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Product Description
The novel that inspired the Hitchcock classic.
From the Back Cover
A killer, known only as 'The Avenger', stalks the streets of foggy London murdering women. Meanwhile a mysterious stranger rents a room at the home of Mrs Bunting.
A coincidence... or something more sinister?
A coincidence... or something more sinister?
Inside This Book
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Whereas Hilaire Belloc wrote his Cautionary Tales for Children warning as to what might befall little girls called Matilda who tell lies, his sister Marie Belloc Lowndes wrote this classic Gothic Cautionary Tale for adults warning of might happen if one were to take in a Lodger!
"The Lodger" in question is a mysterious gentleman by the name of Mr Sleuth who arrives one foggy evening to take up lodgings at the humble abode, on Marylebone Road, of an elderly couple, recently retired from domestic service. Whilst abroad there lurks in the metropolis a serial killer who preys on women of the night in the east end, and styles himself "The Avenger".
This is splendid story of the macabre; the people credible and the action and the terror never false. It may or may not be inspired (if that is the right word!?) by Jack The Ripper, and, in turn, it became the inspiration for Hitchcock's first movie, "The Lodger".
"If you don't want to read what is bad, and want to read something that will hold your interest and is marvellous in its own way, you should read Marie Belloc Lowndes" I can give no greater recommendation than the opinion of Ernest Hemingway, who knew a thing or two about story-telling.
"The Lodger" in question is a mysterious gentleman by the name of Mr Sleuth who arrives one foggy evening to take up lodgings at the humble abode, on Marylebone Road, of an elderly couple, recently retired from domestic service. Whilst abroad there lurks in the metropolis a serial killer who preys on women of the night in the east end, and styles himself "The Avenger".
This is splendid story of the macabre; the people credible and the action and the terror never false. It may or may not be inspired (if that is the right word!?) by Jack The Ripper, and, in turn, it became the inspiration for Hitchcock's first movie, "The Lodger".
"If you don't want to read what is bad, and want to read something that will hold your interest and is marvellous in its own way, you should read Marie Belloc Lowndes" I can give no greater recommendation than the opinion of Ernest Hemingway, who knew a thing or two about story-telling.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Marie Belloc Lowndes, the brother of Hilare Belloc, had a prolific writing career that spanned more than forty years, producing an average of one work a year. Most of her books are now out of print, but this, her most popular novel, is still widely available. It is loosely based on the Jack the Ripper murders and has been filmed several times, notably by Alfred Hitchcock in 1927.
The story centres on a lodging house in London run by Mr. and Mrs. Bunting. They are in desperate circumstances, without boarders, when one foggy evening (this is London remember) a mysterious stranger, the ironically named Mr. Sleuth, arrives and rents rooms. He acts very oddly, staying in his room all day, mainly reading the Bible, and he leaves the house only after dark. At the same time, a series of brutal murders of young women takes place, and Mrs. Bunting becomes worried by the coincidence of the timings of murders and Mr. Sleuth's nocturnal wanderings, and the fact that he keeps his bag locked in a cupboard in his room. But she does nothing, because he is clearly very distressed and she feels sorry for him. She also knows that if he were to leave their previous desperate financial state would return.
Mr. Bunting's daughter from a former marriage, Daisy, arrives for a short visit and this prompts frequent visits by Chandler, a young friend of the Buntings and Daisy's would-be boy friend. He is a policeman, and one morning tells the Buntings about another murder that had been committed the night before. Mr. Bunting is shaken, because he had found blood on his hand after brushing against Mr. Sleuth's coat that same evening, when they had met coming home. Both the Buntings are now worried.
The climax comes when Mr. Sleuth takes Mrs. Bunting and Daisy to Madame Tussaud's, where by chance they see a party being shown round by the new Chief of Police, Sir John Burney. Mr. Sleuth is incensed and threatens to murder Mrs. Bunting, because we learn that Sir John was responsible for having Mr. Sleuth confined as a madman who had murdered before. Mr. Sleuth thinks Mrs. Bunting has betrayed him. He flees the exhibition, but when Mrs. Bunting and Daisy return home he has gone and never returns. Like the Jack the Ripper case, the murders cease.
This is a very good read. Although we quickly realize that Mr. Sleuth is the killer, and there are a few unlikely coincidences that are essential for the plot, the story still holds ones attention. The writing is uncomplicated, the small cast of characters is very believable, and the tension is well maintained right to the end.
