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Thirteen Steps Down
From the multi-award-winning author of The Babes in the Wood and The Rottweiler, a chilling new novel about obsession, superstition, and violence, set in Rendell’s darkly atmospheric London.
Mix Cellini (which he pronounces with an ‘S’ rather than a ‘C’) is superstitious about the number 13. In musty old St. Blaise House, where he is the lodger, there are thirteen steps down to the landing below his rooms, which he keeps spick and span. His elderly landlady, Gwendolen Chawcer, was born in St. Blaise House, and lives her life almost exclusively through her library of books, so cannot see the decay and neglect around her.
The Notting Hill neighbourhood has changed radically over the last fifty years, and 10 Rillington Place, where the notorious John Christie committed a series of foul murders, has been torn down.
Mix is obsessed with the life of Christie and his small library is composed entirely of books on the subject. He has also developed a passion for a beautiful model who lives nearby — a woman who would not look at him twice.
Both landlady and lodger inhabit weird worlds of their own. But when reality intrudes into Mix’s life, a long pent-up violence explodes.
Mix Cellini (which he pronounces with an ‘S’ rather than a ‘C’) is superstitious about the number 13. In musty old St. Blaise House, where he is the lodger, there are thirteen steps down to the landing below his rooms, which he keeps spick and span. His elderly landlady, Gwendolen Chawcer, was born in St. Blaise House, and lives her life almost exclusively through her library of books, so cannot see the decay and neglect around her.
The Notting Hill neighbourhood has changed radically over the last fifty years, and 10 Rillington Place, where the notorious John Christie committed a series of foul murders, has been torn down.
Mix is obsessed with the life of Christie and his small library is composed entirely of books on the subject. He has also developed a passion for a beautiful model who lives nearby — a woman who would not look at him twice.
Both landlady and lodger inhabit weird worlds of their own. But when reality intrudes into Mix’s life, a long pent-up violence explodes.
340 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
240 people are currently reading
1609 people want to read
About the author
Ruth Rendell
437 books1,605 followersA.K.A. Barbara Vine
Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, who also wrote under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, was an acclaimed English crime writer, known for her many psychological thrillers and murder mysteries and above all for Inspector Wexford.
Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, who also wrote under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, was an acclaimed English crime writer, known for her many psychological thrillers and murder mysteries and above all for Inspector Wexford.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 363 reviews
November 23, 2022
It’s a shame Alfred Hitchcock died before this novel was written. He could have made a perfect film with this story. The prolific Ruth Rendell wrote books until the end of her life and they continued to be good until the end. 13 Steps Down is one of her later books. Her powers of plot and characterization didn’t diminish.
Rendell also used the pen name Barbara Vine for psychological thrillers. This book could have been written under either name. As a crime book it doesn’t have a detective. The main character and his elderly landlady are both deeply delusional but only one is murderous.
It’s fun to watch the murderer fall apart by inches. There is humor, but a very dark kind.
Rendell also used the pen name Barbara Vine for psychological thrillers. This book could have been written under either name. As a crime book it doesn’t have a detective. The main character and his elderly landlady are both deeply delusional but only one is murderous.
It’s fun to watch the murderer fall apart by inches. There is humor, but a very dark kind.
October 18, 2022
A very satisfying psychological thriller. Mix Cellini is a fantasist obsessed with a super model. He lives in a top flat of a rundown house owned and lived in by the elderly Gwendolen who is also a fantasist. Rendell builds the story by giving the characters personalities and quirks.
There is no mystery just the plunge into madness by Mix who is also obsessed with the serial killer Christie and the murders at 10 Rillington Place. The author paints a weird world of disturbed minds and violence. There is also humor in Mix apparently seeing the ghost of Christie in the house.
Floorboards, garden digging and weird obsessive, paranoid behavior. Good on Nerissa in choosing her own life and not turning into a female Mix.
There is no mystery just the plunge into madness by Mix who is also obsessed with the serial killer Christie and the murders at 10 Rillington Place. The author paints a weird world of disturbed minds and violence. There is also humor in Mix apparently seeing the ghost of Christie in the house.
Floorboards, garden digging and weird obsessive, paranoid behavior. Good on Nerissa in choosing her own life and not turning into a female Mix.
November 23, 2023
Dit boek voldeed niet aan mijn verwachtingen.
Een groot deel van het verhaal bestaat uit de beschrijving van de persoonlijkheid en de levensomstandigheden van de personages.. Dus het duurde een tijdje voor er écht iets gebeurde. En eigenlijk gaat het dan meestal over de obsessies van Mix Cellini en zijn huisbazin, Gwendolen Chawcer. Er komt wel een moord aan te pas, maar ik vond het niet spannend of intrigerend.
Een tegenvaller.
