The Killing Doll
A stand-alone novel published by Hutchinson in 1984
When she isn’t writing plain detective fiction, with efficient Inspector Wexford to lay the wrongdoers by the heels, Ruth Rendell specialises in psychotic goings-on in the ill-appointed bedsitters and drab family homes of the inner London suburbs. Her latest novel, of this type, starts with a memorable piece of hocus-pocus …
The winter before he was sixteen, Pup sold his soul to the devil. He wasn’t quite sure what he was going to get in exchange. For the time being, all he asked for was to be happy and to grow a bit taller.
Even though she was older than Pup, Dolly was always in awe of her brother. More and more, she wanted to believe that he had occult powers and could do anything. Magic could remove the birthmark from her face and make her normal. Magic could kill their wicked stepmother.
Contemporary Reads 2
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Iain Banks - The Wasp Factory
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Isabel Allende - Of Love and Shadows