Ruth Rendell, página 4 de 13

In traditional fairytales the handsome prince rescues the beautiful princess from her wicked stepmother, and the couple live happily ever after. But in Ruth Rendell's dark and damaged contemporary universe, innocent dreams can turn into the most terrible nightmares. Teddy Brex emerges from a loveless, isolated childhood as a handsome but autistic young man. Francine Hill, traumatised by the murder of her mother, grows into a beautiful young woman, who must endure the overprotectiveness of an increasingly obsessive stepmother. Teddy Brex does ride to her rescue, but he is a man who has already committed two murders.

Poco antes de cumplir dieciséis años, Pup vendió su alma al diablo. Aún no había decidido qué reclamaría a cambio, pues sólo se le ocurría ser feliz y crecer un poco más. Por su parte, su hermana Dolly sentía un temor reverencial hacia él, y estaba convencida de que poseía poderes mágicos que podrían eliminar de su rostro la fea marca de nacimiento que le atormentaba. Pero Pup se echó a reír cuando Dolly le mostró una muñeca de trapo que representaba a su madrastra y le dijo que estaba dispuesta a clavarle agujas...

Mary Jago had donated her own bone marrow to save the life of someone she didn't know. And this generous act led directly to the bitter break-up of her affair with Alistair. But the man whose life she had saved would change Mary's life in a way she could never have imagined. The Keys to the Street creates an atmospherically charged universe, where a young woman's life is in danger from both the middle-class world she knows and another world of the dispossessed and deranged.