The story centres on a lodging house in London run by Mr. and Mrs. Bunting. They are in desperate circumstances, without boarders, when one foggy evening (this is London remember) a mysterious stranger, the ironically named Mr. Sleuth, arrives and rents rooms. He acts very oddly, staying in his room all day, mainly reading the Bible, and he leaves the house only after dark. At the same time, a series of brutal murders of young women takes place, and Mrs. Bunting becomes worried by the coincidence of the timings of murders and Mr. Sleuth's nocturnal wanderings, and the fact that he keeps his bag locked in a cupboard in his room. But she does nothing, because he is clearly very distressed and she feels sorry for him. She also knows that if he were to leave their previous desperate financial state would return.
Mr. Bunting's daughter from a former marriage, Daisy, arrives for a short visit and this prompts frequent visits by Chandler, a young friend of the Buntings and Daisy's would-be boy friend. He is a policeman, and one morning tells the Buntings about another murder that had been committed the night before. Mr. Bunting is shaken, because he had found blood on his hand after brushing against Mr. Sleuth's coat that same evening, when they had met coming home. Both the Buntings are now worried.
The climax comes when Mr. Sleuth takes Mrs. Bunting and Daisy to Madame Tussaud's, where by chance they see a party being shown round by the new Chief of Police, Sir John Burney. Mr. Sleuth is incensed and threatens to murder Mrs. Bunting, because we learn that Sir John was responsible for having Mr. Sleuth confined as a madman who had murdered before. Mr. Sleuth thinks Mrs. Bunting has betrayed him. He flees the exhibition, but when Mrs. Bunting and Daisy return home he has gone and never returns. Like the Jack the Ripper case, the murders cease.
This is a very good read. Although we quickly realize that Mr. Sleuth is the killer, and there are a few unlikely coincidences that are essential for the plot, the story still holds ones attention. The writing is uncomplicated, the small cast of characters is very believable, and the tension is well maintained right to the end.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
28 reviews
30 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Eerie and Suspenseful
7 July 2010
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
While this book is old, first published in 1913, believe; it never reads that way. The style and tempo are very modern, although some of the vocabulary is not. This makes in read like a well-done modern-day period piece. The suspense continues until the very end, and is a must-read for any mystery, or even horror, lover.
As for this edition, "purchased" the Public Domain Books version for free from the Kindle Store and downloaded it directly to my Kindle. It was well done without any spelling errors. It did have one extraneous period and a few missing commas, but expect that those errors were probably errors in the original text. The only issues that I had with this version were that a few times the start of a new paragraph was not indented. ll in all, an excellent job by the PDB volunteers.
As for this edition, "purchased" the Public Domain Books version for free from the Kindle Store and downloaded it directly to my Kindle. It was well done without any spelling errors. It did have one extraneous period and a few missing commas, but expect that those errors were probably errors in the original text. The only issues that I had with this version were that a few times the start of a new paragraph was not indented. ll in all, an excellent job by the PDB volunteers.
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
psychological thriller
13 Oct 2010
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
A period piece shrouded in the Edwardian London fog but a good psychological thriller on the whole. Focuses on a husband and wife who run a boarding house (of the type that Holmes might have lived in) whose lives are changed by a mysterious lodger whom they increasingly suspect to be a serial murderer calling himself the Avenger. You get a good sense of the times and of the lives of the people involved: an ordinary couple who are suddenly forced to deal with the possibility of a homicidal madman in their house.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
atmospheric
30 Sep 2003
Format:Paperback
This is the suspenseful best-seller by Hillaire Belloc's sister that inspired Hitchcock's first talkie and the 1940s-era remake that won its star, Laird Cregar, an Oscar. The motivation of the murderess lodger's landlady may be hard for moderns to swallow. Her crisis comes from, on the one hand, guessing that her lodger is a serial killer, and, on the other, needing his rent money as well as harboring the working-class Victorian's deeply ingrained aversing to informing to the coppers -- this even though a young detective is a constant visitor and supportive friend. This conflict is never resolved. By accident only are the landlady and her husband saved from "The Avenger." Despite the protagonists' moral cowardice, the deus ex machina ending and considerable over-writing, this is a gripping, atmospheric page-turner, redolent with fine detail of every-day life in the London of the period. Their character warts don't prevent Mr. and Mrs. Bunting from being sympathetic. Indeed, those flaws help the book rise above its genre.
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