and thought by the family to be schizophrenic, although readers will recognize the signs of autism long before Kerstin figures this out. Living at home are a mother, two grown daughters, and the son, and another daughter flits in and out of the house at her whim. Other characters abound in the story, and it takes a bit to figure out who everyone is, and certainly how they all relate to each other.

I thought the story was generally interesting, but I would have liked a lot more depth or insight into the main characters in the family. The book contains so many characters that it never delves very deeply into any one family member, and so when the mystery is finally revealed and raises new questions, I didn't feel like I knew enough about the characters to ponder good answers. Vine does do a pretty good job though of leaving you pondering relationships and motives after you close the book.

I was also anxious to find out what the "mystery" would be long before Kerstin revealed it. During the story, she keeps narrowly skirting the issue, making vague references at something we know is to come, without revealing it. Here's where I think I'm not cut out for mystery - this was super annoying to me! I am ok with slowly revealing the whys and hows the mystery happened, but just spit it out already what it actually is.

In the end, I don't know if I recommend this or not. I think you have to be a mystery fan to truly know whether this is a good take on the genre. Personally, I don't think I'll be picking up any other Rendell or Vine works.