- Hardcover: 324 pages
- Publisher: Hutchinson; First edition (7 Oct 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0091799759
- ISBN-13: 978-0091799755
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.6 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 884,691 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Thirteen Steps Down
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Like several of Ruth Rendell's other novels of suspense, Thirteen Steps Down is a book about a couple of murders waiting to happen. Mix Cellini is a half-educated mechanic specializing in exercise machines, who indulges himself in alcohol, self-medication, celebrity-stalking and an obsession with Christie, the Rillington Place murderer. What dooms Cellini, and his victims, is not so much any active principle of evil, as selfishness and a tendency to drift into things that does the job almost as efficiently.
The house where he rents an apartment is a wonderful example of the Bad Place; his eighty-something landlady Gwendolyn is another person who drifts, in her case into nostalgia and slow decay. Mix is a deeply modern monster, but Gwendolyn is one of the proofs that this is not just a bitch at modernity; Mix's potential victim, supermodel Nerissa, is charming, smart and blessed. There are a few too many coincidences here for Thirteen Steps Down to quite make it on to the list of great Rendell--her best books are more tightly constructed--but it is certainly a book which her admirers will want.--Roz Kaveney
Review
"Ruth Rendell is, unequivocally, the most brilliant mystery novelist of our time. "
--Patricia Cornwell
--Patricia Cornwell
"From the Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Ruth Rendell's 'Thirteen Steps Down' is a story of obsession, violence, mental instability and morbid fascination. It's a complex plot, with many characters, most of whom are connected to each other in all manner of family or business relationships. The central figures are Mix, an engineer with a fitness company, and his elderly landlord Gwendolen. Mix is a complex character - fascinated by a local murderer of yesteryear, ghosts, and a fashion model. His attempts to balance all 3 interests, or more accurately, obsessions, lead to him losing his job and ending up in all sorts of awkward and confusing situations. Meanwhile, Gwendolen is lost in a bygone age, not comprehending the machinations of the modern world, and pining after her first love, Dr Stephen Reeves.
The plot is long and winding, and involves all characters in a convincing and steady build up. Rendell's portrayal of moods and conversations is superb. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it without hesitation. I often find Rendell's standalone novels to be better than the Wexford series, and this is no exception.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Thank you to the reviewer just below ("thought provoker") for insightful comments. I wanted to add that Rendell points out through the interactions of Gwendoline and her two elderly friends the indignities and cruelties facing elderly women who are alone. The more frail rely on loyal friends, alone themselves, who give unstintingly. One of these older ladies remarks to herself when she receives an invitation to a party, that she was rather honored to be invited, as she was "a woman of no particular importance." How essential it is to be "someone", a person of particular importance, if you are to be an older woman. Otherwise you will be ignored and left to die alone, seems to be Rendell's ironic message. Rendell faces us with uncomfortable truths, particularly in the shocker ending (don't look at the last page!), when her elderly anti-heroine is spared one final cruelty of old age. Rendell writes about moral issues, about right and wrong, cruelty and kindness, and as such, reading her novels is so much more than entertainment.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I have given this book 5 stars, not so much for the plot itself, but the way in which Rendell explores the nature of personal fantasy. The main character, Mix Cincelli, is initially portrayed as perhaps a fairly harmless character, albeit obsessive about the serial murderer, Reginald Christie. It is not long before Rendell gives the reader access to those disturbing psychopathological thought processes that become increasingly obsessive, and equally dangerous, as would befit someone with a probable diagnosis of borderline personality disorder.
However, after reading this book, it was with the minor characters that had the most effect upon me. I was left with that disturbing sense that the gap between sanity and some degree of madness, is not as great as we would perhaps like it to be for comfort. We all inhabit the same world, but our mutual experiences and how we perceive them individually are indeed wholly unique. Nerissa, for example has spent years nurturing a love for her neighbour Darel, yet has her fantasy collapsing within seconds once she is forced to face the reality of this artificial relationship.
How much time is wasted in our lives believing what we want to believe? No more is this highlighted when we experience the tragedy of Gwendolen, who, as with Miss Haversham in David Copperfield, wastes her life in the hope that the man she has fantasised about, will indeed, whisk her away like a knight in shining armour. No such ending for Gwendoline, but a sad and poignant ending that left me feeling how important it is to grab the realities of opportunity in the "here-and-now", and not dwell on the fantasies or wish-fulfillments that will probably never be.
Ruth Rendell has indeed excelled herself again in this book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Crass elements in ending
I'm a huge Rendell fan, and absolutely love the book - it's classic Rendell - up to the last few pages but there are elements in the ending which are completely crass and which... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Amazon customer
Thirteen Steps Down
After some less than compelling novels, Rendell finally gets back on track with this excellent chiller. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Rich
Good thriller, poor history
This is an excellent thriller based around the obsessions of a rather unpleasant man. We see much of the story through his perspective, and the tensions created by his misdeeds... Read more
Published on 17 April 2010 by Junius
Mice in the attic
Well written and relatively free from the 'data dumps' that have marred her books since the mid nineties. It builds tension and is genuinely involving. Read more
Published on 8 Aug 2009 by Bitter Shurn
Probably the worst book I've ever read!
This is a terrible book. The plot is way to contrived to be taken seriously, the characters are thin and without substance and I had to struggle to keep reading to the end. Read more
Published on 1 Aug 2008 by Mrs. Tessa M. Cross
Oh get on with it...!
I tried, I really did. To be honest though the story just went on and on, and the build up is not such that kept me wanting to know just a bit more. Read more
Published on 1 Aug 2007 by Cadeyes
Unique
This is the best Rendell I have read. As a rule I am not a big fan. Her characters were believable and at times even annoying. Read more
Published on 5 Mar 2007 by L. Hay
A good scene builder and great finish
I must compliment Ruth Rendell on an excellent crime novel. She conducts a masterclass in the genre and there are few contemporary writers that can match her skill in developing... Read more
Published on 15 Jun 2006 by Bc V. Price
Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places
4.99 stars
"In Rendell's view, we seldom understand how life works and how little control we have over it; criminals are the biggest dolts of all for risking so much on... Read more
"In Rendell's view, we seldom understand how life works and how little control we have over it; criminals are the biggest dolts of all for risking so much on... Read more
Published on 28 Dec 2005 by prisrob
Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places
4.99 stars
"In Rendell's view, we seldom understand how life works and how little control we have over it; criminals are the biggest dolts of all for risking so much on... Read more
"In Rendell's view, we seldom understand how life works and how little control we have over it; criminals are the biggest dolts of all for risking so much on... Read more
Published on 28 Dec 2005 by prisrob
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