The Keys to the Street Author:Ruth Rendell Set in and around London's Regent's Park, where the city's wealthiest, poorest, kindest, and most vicious citizens all cross paths, The Keys to the Street tells of the deadly thanks a young woman risks receiving in return for an act of selfless generosity. — "Is it true that we dislike those who have done us a service?" asks... more » Mary Jago's grandmother. One of many questions about the best and worst of human nature, it is one with an answer Mary will discover for herself as a consequence of donating her own bone marrow to save the life of a young man she doesn't know....
"It's us he's after," says Dill, "our sort." Dill's sort are the homeless who seek refuge in the park, whose corpses have lately been turning up impaled on the spiked railings that surround it....
Mary is not their sort at all and would under ordinary circumstances be separated from such horror by social barriers stronger than iron bars. But she has performed a bold act, and the circumstances of her life are now extraordinary -- she is receptive to previously undreamed of happiness, and vulnerable to the darkest grief.« less
Ruth Rendell is on of my favorite mystery authors. This book was a sort of combo romance/mystery. I really liked it. It's not deep or anything but still enjoyable.
Some writers are fantastic at building characters including even their dreams. Others are masters of plot including mysteries and suspense. Still others have laconic but powerful descriptive skills. Rendell is all of these, a writer who makes you pay attention and makes you think and keep track of the hints she drops throughout. She pulls you in and you will have no clue about the ending until the end and then it will make sense. She is a gem of writers.