The Minotaur

by: Barbara Vine

Published by: Vintage

Reviewed by Amanda Collins

Having completed degrees in both English and Nursing at the University of Lund in Sweden, the narrator of Barbara Vine's The Minotaur is twenty-four-year-old Kerstin Kvist. Kvist follows her English boyfriend Mark to England to continue their relationship. Through Mark's sister-in-law, she secures a position as private nurse to mentally disturbed John Cosway, and thus begins a novel that is at once classic gothic and unconventional murder mystery.

The wind in the leaves of the Virginia creeper vine covering Lydstep Old Hall when Kerstin's first sees it, gives the illusion of movement, of a constantly shifting perspective. So too is Kerstin's view of the Cosway family constantly shifting, as like Theseus of myth, and she wanders inevitably closer to the monster at the heart of this maze of a story.

From the first, Kerstin is unconvinced that schizophrenia is what afflicts John, and the daily doses of both Phenobarbital and a highly powerful anti-psychotic, make her deeply uncomfortable. Though Julia Cosway, the family matriarch, insists it was John who requested a nurse, Kerstin finds it hard to believe John is capable of doing so while under the influence of these drugs. But why would Mrs. Cosway drug her own son? And what traumatic event did he witness that caused his supposed illness?

In addition to Mrs. Cosway, Lydgate Old Hall is also home to John's four sisters, Ida, the drudge; Winifred, the vicar's fiance; Ella, the schoolteacher; and Zorah, the jetsetter--who complete the portrait of this supremely dysfunctional family, all members of which trade in secrets, lies, and emotional blackmail.

Vine plays on many stereotypes of the English gothic country house novel and even Kerstin compares Lydstep Old Hall to Manderley and Thornfield. But this is no gothic romance and the unavoidable climax of The Minotaur is more disturbing than Rebecca or Jane Eyre ever were.

FYI: Barbara Vine is a pen name for Ruth Rendell, the bestselling crime novelist. She has written many novels, including The Lake of Darkness, The Killing Doll, The Tree of Hands, Live Flesh, Heartstones and The Veiled One.

Armchair Interviews says: A book that will appeal to readers on many levels.