| "Harm Done" is the fourth - and so far the last - | | | | books I'm only too happy to forgive her for this |
| book from the Chief Inspector Wexford series | | | | minor naughtiness. |
| that I have read. It's also the longest, and no | | | | Husbands beating up their wives need to expect |
| murder happens in it until page 350, which is the | | | | no mercy from the author, as she has none for |
| last quarter of the thick volume. But I never | | | | them, and no excuses. Stephen Devenish is a |
| thought of putting the book aside. | | | | complete monstrosity: the reader can't help |
| It starts with two enigmatic disappearances of | | | | rejoicing when he is found brutally murdered. Ruth |
| two young girls on two consecutive Saturday | | | | Rendell sees to that. But there are other people |
| nights followed by their equally enigmatic return | | | | whose attitude towards the problem can't fail to |
| home in a few days after abduction. Both girls are | | | | cause indignation. There are a mother and a |
| extremely reluctant to tell the true story of their | | | | father to whom their own daughter comes to |
| adventures - they prefer elaborate lies. Wexford, | | | | complain about horrible abuse she has to endure |
| who is never satisfied with the results until the | | | | from her husband - and all they have to say is |
| case is really and truly closed, undertakes to dig | | | | that she must be "provoking" him. The father |
| to the bottom of the affair. | | | | adds that it's okay to beat a wife with a stick, as |
| Meanwhile, his daughter Sylvia, with whom he still | | | | long as the stick is not thicker than the husband's |
| tries in vain to build a good relationship, starts | | | | thumb. Indeed! There is a pub owner who refuses |
| working to help women who have become | | | | to serve drinks to women who live in the refuge |
| victims of domestic violence. | | | | for battered wives. In his mind they are the bad |
| Once again, Ruth Rendell has written a detective | | | | lot, because they dared to leave their husbands; |
| story that is much more a book about social | | | | violent brutes who abuse and disfigure their wives |
| problems than a detective story as such. In | | | | are "decent fellows" according to him. No wonder |
| "Simisola" she talked about racism, secret slavery | | | | Wexford feels disgusted in the presence of Mr |
| and unemployment; in "Harm Done" she | | | | Honeyman. And then there are neighbours of the |
| addresses domestic violence, paedophilia, early | | | | refuge taking their petition from door to door to |
| pregnancy and the danger of citizens' riots (which | | | | be signed, in order for it to be closed. |
| she portrays courageously as a drawback of the | | | | All this leaves a feeling of total hopelessness, but |
| "freedom of speech" - freedom not restrained by | | | | the book doesn't depress - it encourages people |
| any feeling of responsibility from the media people | | | | to look at themselves and reconsider. |
| themselves). | | | | "Harm Done" is a very apt name for the book. I |
| She also touches on the problem of having insane | | | | have known women who had been victims of |
| people on the loose and the dangers they may | | | | domestic violence. I know that even after the |
| present. | | | | brute disappers from their lives (via divorce or |
| The book is written in 1999, and the events take | | | | whatever it might be), the harm done by him |
| place in the same year, or, perhaps, in 1998, but | | | | lives on. The wounds on their bodies may heal |
| not much earlier. Wexford uses Word for | | | | with time, but their wounded souls never do. It |
| Windows, mentions Taliban, and elsewhere in the | | | | may lead to various disorders - PTSD, for |
| book the Princess Diana Memorial Clinic is talked | | | | example - thus hampering their ability to |
| about. As we all know, Princess Diana died in | | | | communicate with other people, keep friendships |
| 1997, and it takes some time to build a clinic. So it | | | | and take part in social activities. Harm done to |
| has to be 1999, but I can't help noticing that Ruth | | | | their children - witnesses to the abuse - never |
| Rendell has started to "freeze" the ages of | | | | wears away either. Their lives are always |
| Wexford himself and his family. His grandsons | | | | affected; their own marriages might suffer from |
| haven't grown at all since "Simisola" (1994). In | | | | the painful memories of their childhoods. |
| "Shake Hands Forever" (1975) Sylvia is already a | | | | I would like to believe that this brave and honest |
| mother of two, so in 1999 her youngest should | | | | book written 10 years ago by a brave and honest |
| already be at least 24 - but somehow in "Harm | | | | lady has helped many unfortunate women out of |
| Done" her boys turn out to be younger than the | | | | the terrible situation in which they found |
| sons of Stephen and Fay Devenish, who are 12 | | | | themselves. I would like to believe that people like |
| and 10. | | | | Mr Honeyman have significantly dwindled in |
| Well, writers do this. I know that Ruth Rendell is | | | | number during the last decade. I know that people |
| still continuing her Wexford series, so she has no | | | | like Ruth Rendell make the world go round - make |
| other way: nobody will keep a 80 year old Chief | | | | it a better place. I bow to her. |
| Inspector. For the sake of the quality of her | | | | |