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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What I like about Barbara Vine/Ruth Rendell is that she has revolutionised modern mystery writing. She takes her time with her plots and her characters, and as a consequence is able to weave a complicated web that is rich in texture. "The House of Stairs" largely concerns a middle-aged lady called Cozette, who has lived her life in a state of middle-class respectability. When her husband dies though she decides to throw caution to the wind and have some of the fun she should have had when she was young. She rents a house in London, the House of Stairs of the title, and fills it with offbeat people to put the colour into her life that she craves. Naturally not all of them have her best interests at heart. Not only is this a first-rate psychological puzzle in the best Vine tradition, but it gives an evocative insight into the world of Swinging Sixties London. I read somebody describing Vine as a modern-day Wilkie Collins, and I can't argue with that. Away from the mysteries though she also makes me think in other ways too, such as when she mentions that the best sunsets are often to be found in cities. Strangely, that's true!
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I love Vine's books, but whilst I am reading one,I do nothing else. A friend first recommended The House of Stairs and I virtually didn't speak again for three days when I finally finished it. The descriptions are so evocative and detailed, it is almost impossible not to think that the house in Archanagel Place is real. The plot revolves largely round the pampered, but generous,Cosette, a middle aged widow seeking her lost youth. A tender love story unfolds, and the descriptions of the London social scene and the bright young things that populated it in the sixties, make you feel as if you are in the room. The whole story is narrated by Cosette's friend, Elizabeth, who is like a surrogate daughter to her, and whose own secret colours the way she looks at life. So far so good, but throw into this mix the lawless and beautiful Bell, who we know from the start is a murderess and your heart is in your mouth throughout the book. You know someone dies, but who is it? and how? and when? By the time you get attached to a character you think "is it going to be them?" "is she going to do it now?" and the whole book becomes a breathtaking triumph in suspense, atmosphere, tragedy, and love. Buy it, you won't forget it.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
One of the reasons that I prefer Ruth Rendell writing as Barbara Vine (rather than under her own name) is that there is always an underlying 'creepiness' in all Barbara Vine's books, rather than out-and-out murder. The House of Stairs is no exception. The story portrays raw evil in the form of the grey, steely, 'Belle', a woman able to fool both the unsuspecting Elizabeth, and also the sweet, innocent, kind-hearted Cozette. The author builds up the suspense in this story until I found that I was unable to put the book down, actually feeling compelled to read on until the truth about Belle was finally revealed. This story is one of love and betrayal, friendship and deceit;, four factors that work independently to change forever the lives of all involved. Brilliant!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Thwe House of Stairs by Barbara Vine
This story is told mostly in flashback. The narrator is also the principal character, which impedes characterisation. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mr. Karl Blau
A really powerful book
This book is a surprise. It has lots of insights into people and their behaviour. It throws open the world. All sorts of things are up for discussion. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Ken
WHAT ON EARTH HAPPENED?...
This is a wonderful novel of psychological suspense written by Ruth Rendell under the pseudonym of Barbara Vine. Read more
Published on 6 Oct 2009 by Lawyeraau
Barbara Vine at her best
The House of Stairs is second only to Asta's Book in my list of favourite novels. The story grabs you from the very first page, and is wholly absorbing until the very end. Read more
Published on 25 Aug 2008 by S. A. Bergerac
The House of Stairs, Barbara Vine
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. Read more
Published on 27 May 2004 by RachelWalker
Another Masterpiece by Vine
The House of Stairs was quite simply brilliant. It is full of witty, wry humour, darkness and mystery - and the undertones of uneasiness that you feel while reading it that mean... Read more
Published on 15 Mar 2002
disturbing
I always find Barbara Vine's work deeply disturbing and this is no exception. The thing about her books is that they don't follow the usual murderish plot where we have to wait... Read more
Published on 6 April 2001 by Mrs. K. A. Wheatley
One of Vine's best
I think Barbara Vine is one of the greatest novelists working today-- never mind her lofty status as a mystery writer. Read more
Published on 7 Oct 2000
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