Live Flesh

Book by Ruth Rendell

0-09-163680-9 (first edition, hardback)OCLC13485433

Live Flesh, is a psychological thriller by British author Ruth Rendell, published in 1986. It won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year. It was the inspiration for a film of the same name by Pedro Almodóvar.^[1] Almodovar's treatment of the theme is very different from the original novel, making significant changes to the characters and plot.^[2]

Plot summary

The novel's protagonist is Victor Jenner, sent to prison for shooting and crippling a police officer after an attempted rape. At his trial and afterwards he claims that his actions were unintentional and somehow provoked by his victim. But there may have been other reasons for his attack of which even he was unaware. Ten years later, Jenner is released from prison and has to find himself a new life, with the reduced resources produced by ten years' incarceration and the handicap of a significant criminal record. He discovers that it is all too easy to slip back into the old one.^[3]

References

^ Nesselson, Lisa (13 October 1997). "Live Flesh".
^ Bradley S. Epps; Despina Kakoudaki (2009). All about Almodóvar: A Passion for Cinema. U of Minnesota Press. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-8166-4960-0.
^ Kirkus Children's and Young-adult Edition. Kirkus Service. 1986. p. 969.

Gold Dagger Award

1955–1959

The Little Walls by Winston Graham (1955)
The Second Man by Edward Grierson (1956)
The Colour of Murder by Julian Symons (1957)
Someone from the Past by Margot Bennett (1958)
Passage of Arms by Eric Ambler (1959)

1960–1969

The Night of Wenceslas by Lionel Davidson (1960)
The Spoilt Kill by Mary Kelly (1961)
When I Grow Rich by Joan Fleming (1962)
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré (1963)
The Perfect Murder by H. R. F. Keating (1964)
The Far Side of the Dollar by Ross Macdonald (1965)
A Long Way to Shiloh by Lionel Davidson (1966)
Murder Against the Grain by Emma Lathen (1967)
Skin Deep by Peter Dickinson (1968)
A Pride of Heroes by Peter Dickinson (1969)

1970–1979

Young Man I Think You're Dying by Joan Fleming (1970)
The Steam Pig by James H. McClure (1971)
The Levanter by Eric Ambler (1972)
The Defection of A. J. Lewinter by Robert Littell (1973)
Other Paths to Glory by Anthony Price (1974)
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution by Nicholas Meyer (1975)
A Demon in My View by Ruth Rendell (1976)
The Honourable Schoolboy by John le Carré (1977)
The Chelsea Murders by Lionel Davidson (1978)
Whip Hand by Dick Francis (1979)

1980–1989

The Murder of the Maharaja by H. R. F. Keating (1980)
Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith (1981)
The False Inspector Dew by Peter Lovesey (1982)
Accidental Crimes by John Hutton (1983)
The Twelfth Juror by B. M. Gill (1984)
Monkey Puzzle by Paula Gosling (1985)
Live Flesh by Ruth Rendell (1986)
A Fatal Inversion by Barbara Vine (1987)
Ratking by Michael Dibdin (1988)
The Wench Is Dead by Colin Dexter (1989)

1990–1999

Bones and Silence by Reginald Hill (1990)
King Solomon's Carpet by Barbara Vine (1991)
The Way Through the Woods by Colin Dexter (1992)
Cruel and Unusual by Patricia Cornwell (1993)
The Scold's Bridle by Minette Walters (1994)
The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid (1995)
Popcorn by Ben Elton (1996)
Black & Blue by Ian Rankin (1997)
Sunset Limited by James Lee Burke (1998)
A Small Death in Lisbon by Robert Wilson (1999)

2000–2009

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem (2000)
Sidetracked by Henning Mankell (2001)
The Athenian Murders by José Carlos Somoza (2002)
Fox Evil by Minette Walters (2003)
Blacklist by Sara Paretsky (2004)
Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indriðason (2005)
Raven Black by Ann Cleeves (2006)
The Broken Shore by Peter Temple (2007)
Blood from Stone by Frances Fyfield (2008)
A Whispered Name by William Brodrick (2009)

2010–present

Blacklands by Belinda Bauer (2010)
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin (2011)
The Rage by Gene Kerrigan (2012)
Dead Lions by Mick Herron (2013)
This Dark Road to Mercy by Wiley Cash (2014)
Life or Death by Michael Robotham (2015)
Dodgers by Bill Beverly (2016)
The Dry by Jane Harper (2017)
The Liar by Steve Cavanagh (2018)
The Puppet Show by M. W. Craven (2019)
Good Girl Bad Girl by Michael Robotham (2020)
We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker (2021)
Sunset Swing by Ray Celestin (2022)
The Kingdoms of Savannah by George Dawes Green (2023)

v t e 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