Rough Cider

By Peter Lovesey

Book Overview

"Bracing psychological suspense." -- The New York Times Book Review Reading, England, 1964. Theo, a lonely university lecturer, is approached by an American girl named Alice who wants to learn more... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0892961945
• ISBN13: 9780892961948
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Mysterious Pr
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.81 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Everything That Makes a Good Novel

I don't read novels more than once very often at all, but 'Rough Cider' is one of the few I have. Foremost, despite it being a murder mystery, it is an extremely humourous read with the main character Theo Sinclair guiding you the entire way. I enjoyed the plot, the twists and turns and the ultimately surprise ending. I do believe this would make a great telemovie/motion picture. Highly recommended...

1st Person narrative--4.5 stars for originality

This story revolves around a GI's trial during WWII & the differences between the memories of a man who was 9-years old at the time of the trial. It is told in 1st person singular (i.e. "I"). The basic premises concerning the realities of the trial are difficult to accept today. This is one of the major flaws in this work (mostly why it didn't give it 5 stars). Additionally, the context of the "present" in the narrative (20 years or so after the trial) takes up about 1/3 of the book & I had to force myself to plow through it--not terribly exciting. So, be prepared to slog through this part--it is necessary to read it though. The overall book, is, however, worth the effort IMHO. The plot is clever, most of it can be figured out by the reader--except the very end which may have some ambiguity in the choice of murderer. It had a number of surprising twists & turns too. The title is a pun since one barrel of cider turned out to be quite "rough" indeed. But, the best part of the story--which qualified it IMHO for consideration as a 5-star--regards the brilliant description (in 1st person no less) of how a person can confuse their perceptions of an event at the time, their memories of it, their present day reactions to it, their resistance to recognizing the differences between these and the truth/reality of what actually occurred. One can learn much from this book. It's definitely one of Lovesey's best mysteries--better IMHO than his 3 series (Diamond, Cribb, & Bertie). Indeed, his non-series books, both novels (e.g. Keystone (Black Dagger Crime)) & short stories (Butchers & Other Stories of Crime) are better--though I like the Cribb ones (e.g. The Tick of Death) as well.

Mystery at its best

Peter Lovesey is one of my (and my husband's) favorite writers. In ROUGH CIDER he proves again what a marvelous storyteller he is. Being a mystery writer, I appreciate the skill it takes to weave a good plot. We want more stories, Peter!

An excellent read

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This was the first Peter Lovesey book that I read and I think it has to be one of his best.