Een groot deel van het verhaal bestaat uit de beschrijving van de persoonlijkheid en de levensomstandigheden van de personages.. Dus het duurde een tijdje voor er écht iets gebeurde. En eigenlijk gaat het dan meestal over de obsessies van Mix Cellini en zijn huisbazin, Gwendolen Chawcer. Er komt wel een moord aan te pas, maar ik vond het niet spannend of intrigerend.
Een tegenvaller.
January 7, 2016
A fascinating Rendell read, concerning two individuals who live in their own sort of fantasy worlds, and what happens when they cross paths ...
This is a psychological study of two unique individuals: a young man who services exercise equipment for a living, and an elderly woman living in her family home, a mansion, which is slowly deteriorating around her. Sad to say, I saw reflections of both characters in family, friends, and teaching colleagues. The unwillingness to change, to accept society as it is, and the people around them, the reclusive behaviors this sometimes leads to makes this a compelling and thoughtful read. (Not to say being a loner is a bad thing; I'm one myself.) But the rigidity of the mind-set is what causes conflict, leading to ...
Well to say much more would be to enter Spoilers-ville. Vividly written, with many minor characters who add flavor, delight and even humor to the story, this was an interesting read. (Or a listen; I did this one on audiobook.) It's also a crime story, a mystery, and a complex tale with a lot of different angles, and things to think about.
The 'things to think about' is what I like best about mysteries, and Rendell's books in particular.
This is a psychological study of two unique individuals: a young man who services exercise equipment for a living, and an elderly woman living in her family home, a mansion, which is slowly deteriorating around her. Sad to say, I saw reflections of both characters in family, friends, and teaching colleagues. The unwillingness to change, to accept society as it is, and the people around them, the reclusive behaviors this sometimes leads to makes this a compelling and thoughtful read. (Not to say being a loner is a bad thing; I'm one myself.) But the rigidity of the mind-set is what causes conflict, leading to ...
Well to say much more would be to enter Spoilers-ville. Vividly written, with many minor characters who add flavor, delight and even humor to the story, this was an interesting read. (Or a listen; I did this one on audiobook.) It's also a crime story, a mystery, and a complex tale with a lot of different angles, and things to think about.
The 'things to think about' is what I like best about mysteries, and Rendell's books in particular.
August 21, 2018
Having read four or five of Ruth Rendell's books thus far, I am happy that she is a prolific author. Not only has she been prolific, but she has remained constant in the quality of her story-telling in my experiences.
Thirteen (13) Steps Down is a stand-alone psychological thriller that for me began very slowly. My patience was rewarded as I delved further into the story. Her plot is very much character-driven which lent itself to the initial slow pace, but drama begins to ensue before too long. Much of the plot is the reader experiencing the protagonist's descent into sociopathy, driven by obsessions and a childhood that created in him a cynical view of anyone other than himself and most certainly women in particular.
Thirteen (13) Steps Down is a stand-alone psychological thriller that for me began very slowly. My patience was rewarded as I delved further into the story. Her plot is very much character-driven which lent itself to the initial slow pace, but drama begins to ensue before too long. Much of the plot is the reader experiencing the protagonist's descent into sociopathy, driven by obsessions and a childhood that created in him a cynical view of anyone other than himself and most certainly women in particular.
August 22, 2009
This book was horrible. The plot never went anywhere and I felt like I was walking in quicksand trying to get through it. I stuck with it hoping the ending would be great, but no. The ending was the worst part of the book. All in all it was just boring and a terrible read.
January 17, 2011
The major character in this book is Mix Cellini, a young man whose life is ruled by obsession, superstition and self-interest. He is intensely preoccupied by the life and literature of an early twentieth century serial murderer. This so dominates Mix's life, that he has read every available piece of literature and visited all of the crime scenes. He decided to take up residence in the only available property near where the murderer had lived. This is the decaying mansion of an elderly spinster, who had never restored any part of this house to its former glory. A further essential ingredient in this novel is his dogged attraction to a lovely young model who lives nearby. In his attempts to gain her favor, he builds implausible fantasies about their relationship and he stalks her.
For those who have read Rendell/ Vine, you know that the aforementioned is only the a sampling of an intensely inventive psychological accounting. In comparison to her recent, Portobello, which I enjoyed, this earlier work contained a higher degree of tension which continued until the final pages. I continue to be in awe of Rendell's imagination and skillful renditions in creating extraordinary, preposterous, yet strangely alluring characters!
For those who have read Rendell/ Vine, you know that the aforementioned is only the a sampling of an intensely inventive psychological accounting. In comparison to her recent, Portobello, which I enjoyed, this earlier work contained a higher degree of tension which continued until the final pages. I continue to be in awe of Rendell's imagination and skillful renditions in creating extraordinary, preposterous, yet strangely alluring characters!
