Going Wrong

Going Wrong
	First edition (UK)
Author	Ruth Rendell
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre	Crime, Mystery novel
Publisher	Hutchinson (UK); Mysterious Press (US)
Publication date	6 September 1990
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	250 pp
ISBN	0-09-174300-1
OCLC	21293413

Going Wrong (1990) is a novel by English crime writer Ruth Rendell.^[1] An intense psychological thriller, its main theme is the nature of romantic obsession. Kirkus Reviews calls the novel "surprisingly one-dimensional and padded out,"^[2] finding the obsession at the heart of the novel ultimately tedious.

Synopsis[]

When he was a young man, Guy Curran led a local street gang and dealt drugs before falling madly in love with Leonora Chisholm, a much more middle-class teenager whose society minded parents naturally disapproved of him.

Despite an initially passionate romance, the fairy tale subsides, and Leonora agrees to remain friends. The two begin a ritual of meeting for lunch on Saturdays, ostensibly to mollify Guy's continuing unrequited love. Guy attempts to phone her daily.

We gradually learn about an incident in Guy's past that led him to go straight, although his current business interests maintain an air of sleaze, and his nouveau riche sensibility contrasts sharply with Leonora's values. Despite their obvious differences, Guy becomes convinced that Leonora's rejection only stems from someone telling her about his worst moment during his days in the underworld.

When Leonora tells a distraught Guy that she has found a new love, this announcement sets off a dark chain of events that will lead Guy into even more obsession, stalking, and finally murder.

References[]

^ Heather Mallick (January 18, 2015). "A salute to Ruth Rendell, chronicler of strange people". Toronto Star. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
^ GOING WRONG | Kirkus Reviews.

This article about a crime novel of the 1990s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

See guidelines for writing about novels. Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page.

[Toronto_Star_-_18_January_2015_-_A_salute_to_Ruth_Rendell,_chronicler_of_strange_people-1] Heather Mallick (January 18, 2015). "A salute to Ruth Rendell, chronicler of strange people". Toronto Star. Retrieved 11 July 2015.

[2] GOING WRONG | Kirkus Reviews.

[1]

[2]

v t Ruth Rendell
Inspector Wexford novels	From Doon with Death A New Lease of Death Wolf to the Slaughter The Best Man to Die A Guilty Thing Surprised No More Dying Then Murder Being Once Done Some Lie and Some Die Shake Hands Forever A Sleeping Life Put on By Cunning The Speaker of Mandarin An Unkindness of Ravens The Veiled One Kissing the Gunner's Daughter Simisola Road Rage Harm Done The Babes in the Wood End in Tears Not in the Flesh The Monster in the Box The Vault No Man's Nightingale
Stand-alone novels	To Fear a Painted Devil Vanity Dies Hard The Secret House of Death One Across, Two Down The Face of Trespass A Demon in My View A Judgement in Stone Make Death Love Me The Lake of Darkness Master of the Moor The Killing Doll The Tree of Hands Live Flesh Heartstones Talking to Strange Men The Bridesmaid Going Wrong The Crocodile Bird The Keys to the Street A Sight for Sore Eyes Adam and Eve and Pinch Me The Rottweiler Thirteen Steps Down The Thief The Water's Lovely Portobello Tigerlily's Orchids The Saint Zita Society The Girl Next Door Dark Corners
As Barbara Vine	A Dark-Adapted Eye A Fatal Inversion The House of Stairs Gallowglass King Solomon's Carpet Asta's Book No Night is Too Long The Brimstone Wedding The Chimney Sweeper's Boy Grasshopper The Blood Doctor The Minotaur The Birthday Present The Child's Child
Short story collections	The Fallen Curtain Means of Evil The Fever Tree The New Girlfriend The Copper Peacock Blood Lines Piranha to Scurfy A Spot of Folly
TV series	The Ruth Rendell Mysteries The Barbara Vine Mysteries