
Grasshopper
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Narrated by:
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Jenny Sterlin
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By:
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Barbara Vine
About this listen
Ruth Rendell has held her place atop the world of mystery writers for decades, writing dozens of books that have won numerous awards, captivated countless fans, and collected widespread critical acclaim. Writing as Barbara Vine, she is the Edgar Award-winning author of such books as Chimney Sweeper’s Boy and King Solomon’s Carpet. Young Clodagh Brown loves to climb, especially the giant electrical pylons that form a neat row outside her parents’ home. When this obsession breeds tragedy, her shamed family sends her to London for college. As a respite from insufferable classes, she begins climbing atop the local houses with her unique band of friends. But it is a practice that lands the group in a kidnapping scandal - and leads to a terrifying climax on the rooftops.
Grasshopper is a meticulously crafted novel - a sharp and textured thriller infused with layers of psychological suspense. Narrator Jenny Sterlin steps into Clodagh’s unique world and takes readers on a rousing adventure through the Victorian neighborhoods of London.
©2000 Kingsmarkham Enterprises Ltd. (P)2000 Recorded Books, LLCListeners also enjoyed...
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Confusing, by it could just have been me
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Even better in audio form
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
As soon as Kerstin Kvist arrives at remote, ivy-covered Lydstep Old Hall in Essex, she feels like a character in a gothic novel. A young nurse fresh out of school, Kerstin has been hired for a position with the Cosway family, residents of the Hall for generations. She is soon introduced to her "charge", John Cosway, a 39-year-old man whose strange behavior is vaguely explained by his mother and sisters as part of the madness that runs in the family.
-
-
Top notch Barbara Vine
- By Susan B. on 12-12-07
By: Barbara Vine
-
A Dark-Adapted Eye
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Harriet Walter
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Like most families, they had their secrets...and they hid them under a genteelly respectable veneer. No onlooker would guess that prim Vera Hillyard and her beautiful, adored younger sister, Eden, were locked in a dark and bitter combat over one of those secrets. England in the '50s was not kind to women who erred, so they had to use every means necessary to keep the truth hidden behind closed doors - even murder.
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Reader emits noises that are distracting
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clever, excellent storytelling
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Well done
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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Amazing reader elevates book to a higher level
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A Fatal Inversion
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the long, hot summer of 1976, a group of young people is camping in Wyvis Hall. Adam, Rufus, Shiva, Vivien and Zosie hardly ask why they are there or how they are to live; they scavenge, steal and sell the family heirlooms. Ten years later, the bodies of a woman and child are discovered in the Hall’s animal cemetery. Which woman? And whose child?
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Oh my!
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Performance
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As always, Rendell writes a very engaging yarn!
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Spooky, fantastic, amazing.
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The Crow Trap
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Three very different women come together to complete an environmental survey on the Northumberland countryside. Three women who, in some way or another, know the meaning of betrayal....For team leader Rachael Lambert the project is the perfect opportunity to rebuild her confidence after a double-betrayal by her lover and boss, Peter Kemp. Botanist Anne Preece, on the other hand, sees it as a chance to indulge in a little deception of her own. And then there is Grace Fulwell, a strange, uncommunicative young woman with plenty of her own secrets to hide.
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Different but loved it
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Performance
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In a gloomy cellar, the figure of a beautiful, pale woman makes no move when the man advances on her from the shadows, puts his hands around her neck and strangles her. Arthur Johnson is a mild-mannered, shy man who has never known how to talk to women. His resulting loneliness has twisted his yearning for love and respect into a carefully constructed predilection for violence and control.
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Totally a Ruth Rendell read
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Performance
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A landslide has closed the Korowai Pass on New Zealand’s South Island, cutting off the town of Thorndike and leaving a sizable farm abandoned. The disaster presents an opportunity for Birnam Wood, an undeclared, unregulated, sometimes-criminal, sometimes-philanthropic guerrilla gardening collective that plants crops wherever no one will notice. For years, the group has struggled to break even. To occupy the farm at Thorndike would mean a shot at solvency at last. But the enigmatic American billionaire Robert Lemoine also has an interest in the place.
