The House of Stairs
Feb 2011 · Open Road Media
3.0star
2 reviews
Ebook
288
Pages
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About this ebook
From a New York Times–bestselling author: A novelist pieces together the murderous past of an old friend—“smoldering suspense . . . literally unputdownable” (Time Out).
When writer Lizzie Vetch has tea with her old friend, Bell Sanger, the women are reunited for the first time in nearly two decades. Limbo years, Lizzie calls them, full of “all the terrible things” that passed between them. Specifically, a murder for which Bell served time, and has only recently been released from prison. Seemingly out of kindness, Lizzie agrees to let Bell move back into the House of Stairs, the five-story Notting Hill boardinghouse where, seventeen years ago, a dreadful crime was committed.
Maybe here, among the other odd residents, Lizzie can help pull Bell’s life together again. But is it compassion or something else? Because the more Lizzie’s long-suppressed memories are stirred, the more her motives for keeping Bell close are called into question. As for Bell, she has her own reasons for moving back into the House of Stairs with Lizzie. It’s not to put the past behind them. It’s to confront it, step by step.
“Revealed in baleful flashbacks, a chilly obsession takes shape, a convicted murderess and a cruel design sidle out of the shadows” (The Observer) in Edgar Award winner Ruth Rendell’s “compelling and disturbing” psychological thriller (The Sunday Times).
When writer Lizzie Vetch has tea with her old friend, Bell Sanger, the women are reunited for the first time in nearly two decades. Limbo years, Lizzie calls them, full of “all the terrible things” that passed between them. Specifically, a murder for which Bell served time, and has only recently been released from prison. Seemingly out of kindness, Lizzie agrees to let Bell move back into the House of Stairs, the five-story Notting Hill boardinghouse where, seventeen years ago, a dreadful crime was committed.
Maybe here, among the other odd residents, Lizzie can help pull Bell’s life together again. But is it compassion or something else? Because the more Lizzie’s long-suppressed memories are stirred, the more her motives for keeping Bell close are called into question. As for Bell, she has her own reasons for moving back into the House of Stairs with Lizzie. It’s not to put the past behind them. It’s to confront it, step by step.
“Revealed in baleful flashbacks, a chilly obsession takes shape, a convicted murderess and a cruel design sidle out of the shadows” (The Observer) in Edgar Award winner Ruth Rendell’s “compelling and disturbing” psychological thriller (The Sunday Times).
Ratings and reviews
3.0
2 reviews
Mimi Berry
- Flag inappropriate
September 20, 2018
Slow moving and without interesting strong characters
About the author
Edgar Award–winning author Ruth Rendell (1930–2015) has written more than seventy books that have sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (London), she is the recipient of the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Crime Writers’ Association. Rendell’s award-winning novels include A Demon in My View (1976), A Dark-Adapted Eye (1987), and King Solomon’s Carpet (1991). Her popular crime stories featuring Chief Inspector Reginald Wexford were adapted into a long-running British television series (1987–2000) starring George Baker.
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