November 14, 2015
Seemed like a perfect read for the day. Back to the murky world of Rendell's morally reprehensible criminally amateur miscreants. It really is a high testament to an author's talent that she has so consistently managed to produce utterly engaging stories about utterly repugnant reprobates and/or utterly unlikeable social outsiders, somehow finding enough humanity in their plights and their motivations to make for such compelling reading experiences. This one was strongly reminiscent of arguably superior One Across, Two Down, albeit longer and more contemporary by decades. Having started on the earlier Rendell, it's almost bizarre to see modern technology and so on in her stories and yet, no matter how flat the tv screens get, the human nature remains the same and it is precisely author's terrific grasp of it with all its nuances and quirks that it so enjoyable to read. This is a story of an disagreeable old woman, who spent her life lost in books, taking on a lodger to share her much too large much too neglected house. Her lodger has two obsessions, a serial killer who used to live/murder in the same area some 50 years ago and a supermodel that he crosses paths with. In typical Rendell fashion unpleasantness follows. And yet it's very British unpleasantness, weighted down by heavily innate manners and propriety, even when such things are detrimental to the situation at hand. And, of course, irony, because life of the aforementioned murky world is much too strange to be played out straight forwardly. Recommended.
July 27, 2012
This is not my favorite Ruth Rendell, but it is sufficiently creepy. For me it asks the question: are we all truly crazy when we think we are normal? Or,is my normal someone else's crazy? Clearly the main characters have one mental defect or another, but do I? If you want to read a better Ruth Rendell book that deals with the psychological effects of murdering someone, check out One Across, Two Down.
October 3, 2009
a book group selection. i'm not usually big on mysteries, but i'm determined to read with an open mind.
i've really tried with this book, for the sake of my book group discussion, but it is just awful. it reminds me of the movie b.t.k. that i watched recently which was most probably the worst thing i have ever seen. this is the book version of that situation. i simply can't get past the pathetic characters, the odd storylines or the contrived connections between characters. i don't recommend this book. i can't say for sure since i'm not one, but i can't even imagine that a person who likes mysteries would like 13 steps down; though in actuality it's more of a psychological thriller (allegedly anyway - i found it less than thrilling.) i'll probably suffer through finishing it so i can talk about it, but i certainly won't have anything nice to say about it. hopefully the next selection is better.
finally finished it & in time for book club. it never got any better. in fact, the contrived & bizarre ending culminated the entire bad experience. i was not alone, however, the rest of my club hated it too.
i've really tried with this book, for the sake of my book group discussion, but it is just awful. it reminds me of the movie b.t.k. that i watched recently which was most probably the worst thing i have ever seen. this is the book version of that situation. i simply can't get past the pathetic characters, the odd storylines or the contrived connections between characters. i don't recommend this book. i can't say for sure since i'm not one, but i can't even imagine that a person who likes mysteries would like 13 steps down; though in actuality it's more of a psychological thriller (allegedly anyway - i found it less than thrilling.) i'll probably suffer through finishing it so i can talk about it, but i certainly won't have anything nice to say about it. hopefully the next selection is better.
finally finished it & in time for book club. it never got any better. in fact, the contrived & bizarre ending culminated the entire bad experience. i was not alone, however, the rest of my club hated it too.
January 2, 2021
I've read a few Rendell novels before and I couldn't put them down. 'Thirteen Steps Down' was like a slow lifting of the curtain until finally there are a mass of actors in view and moving about. No question that the acting is interesting and eventually the many individuals began to differentiate themselves by their activities and their interests. Mix Cellini, in particular, appears dangerous, especially to Gwendolen Chawcer, his landlady, and Nerissa Nash, super model. But it takes awhile for the reader to understand how these three people and their intersections of life, friends and work are going to make something extraordinary occur. When the denouement is at hand, I felt like a cap pistol went off rather than a cannon. However, it is a good thriller which relies heavily on the characters' personalities to create suspense.
Mix, who works as a Fiterama repairman, has an obsession with two people: Nash, who he is stalking, and the life and death of a famous serial killer, Reggie Christie. Mix is fascinated especially with how Christie buried all of his victims under the floorboards and walls of his house. For awhile, Mix is in control of himself. But eventually he is missing client appointments to repair their exercise equipment and the company he works for wants him to come in and talk about the complaints. It's difficult to do his job and follow the beautiful model, too. In order to meet her, he has to find out where she lives and where she goes, so he must spend a lot of hours following her and her friends, trying to finagle relationships with them or somehow create a plausible situation to become her lover. In the meantime, he cannot stop buying books about Reggie and reading over and over how he killed a dozen women. He walks by Reggie's ex-property as often as he can. When he sees that Chawcer is advertising for a renter, he takes it because it's a few blocks away from where all the murders occurred.
