The latest Vine novel, published by Viking in August, is called The Birthday Present, and I believe it is destined to take its place beside the very best of her novels. It has a sensational plot: a right-wing government minister is conducting an illicit sado-masochistic affair with a young married woman. As a surprise birthday present, he arranges for her to be `kidnapped` off the street, and taken - bound and blindfolded - to a secret destination where he will be waiting. But she fails to turn up, and he soon finds out that something has gone horribly wrong.