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Outstanding thriller w/ exceptional character development
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The Wintringham Mystery
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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Charming Light-hearted mystery
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Heartstones
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Few mystery writers can match Ruth Rendell’s ability to get inside the dark, tangled psyches of everyday criminals. Rendell takes a single emotion - in this case a sister’s all-consuming jealousy - and shows how even the most unsuspicious people are capable of the worst kind of horrors.
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Loved the ending!
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By: Ruth Rendell
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Classic who-dunnit
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Reader emits noises that are distracting
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The Blood Doctor
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- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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clever, excellent storytelling
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Overall
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Performance
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Ruth Rendell is widely considered to be crime fiction’s reigning queen. In Portobello, she delivers a captivating and intricate tale that weaves together the troubled lives of several people in the gentrified neighborhood of London’s Notting Hill. Walking to the shops one day, 50-year-old Eugene Wren discovers an envelope on the street bulging with cash. A man plagued by a shameful addiction - and his own good intentions - Wren hatches a plan to find the money’s rightful owner.
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-
-
One of my Top 20 books
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Heartstones
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- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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-
-
Loved the ending!
- By Maria Ivek on 02-27-25
By: Ruth Rendell
-
The Best Man to Die
- An Inspector Wexford Mystery
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Who could have suspected that the exciting stag party for the groom would be the prelude to the murder of his close friend Charlie Hatton? And Charlie's death was only the first in a string of puzzling murders involving small-time gangsters, cheating husbands, and loose women. Now Chief Inspector Wexford and his assistant join forces with the groom to track down a killer....
-
-
Classic who-dunnit
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-
A Sight for Sore Eyes
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Having published 45 books, Ruth Rendell is an internationally popular mystery writer. She has won four Gold Dagger and three Edgar awards. She has been presented with the Commander of the British Empire honor, and named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America. In A Sight For Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell’s exceptional literary talent shines from each word. Teddy Brex is a handsome young man. Raised by parents who never loved him, he has grown to put his trust in objects.
-
-
Reader emits noises that are distracting
- By Teresa on 06-14-12
By: Ruth Rendell
-
The Blood Doctor
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Robert Powell
- Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The First Lord Nanther, expert in blood diseases, particularly the royal disease of Heamophilia, and favoured physician to Queen Victoria, clearly hoped to be the subject of an admiring posthumous biography. But when his great-grandson, Martin Nanther begins to research his life for a biography, the Martin comes to suspect that his great-grandfather’s old records conceal more than they reveal.
-
-
clever, excellent storytelling
- By connie on 07-09-11
By: Barbara Vine
-
Portobello
- A Novel
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Tim Curry
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ruth Rendell is widely considered to be crime fiction’s reigning queen. In Portobello, she delivers a captivating and intricate tale that weaves together the troubled lives of several people in the gentrified neighborhood of London’s Notting Hill. Walking to the shops one day, 50-year-old Eugene Wren discovers an envelope on the street bulging with cash. A man plagued by a shameful addiction - and his own good intentions - Wren hatches a plan to find the money’s rightful owner.
-
-
Portobello's Lovely Mean Streets
- By Lynn on 09-16-10
By: Ruth Rendell
What listeners say about Grasshopper
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Lynn
- 04-13-24
Creepy - literally
What I liked: Ingenious and bizarre plot. Terrific writing. Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine was a master storyteller blessed with genius level powers of visualization and imagination. What I disliked: I don't think there is a relatable character, or likable character, in this book. How I managed to finish this book: I pretended it was science fiction - the plot lines were so compelling I had to listen all the way to the end. I banished the idea of the characters as people, and regarded them as alien beings. What helped: I set the dreary narration to 1.2, which made it tolerable.
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- Beth
- 09-08-12
Pretty Solid
This is a pretty solid novel. But it didn't quite do it for me. Maybe a little too slow moving? The characters and story a little too far fetched? I'm not sure. I didn't not enjoy it but it didn't captivate me the way really good books do. In other words, I could stop listening without feeling that pull to keep reading.
