The House of Stairs

This may be Ruth Rendell's best book -- it's certainly Barbara Vine's. Don't get me wrong: she's written some fine books, but this one, along with "Wolf to the Slaughter," are prime examples of what writing's all about. When the story begins, we know a crime was committed and someone went to prison for it, but we don't know what the crime was. Vine keeps dropping hints throughout until everything is revealed, but it's the getting there that makes this novel such a treat. Highly recommended!

Another stunning effort by Ruth Rendall writing as Barbara Vine. Ms. Rendall is a master of the psychological thriller, and this one is as fine an example as you'll find. It is a book that is difficult to read because you know as you read that something terrible is going to happen. Something terrible does happen, but the denouement does not occur until the very last pages. The book is unputdownable and maddening because I kept waiting for the terrible thing to happen. What is really so brilliant about Ms. Rendall's books is that nothing that she writes anywhere in her books is superfluous. Everything means something, and you have to read carefully to get it. In this book, everything centres around an impossible house that has 106 stairs, and all of life seems to occur in around these stairs. The book has a dreamlike quality because she weaves the past and the present together, so seamlessly, that you hardly know what kind of game is being played with your head as you read. Great stuff!

As Elizabeth Vetch is travelling down the street in a taxi, she suddenly spots a woman whom she used to know many years before. A woman that she thought was still in prison. She calls the vehicle to a stop, and rushes off in pursuit of her old friend. Eventually, Elizabeth looses her amid the bustle of London. Then, here memories triggered by this event, she begins to tell the reader her story...It's a tale that leads to a time when Elizabeth was staying in a tall boarding house (known by its residents as the House of Stairs) run by her kindly old friend Cosette, when all the varied inhabitants lived in peace and harmony, and when she was in a relationship with the enigmatic Bell, a woman who will soon be arrested for murder. But, then Mark comes into their lives, and the effects of his presence soon mean that none of their lives will ever be the same again. For death is following in his path...Barbara Vine (aka Ruth Rendell) is quite, quite marvellous. The way she mixes past and present, the current story and the flashbacks to the events which happened at the House of Stairs is masterful, and not nearly as confusing as a lesser writer might make it. Her demonstrations of how the past can hold an inextricable grip on all our future's are brilliantly subtle. The characters she creates are almost unbearably realistic, and few of them are likeable. Even the kindly Cosette's needy dependency may grate on some after a while. She also injects a great subplot concerning the fact that Elizabeth, our narrator, may well have inherited the Huntington's Chorea that runs in her family.The suspense Rendell creates with the almost unbearably slow (although never, ever boring) teasing out of her plots is immense, and she maintains it right to the end, when the final surprise is revealed. Some longstanding fans of Rendell may be able to guess the main subtle twist that she uses (but not all she has up her sleeve), for she has used a similar one before (but in a rather different way). But then, as another reviewer has said, very aptly, of Rendell, "she pulls back the curtain to reveal, rather than to surprise".Vine/Rendell is not going to be ideal for anyone who prefers their thrillers to be fast-paced and exciting, with constant surprises, but if you're the sort of reader who admires an intelligent, immaculately written thriller, full of realistic characters, subtle suspense, and with one or two surprises along the way, then there is no one better at providing this that Rendell. The House of Stairs is a prime example

This is one of my all-time favorite murder mysteries. I've read it twice, and I'd read it again -- and I never read mysteries twice. Rendell/Vine is a master of her craft, and it's a crime that this spell-binding book is out-of-print. I would rate this book higher than "A Dark-Adapted Eye" or "Gallowglass". The characters are so beautifully drawn, one feels they must be real people. Rendell/Vine's writing takes us through an intricate labyrinth human movitations and frailties. This book is a gem.

THE HOUSE OF STAIRS seems to be the least well-known book written by Ruth Rendell as Barbara Vine. A shame, to say the least, considering that this intelligent, perceptive, and beautifully written novel certainly deserves recognition.The book tells the story of Elizabeth Vetch and the events that follow after she moves into the House of Stairs, owned by her wealthy and generous aunt Cosette, events that become increasingly grim until the climax which is, as is usually the case in a Vine novel, murder.THE HOUSE OF STAIRS is beautifully written, and contains all the hallmarks of Vine's prose. Abrupt shifts in time as Elizabeth remembers the past while living in the present, heavy foreshadowing of the future to come, a moody, haunting atmosphere, an aura of suspense, and plenty of witty dialogue. The characters are drawn with depth and care, the plot is intricately crafted, and there are a few twists at the end that make you look back on the whole story and realize that things truly aren't what they seem. This is by no means a conventional mystery; the killer's identity is known from the beginning, the clues are psychological, not physical, and the murder is the climax, rather than the prelude. But just because she isn't writing like Agatha Christie doesn't mean that Barbara Vine isn't skillful at plotting. She leaves plenty of clues for the reader to figure out what happens later, and makes the entire situation at once horrific and believable. This is a rich and rewarding novel, one I would rate on the same level as THE BRIMSTONE WEDDING. Not quite as compelling as A DARK-ADAPTED EYE, but then again, what is?