Chawcer is an 80-year-old woman who never left home. Her house is a mouldering crumbling small mansion of antiques and dust. She spends her days reading 19th century literature and she has no TV set. Raised as an upper-class Victorian by her authoritarian, but gentle father and her conservative mother, she literally has almost no experience of the world outside of her house. Her dead parents' fortune is dwindling so she takes in a boarder, but she doesn't like Mix and she avoids him - easy since he lives in an apartment on the third floor. She really has no interest in the house and doesn't take care of it, but fortunately she has faithful friends, one of which happens to be Nerissa's mother, who frequently stop by the dirty mansion.
Mix hates them, but he is always polite despite their old woman ways. He is a disorganized loner who lives in his dreams and fantasies, barely able to distinguish them from reality. He presents as a regular 30 year old man, able to handle customers and his job, until he begins dating a woman he believes to be the key to meet Nerissa. Danila works as an exercise teacher at the Shoshana's Spa and Health Club where he followed Nerissa. He thinks the model is a member. Danila is very lonely and has no clue about Mix's hidden motives. But Mix can't stop comparing her to Nerissa, and soon he, angrily, can't see any more use for her after she explains Nerissa is not a regular Club member, but is seeing Madame Shoshana in her Soothsayer role in her room upstairs from the Club.
Nerissa, a normal girl who was suddenly swept into the dizzy world of celebrity because of her beauty, feels she must do the things that are expected of her as a celebrity. She is compliant and dutiful, a nice person. She has a crush on her childhood neighbor, but whenever she visits her happy parents, the now stockbroker avoids her. She is aware she has a stalker, but is too nice to confront him. Then she runs into Mix unexpectedly at Chawcer's house, where her mother needed a ride for a visit to the elderly aristocratic anachronism.
Chawcer is only beginning to be disturbed by the behavior of her boarder, who is wandering around the house when she asked him to stick to his apartment. Chawcer, who has been lost in the Victorian past for decades, is remembering her own past after seeing a death notice of the wife of a doctor she developed a crush on 50 years ago. She starts fantasizing about becoming her ex-doctor's wife, so leaves her house to find an Internet cafe. From her newspaper reading, she knows somehow these computers can find people.
This book is busy with characters and their mental lives, but with these three meeting each other, Chawcer, Mix and Nash, a tragedy is brewing. The fantasies each are nurturing are not possible given how they actually live and are leading them into regrettable decisions. Everyone is going to get hurt if they don't open their eyes to reality. But Mix, when reality begins to crush him, having studied his favorite serial killer for decades, wonders if bodies can really remain undiscovered if hidden in a house. When circumstances give him an opportunity to copy his second most admired role model, he learns too late the books missed a detail.
What is that sickening smell coming from under the floorboards?
Mix, who works as a Fiterama repairman, has an obsession with two people: Nash, who he is stalking, and the life and death of a famous serial killer, Reggie Christie. Mix is fascinated especially with how Christie buried all of his victims under the floorboards and walls of his house. For awhile, Mix is in control of himself. But eventually he is missing client appointments to repair their exercise equipment and the company he works for wants him to come in and talk about the complaints. It's difficult to do his job and follow the beautiful model, too. In order to meet her, he has to find out where she lives and where she goes, so he must spend a lot of hours following her and her friends, trying to finagle relationships with them or somehow create a plausible situation to become her lover. In the meantime, he cannot stop buying books about Reggie and reading over and over how he killed a dozen women. He walks by Reggie's ex-property as often as he can. When he sees that Chawcer is advertising for a renter, he takes it because it's a few blocks away from where all the murders occurred.
Chawcer is an 80-year-old woman who never left home. Her house is a mouldering crumbling small mansion of antiques and dust. She spends her days reading 19th century literature and she has no TV set. Raised as an upper-class Victorian by her authoritarian, but gentle father and her conservative mother, she literally has almost no experience of the world outside of her house. Her dead parents' fortune is dwindling so she takes in a boarder, but she doesn't like Mix and she avoids him - easy since he lives in an apartment on the third floor. She really has no interest in the house and doesn't take care of it, but fortunately she has faithful friends, one of which happens to be Nerissa's mother, who frequently stop by the dirty mansion.
Mix hates them, but he is always polite despite their old woman ways. He is a disorganized loner who lives in his dreams and fantasies, barely able to distinguish them from reality. He presents as a regular 30 year old man, able to handle customers and his job, until he begins dating a woman he believes to be the key to meet Nerissa. Danila works as an exercise teacher at the Shoshana's Spa and Health Club where he followed Nerissa. He thinks the model is a member. Danila is very lonely and has no clue about Mix's hidden motives. But Mix can't stop comparing her to Nerissa, and soon he, angrily, can't see any more use for her after she explains Nerissa is not a regular Club member, but is seeing Madame Shoshana in her Soothsayer role in her room upstairs from the Club.
