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I take exception to one of the words in your review of Ruth Rendell.
Just drop the "perhaps" and call her what she is.
The best mystery writer alive today.
Why put her in the "mystery" ghetto? She's the one writer, right now, whose books I get genuinely excited about, read over and over again, and press upon other people.
If Salon keeps printing such convincing book reviews that I have to run out and purchase the title in question, I'm going to run out of money. Give a poor grad student a break and review some shlock!
Wow, this is the first time I've read a review of a book in Salon the day after I've finished reading it. (I picked up the paperback in a Japanese hotel's lobby shop to read on the way home.)
The book only really goes wrong in its explanation of its one true mystery. But you've got to hand it to a write who makes a supermodel her single most truly sympathetic character.
I agree with your assessment of Ruth Rendell in general as being among the very best mystery writer--and with one reader's assessment that she's a top-notch writer in general.
But I'd like to add two more to the "best" list: P.D. James and Ian Rankin. Rankin in particular doesn't get a lot of "play" in this country, which is a shame. His characters, even more so than James's, say so much about themselves by not saying much at all. You *know* these people, you may even have moments like them. I enjoy James's development of her characters as well. They're all damned good company, whether over a leisurely glass of port or whiskey or a mug of hot tea.
