An astonishingly slow burn masterpiece.

I can only quote Ian Rankin as saying that Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine surpasses most Booker Prize winners and shortlists with the astonishing quality of her writing and only didn’t get listed because she was prolific. I thought I had long ago consumed all of her output in print, but somehow I had missed this one.
For many chapters she leads you in to the dark side of a first person narrative and you think you have it all. Then she moves you around. Who is deceiving who? Who is controlling who?
Writing as Barbara Vine, she is so subtle and intense.
With not enough hours in the day, I have a big audio book habit and the readers here are good, but this is actually one that I started to wish I was just absorbing from the page as the whole thing is written as transcripts and letters to be read and I think that would be the very best way to get the most from it.

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3 people found this helpful

Too long!!

Bogged down by the protagonist's self indulgent ramblings, dragging the real story out so much that I gave up after chapter 8.Disappointing for a Barbara Vine.

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1 person found this helpful

No night is too long was an excellent book

I very much enjoyed listening to Alex Jennings reading the first part of “no night is too long”. He completely captured the character and it was interesting to see how he developed the persona of Tim as the book went along. I really had no idea of where this was going and very much enjoyed the twists. The other two readers and their stories were also absolutely great and I highly recommend this book. I kept thinking about it long after the story ended.

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Beautiful and thoughtful

A story I have read before but found it so beautifully enhanced by the truly wonderful narration. I was captivated!

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1 person found this helpful

No Night Is Too Long, but some books are...

Several hours of self-absorbed waffle, one good and unexpected (though highly unlikely) twist, but every other outcome either predictable or telegraphed. Unlike other reviewers I found the narration flat and detached. This may have been for effect, but the only effect it actually had was to make the characters deeply unsympathetic and self-obsessed. Honestly didn't care what happened to any of them. Definitely not one I'll be keeping to listen to again :(

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1 person found this helpful

absolutely brilliant

i have read/ listened to so many books and podcasts etc on audible that I have lost count but I can quite safely say this book is the one I've liked best. The detail and the explanation of places capable to actually take you to where the book takes place is as I've never had the pleasure of reading before.
loved it loved loved it !!!!!

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Enthralled

The creation of a character who develops from someone you really don’t like to someone repellent, someone to pity and even care about their outcome is a sign of such masterly writing by this legend of the genre.
My only criticism is to do with the amount of whispering and sudden drops to a quieter voice in the first two-thirds of the book. Might be great for artistic effect, but very difficult if you’re listening in the car.

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a unique love affair

such a brilliant story, so different to most. I fell in love with the characters especially Tim and Isabelle. I hope they have a long life together

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Compelling story

This may be one of ‘Barbara Vine’s’ best - I found it compulsively listenable and it’s setting / characters intriguingly
unconventional. Highly recommended.

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Outstanding….it has depth, intrigue, insight, and more twists than the St Bernard Pass.

What a clever story. Beautifully crafted, ingeniously constructed, marvellously written. This is what writing should be like. No cliches, no tired aphorisms, no clutter, no fluff. Just an excellent, readable, and absorbing story. It’s the sort of book that keeps you thinking long after you have finished.

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