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- Linda C
- 11-17-21
One of Barbara Vine's best, beautifully read
This book is unusual for Vine in that the first-person narrator, telling the story from ten years after the fact, lets us know that she is happily married, owns a successful business and thoroughly enjoys her work. The dark themes which are inevitably recounted may have informed her past, but she has won through to achieve an enviable present.
Parenthood, childhood and the definition of responsibility are examined from multiple angles throughout the almost leisurely pacing of the story. Why do people become parents, what duties do parents and children owe to each other and how does each cope with the failures of the other? What does it mean to be a good parent, a good child? Is such goodness even possible? What realizations are the prerequisites of forgiveness? The incidents which forcibly bring these questions to bear on the young lives of the characters are as horrific as any in Vine's novels, but they are softened by the perspective of time. With only one exception, we know who is going to die before we witness the death, and even that one is predictable. No one escapes justice, but honest self-examination and the willingness to take responsibility for the effects of one's actions brings the opportunity for healing in the long run. The novel is essentially the protagonist's account of her own journey toward that understanding and in that sense is perhaps Vine's most valuable novel. I found it impossible not to recognize my own failures as the protagonist recognized hers.
Barbara Vine is, of course, the pseudonym of Baroness Ruth Rendell, used for stories which are explorations of character rather than the superbly crafted mysteries she is most famous for. I like Vine's books best. They are always well worth the time it takes to plunge into them and stay to the end, although it is never an easy journey. Her eye is nothing if not unflinching and she challenges her readers to be equally truthful.
Jenny Sterlin is one of my favorite audiobook readers. She has a beautiful voice and a thorough mastery of her material.
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- Yennta
- 11-15-23
Needed some editing
Some of her books are in need of editing. They are repetitive and redundant. This is one of them. It could easily lose about 1/4 or even 1/3 of the text and it would have been tight and great. The reader was GREAT
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- Jean L
- 03-26-15
Sloppy writting and badsound editing
Is there anything you would change about this book?
There is much, much too much nonessential text. You just want her to get on with it, please.
Would you be willing to try another book from Barbara Vine? Why or why not?
I was enthralled by The Chimney Sweepers Boy, but that had an outstanding reader.
Did the narration match the pace of the story?
Jenny Sterlin has a very nice voice, but the only way I can describe her narration is "mournful." The other problem is the sound editing. There are unjustified pauses between each sentence that just make the whole experience endless.
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- Jessica
- 04-18-18
My New Favorite Mystery Novel
If you could sum up Grasshopper in three words, what would they be?
Entertaining, Thrilling, and Exciting.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Clodagh Brown is my favorite character because she is a well-developed, likable, and complex character.
Which scene was your favorite?
The best scenes are those that take place on the rooftops.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
This audiobook made me laugh and cry.
Any additional comments?
Barbara Vine does it again, but this time, the character development is incomparable. This a well-written and well-narrated story. Grasshopper is a must listen.
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- John Tangney
- 10-28-23
Not her best
Perhaps it was the dreary tone of the reader but this dragged. Not much happened, slowly. I found it hard to like any of the characters.
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- Hilary
- 08-05-16
Too tedious to finish.
Jenny Sterlin is one of my favorite readers, but even her performance could not carry Grasshopper. The novel has too many unpleasant characters in tedious and repetitive situations, while the more sympathetic main character is just not compelling. I stopped with 6 hours to go. Pity, I really enjoyed The Chimney Sweeper's Boy by Barbara Vine.
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- taylor davis
- 07-24-14
should be half the length
What would have made Grasshopper better?
I like some of Vine's books a lot but this one is too long for the story. She repeats herself continuously; on and on and on with very little development in the plot.
Triple yawn.
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- Amazing
- 12-30-17
Total waste of time.
This has to be one of the very worst books I have listened to. There seemed to be no point whatsoever. Don’t waste your credit. ☹️
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