Nerissa, a normal girl who was suddenly swept into the dizzy world of celebrity because of her beauty, feels she must do the things that are expected of her as a celebrity. She is compliant and dutiful, a nice person. She has a crush on her childhood neighbor, but whenever she visits her happy parents, the now stockbroker avoids her. She is aware she has a stalker, but is too nice to confront him. Then she runs into Mix unexpectedly at Chawcer's house, where her mother needed a ride for a visit to the elderly aristocratic anachronism.
Chawcer is only beginning to be disturbed by the behavior of her boarder, who is wandering around the house when she asked him to stick to his apartment. Chawcer, who has been lost in the Victorian past for decades, is remembering her own past after seeing a death notice of the wife of a doctor she developed a crush on 50 years ago. She starts fantasizing about becoming her ex-doctor's wife, so leaves her house to find an Internet cafe. From her newspaper reading, she knows somehow these computers can find people.
This book is busy with characters and their mental lives, but with these three meeting each other, Chawcer, Mix and Nash, a tragedy is brewing. The fantasies each are nurturing are not possible given how they actually live and are leading them into regrettable decisions. Everyone is going to get hurt if they don't open their eyes to reality. But Mix, when reality begins to crush him, having studied his favorite serial killer for decades, wonders if bodies can really remain undiscovered if hidden in a house. When circumstances give him an opportunity to copy his second most admired role model, he learns too late the books missed a detail.
What is that sickening smell coming from under the floorboards?
March 16, 2024
No ha sido lo que esperaba pero me ha gustado hasta el punto de sentir curiosidad por la autora.
August 17, 2022
Contains spoilers
Chonky, wandering story inside the head of both a killer/stalker and a geriatric landlord, it portrays all the subjects very in depth, pining for those imaginary connections. A lot of soap opera and a bit of is-it-a-ghost, very strange story. Mix Cellini,the stalker/killer fixated on a model, kills a refugee/lonely girl and hides her body until the decomposition stench forces him to bury the evidence. Gwen, the landlady dies a gruesome death and with her goes 50 years of an unrequited /unrealistic crush on a childhood doctor! Nerissa the rich model pines for her neighbor who turns out to be a chauvinistic jerk! Even when Mix is caught 338 pages later, it’s very anti-climatic. All the writing seemed to focus a LOT on architecture and street names and neighborhoods in London but it was dreary reading about it. Very little dialog but a lot of internal psychosis narrative. Maybe the whole point or theme is so many people living in denial of reality that is the real tragedy. Since this story was from 2004 off my old TBR bookshelf, safe to say I will be sending this book to the great beyond!
Chonky, wandering story inside the head of both a killer/stalker and a geriatric landlord, it portrays all the subjects very in depth, pining for those imaginary connections. A lot of soap opera and a bit of is-it-a-ghost, very strange story. Mix Cellini,the stalker/killer fixated on a model, kills a refugee/lonely girl and hides her body until the decomposition stench forces him to bury the evidence. Gwen, the landlady dies a gruesome death and with her goes 50 years of an unrequited /unrealistic crush on a childhood doctor! Nerissa the rich model pines for her neighbor who turns out to be a chauvinistic jerk! Even when Mix is caught 338 pages later, it’s very anti-climatic. All the writing seemed to focus a LOT on architecture and street names and neighborhoods in London but it was dreary reading about it. Very little dialog but a lot of internal psychosis narrative. Maybe the whole point or theme is so many people living in denial of reality that is the real tragedy. Since this story was from 2004 off my old TBR bookshelf, safe to say I will be sending this book to the great beyond!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 20, 2012
I just read Ruth Rendell’sThe Crocodile Bird & The Water's Lovely- both excellent. Read great reviews on this one and was all set for a similarly enjoyable read. Such a letdown. The story is agonizingly drawn out; every character is either just dull or out-and-out dislikeable. In fact in most cases they’re both!
I think I need to give myself a break from Ruth Rendell for now anyway.
March 13, 2011
I enjoyed this book, to a certain extent. What I liked about it was the insight it gave me on a distured pyschopath's mind and the eerie tone that set up the right mood! What I didn't enjoy, though, was the slow pace that the events progressed at and at some point, I got really bored... But then again, Rendell got the hair on my head to stand up by the end! It isn't the best book I've read so far, but it isn't the worst either. Despite the great pyschological analysing done, and the good aspects that make this book a thriller, I wouldn't recommend it for Reading.
May 11, 2009
Young man on his own in London is obsessed by a supermodel, and by the killer Christie. What could possibly go wrong? Another satisfying Rendell mystery.
May 1, 2025
Seriously dark psychological thriller involving two delusional individuals and the deterioration of one into murder. Mix Cellini rents a top floor flat from octogenarian Gwendolyn Chawcer in her hulking mansion in London. He’s obsessed with a model and she’s obsessed with a long-lost doctor.
Grave-digging and floorboards and a creepy cat combine with a ghost, shady fortune-teller and two nosy lady friends of Chawcer’s who are always hanging around the house make this a page turner.
Not a mystery to uncover but the slow decent of the two main actors and the character description of those around them make for a truly creepy read. I loved it.
Grave-digging and floorboards and a creepy cat combine with a ghost, shady fortune-teller and two nosy lady friends of Chawcer’s who are always hanging around the house make this a page turner.
Not a mystery to uncover but the slow decent of the two main actors and the character description of those around them make for a truly creepy read. I loved it.
June 30, 2020
Ruth Rendell’s Thirteen Steps Down is something of an amalgam of her earlier works – the antihero a self-deluded sociopath who reminded me of a hapless version of Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley. In this case it is gym service engineer Mix Cellini who proves singularly reckless when it comes to the disposal of his victims.
Set in Notting Hill, London, the narrative is written from alternating points of view: Mix himself; his elderly battle-axe of a landlady, Gwendoline Chawcer; and Nerissa Nash, a supermodel with whom Mix is fixated. He is also obsessed with the exploits of the infamous local serial killer, John Christie.
Without spoiling the plot, I felt what ought to have been the main cause for suspense rather fizzles out – and, indeed, like most novels of this nature, the crux for what it is worth occurs well before the end.
I suspect Ruth Rendell was not a great one for research; writing this at the age of 74, there emerges a gulf in her knowledge of all things gymnasia, which undermines the authenticity of some passages.
If not the strongest of her standalone suspense novels, I always felt happy to pick up from where I had left off (I listened to the audiobook), and that must be a plus point in its favour.
Set in Notting Hill, London, the narrative is written from alternating points of view: Mix himself; his elderly battle-axe of a landlady, Gwendoline Chawcer; and Nerissa Nash, a supermodel with whom Mix is fixated. He is also obsessed with the exploits of the infamous local serial killer, John Christie.
Without spoiling the plot, I felt what ought to have been the main cause for suspense rather fizzles out – and, indeed, like most novels of this nature, the crux for what it is worth occurs well before the end.
I suspect Ruth Rendell was not a great one for research; writing this at the age of 74, there emerges a gulf in her knowledge of all things gymnasia, which undermines the authenticity of some passages.
If not the strongest of her standalone suspense novels, I always felt happy to pick up from where I had left off (I listened to the audiobook), and that must be a plus point in its favour.
March 13, 2024
Lectura abandonada al 50%. Supongo que este género y yo, estamos muy distanciados. Me ha parecido un libro lleno de clichés, no aporta incomodidad ni temática a debatir. El asesino no tiene nada inteligente y lo mas interesante es Gwendolyn. Aun así no me merece la pena perder el tiempo con el.
October 21, 2012
Ruth Rendell ranks as one of the top 2 or 3 British crime writers, and with good reason. I read a review recently which said she turned the "whodunit" into "whydunit" with her astute psychological insight. The characters in Thirteen Steps Down are each painted vibrantly real, ranging from an elderly recluse to a young psychopath. Can't wait to read more Rendell.
October 18, 2022
Brilliant
May 9, 2025
Bu kitabı okumak tam bir maceraydı. Merakla, hevesle, başından kalkamadan okutuyor (benim durumumda dinletiyor) . Vay Ruth Rendell, sen neymişsin!
February 27, 2009
I am somewhat of a mystery fiend. I have slowed down a bit from my youth, in which I would land on a series, and then spend the next few weeks devouring everything the author had ever written, but I still love a good mystery, and there is no question that Rendell is one of the best mystery writers out there today. I first came to her work through her nom-de-plume, Barbara Vine. Under that name she writes books that are more suspense novels than traditional mysteries. They usually involve the gradual unraveling of a story from a character's past, often with a historical element. I particularly enjoyed (and would strongly recommend) Anna's Book*, A Dark-Adapted Eye, and The Chimney's Sweeper’s Boy. All three are great books - her other stuff is good too, but I have read and re-read each of these, and thoroughly enjoyed them. Most of her writing is done under the name Ruth Rendell, and these are more traditional mysteries. She has written a series about the police work of Inspector Wexford, and a number of stand alone crime novels. 13 Steps Down is one of the latter.
The book interweaves a number of stories and characters - the main two being Gwendolyn Chawcer, an elderly lady who lives in a crumbling mansion in Notting Hill and her tenant, Mix Cellini. Gwendolyn has lived her whole life in the house, with few life experiences, beyond a brief flirtation with a doctor when she was a young woman (which came to naught). She is fabulously crotchety Miss Havisham type character, who does nothing but lounge around her house, re-reading Victorian novels. Cellini is a type that Rendell has written about before in a number of her novels - a single minded criminal, with a fixation on a few things. To my mind, it’s a sociopathic type, and every time I read one of her books with this creepy kind of character, I am let down. It's not that Rendell doesn't creepily convince me that that is the way that creepy psychopaths think, its just that I find it dull to read about a character with no inner life, beyond their narrow area of fixation. In Mix's case, it's a famous serial killer from the 1950's, and a supermodel named Nerissa. Over the course of the novel, we chart Mix's life spiraling out of control and how it affects others, leading, ultimately, to murder. It is a clever novel, for sure, as all the threads come together to the inevitable end. There is no question Rendell can write, and I read that thing from cover to cover (though granted, I was on an airplane, so I was a captive audience). It's not my favorite of hers, since as I said, I am not so interested in her sociopaths**, and its one of those mysteries where you spend more time worrying about what will happen (and hoping that certain characters make it out ok) than who dunnit. I prefer whodunits, but, that being said, I will certainly be reading more Rendell. She is a great writer who crafts clever but still emotionally resonant mysteries - especially the ones that don't concern psychopaths. So, I guess what I am saying is run out and read some Rendell - but read different Rendell - or even better, read Vine!
* FYI, Amazon refers to it as Asta's Book, so if you are looking to read it - which you totally should - be aware.
** Seriously, it is like the same character, over and over again. I like Rendell a lot, but I am bored of this character. I am even too bored to write out all the books that these boring psychopaths can be found in!
The book interweaves a number of stories and characters - the main two being Gwendolyn Chawcer, an elderly lady who lives in a crumbling mansion in Notting Hill and her tenant, Mix Cellini. Gwendolyn has lived her whole life in the house, with few life experiences, beyond a brief flirtation with a doctor when she was a young woman (which came to naught). She is fabulously crotchety Miss Havisham type character, who does nothing but lounge around her house, re-reading Victorian novels. Cellini is a type that Rendell has written about before in a number of her novels - a single minded criminal, with a fixation on a few things. To my mind, it’s a sociopathic type, and every time I read one of her books with this creepy kind of character, I am let down. It's not that Rendell doesn't creepily convince me that that is the way that creepy psychopaths think, its just that I find it dull to read about a character with no inner life, beyond their narrow area of fixation. In Mix's case, it's a famous serial killer from the 1950's, and a supermodel named Nerissa. Over the course of the novel, we chart Mix's life spiraling out of control and how it affects others, leading, ultimately, to murder. It is a clever novel, for sure, as all the threads come together to the inevitable end. There is no question Rendell can write, and I read that thing from cover to cover (though granted, I was on an airplane, so I was a captive audience). It's not my favorite of hers, since as I said, I am not so interested in her sociopaths**, and its one of those mysteries where you spend more time worrying about what will happen (and hoping that certain characters make it out ok) than who dunnit. I prefer whodunits, but, that being said, I will certainly be reading more Rendell. She is a great writer who crafts clever but still emotionally resonant mysteries - especially the ones that don't concern psychopaths. So, I guess what I am saying is run out and read some Rendell - but read different Rendell - or even better, read Vine!
* FYI, Amazon refers to it as Asta's Book, so if you are looking to read it - which you totally should - be aware.
** Seriously, it is like the same character, over and over again. I like Rendell a lot, but I am bored of this character. I am even too bored to write out all the books that these boring psychopaths can be found in!
November 18, 2015
I think that Ruth Rendell (by this or any other name) is one of the best mystery/suspense writers out there, but this book was so difficult for me to finish. The quality of writing was great, but the characters are all so completely unlikable that I almost dreaded listening to it at work each day. However, I consider this a success on the part of the author, as this to me was a study in delusion. Each main character was somehow living completely under the sway of their own misconceptions and delusions, and to see them careening towards disaster was completely unsettling. I think that Rendell is the master of keeping the reader uncomfortable, but also intrigued enough to keep them reading. I've said in the past that I really love characters who are bad, but that you kind of want to see triumph, but Mix Cellini has perhaps cured me of that. Yet, I still wanted to keep reading. Despite my disgust with everyone in the book, I always wanted to keep reading. This affected me so much that when I started the book I kept thinking how much I love modern British mysteries and how much I would like to live in London, but by the end I kind of felt freaked out by the entire country. It's told in third person limited view, so each section that pertains to a particular character is contained within his or her own understanding of events, and it was fascinating to see how the misconceptions of each character in relation to each other would intersect and merge.
Since I listened on CD, I have to mention that the reader did a wonderful job of narrating each characters' section in slightly different accents (from Mix's low London to Miss Chawcer's "queen's English"), which really helped make these different perspectives affective and real to me.
My one complaint about the book is that I think the ending was a little deus ex machina, and sort of fell apart. The twist seemed to come out of nowhere and felt very flat and pasted in. Otherwise, it was a great book, even if I kind of hated reading it.
Since I listened on CD, I have to mention that the reader did a wonderful job of narrating each characters' section in slightly different accents (from Mix's low London to Miss Chawcer's "queen's English"), which really helped make these different perspectives affective and real to me.
My one complaint about the book is that I think the ending was a little deus ex machina, and sort of fell apart. The twist seemed to come out of nowhere and felt very flat and pasted in. Otherwise, it was a great book, even if I kind of hated reading it.
July 2, 2011
Ruth Rendell has written many books. She has won more awards than The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy managed at this year’s Oscars. To add insult to injury she’s notched up a sterling collection under the pseudonym of Barbara Vine. King Solomon’s Tapestry is a must.
Rendell’s chilling Thirteen Steps Down deals with obsession, superstition, and violence. Her dark London is the answer to Rankin’s disturbing Edinburgh.
Mix Cellini is a semi-educated mechanic. He fixes exercise machines. He indulges in alcohol, self-medicates, and stalks a celebrity model called Nerissa. Christie, the Rillington Place murderer, also obsesses him. He’s superstitious about the number 13. He is a lodger in Gwendolen Chawcer’s musty old St. Blaise House. There are thirteen steps down to the landing below his immaculate rooms. He is obsessively neat.
Rendell shows how Mix is not necessarily evil, but selfish and has a tendency to drift into things. His elderly landlady lives her life through her library of books and can’t see the neglect surrounding her. Gwendolyn is also a drifter. She drifts into nostalgia and decay.
Mix is a modern monster. Gwendolyn is proof that monsters don’t have to be modern. Both Mix and Gwendolen live surreal lives. But when reality intrudes into Mix’s world, a frightening long-hidden violence explodes and their two worlds collide. Another psychological masterpiece from the author of The Keys to The Street and my personal favourite, A Sight for Sore Eyes.
Rendell’s chilling Thirteen Steps Down deals with obsession, superstition, and violence. Her dark London is the answer to Rankin’s disturbing Edinburgh.
Mix Cellini is a semi-educated mechanic. He fixes exercise machines. He indulges in alcohol, self-medicates, and stalks a celebrity model called Nerissa. Christie, the Rillington Place murderer, also obsesses him. He’s superstitious about the number 13. He is a lodger in Gwendolen Chawcer’s musty old St. Blaise House. There are thirteen steps down to the landing below his immaculate rooms. He is obsessively neat.
Rendell shows how Mix is not necessarily evil, but selfish and has a tendency to drift into things. His elderly landlady lives her life through her library of books and can’t see the neglect surrounding her. Gwendolyn is also a drifter. She drifts into nostalgia and decay.
Mix is a modern monster. Gwendolyn is proof that monsters don’t have to be modern. Both Mix and Gwendolen live surreal lives. But when reality intrudes into Mix’s world, a frightening long-hidden violence explodes and their two worlds collide. Another psychological masterpiece from the author of The Keys to The Street and my personal favourite, A Sight for Sore Eyes.
September 19, 2019
Ruth Rendell consistently amazes me with her ability to drill down into the souls of her characters and make us understand how their often irrational acts seem entirely rational to them. She is a master at limning a character with the gradual accretion of details. At the end, we may not like her characters but we know them intimately.
One of Rendell's real strengths as a writer is that her secondary characters are not stick figures. She gives us three-dimensional portraits of all the significant characters.
I feel that I don't merely read her books as much as I live in them.
One of Rendell's real strengths as a writer is that her secondary characters are not stick figures. She gives us three-dimensional portraits of all the significant characters.
I feel that I don't merely read her books as much as I live in them.
July 4, 2019
I've never read anything by this author before. She writes mysteries. This mystery involves a stalker, an old woman, her nosy friends, a high fashion model, and an Indian neighbor. Very chilling. Her bad guy is so much more authentic than any killer Mary Higgins Clark has ever written. This guy is so good, you actually feel anxious that he may get caught. Very believable characters. Well written.
January 12, 2012
It's the first and only book I've read of this author. I realize she has a big following, but I'm not one of them. Why? I never got into this book. I didn't care about any of the characters especially the murderer. Too mundane? Too common? I'm not sure, but I know I hated a scene later in the novel where the murderer used a pillow. I screamed. How stupid. You want me to believe this? That moment completely spoiled the story for me.
February 24, 2012
Few writers can uncover the twisted little psyches of ordinary-seeming characters like Ruth Rendell. In 13 Steps Down the main protagonists are a lonely, bookish old woman, living in the past, completely out of touch with modernity and her 'lodger', a lowly exercise machine repair 'engineer' who harbors delusions of grandeur about a super model and who is obsessed by the legend of the neighborhood's notorious serial killer. Beautifully written and marvelously plotted. Extraordinary.
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