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Ruth Rendell is one of those writers who always gets it right. Her new novel titled 13 STEPS DOWN is a chilling story of obsession, superstition, hatred, guilt, fantasy lives and murder. Mix Cellini is a disenfranchised young man who makes his living repairing and maintaining exercise equipment. He is superstitious and shudders when he is forced to confront the number 13, which happens to be the number of steps that lead to his flat in a neglected and crumbling old Victorian house. His fears and his belief in ghosts and the occult haunt him. He is single and rents the attic space from Gwendolen Chawcer, an elderly spinster who has lived alone for many years amid the dust, dirt, mess, her cat Otto, and the fabulous collections of books that sustain her life. Mix hates her. And the feeling is mutual.
As the story unfolds we learn that Gwendolen was one of those females whose life was determined and controlled by her overbearing father. After her mother died, she was expected to take care of Mr. Chawcer and never to strike out on her own. Unfortunately, he lived to the ripe-old age of 94, thus never giving his daughter a chance to meet people, especially men. He had made up his mind that she was not "marriage material" and would be better off reading and learning how to take care of him. Despite her isolation and naiveté she fell in love with the young doctor who cared for her father. But once the old man died, she never heard from him again. Nevertheless, she carried a torch for him for 50 years and over time it became a heavy burden for her.
And since her father died, she has lived alone in a few of the many rooms in the house she had grown up in. For her, the structure is familiar and she really doesn't see the crumbling wallpaper, peeling paint, or very out-of-date appliances (which she never uses anyway), nor does she feel the cold. Mix is her first border and he is not happy with his situation. He thinks he can hear "drippings and droppings, moths chewing, flakes falling, splinters, rust mildew turning to dust." He bemoans his fate at ever having stepped over the threshold of this place. But once he allows his fantasies to purge any hold on reality he ever had, he has only one purpose and that becomes his whole focus.
Mix, who takes his women where and when he can get them, meets a gorgeous model, Nerissa Nash. As soon as he sets eyes on her, he knows that she must be his and he begins to stalk her. Nerissa is clueless for a good portion of the story, though readers can guess what is going to happen and it is not good. Mix is also obsessed with a notorious doctor who not only performed abortions 50 years ago, but also killed the women he butchered and indulged in the act of necrophilia before he buried them. He is Mix's idol, and Mix takes strength and inspiration from the collection of books he owns that are all about the infamous doctor.
Readers get to meet a number of supporting players, including Madame Shoshanna, the phony and sadistic "psychic" who meddles with an eye toward trouble; Danila, the young woman Mix meets at a spa and begins to date; and the customers Mix calls on to fix their exercise equipment --- mostly women --- and with whom he indulges in a little extracurricular recreation. But none of this is really important to him. He is fixated on Nerissa to the point where his obsession pushes him over the line from a very neurotic young man to a dangerous psychopath.
Ruth Rendell is a master craftsperson at creating the creepy atmosphere required to write a riveting and compelling psychological thriller. She doesn't need to use an extra word or gesture, or any gratuitous baggage, to draw her readers in and keep them turning pages and biting their nails. Her plots are complex and have enough gravitas to keep the most ardent reader entertained. Because her characters are fully fleshed out and believable, they are also recognizable as people, and that can be very scary.
In an essay for Kings and Queens of Crime, Val McDermid highlights Rendell's art: "Perhaps one of the key reasons for the sustained quality of [her] novels is Ruth Rendell's habit of variety. From the very beginning of her career, she made it plain that she would not be pigeonholed into writing one kind of novel only … Patricia Highsmith is often cited as the mother of the psychological suspense novel. But for my money, Rendell's influence has been far greater. Highsmith's novels are quintessentially European, whereas Ruth Rendell has created a sub-genre that speaks more resonantly to Brits and Americans."
The tone of Rendell's books is always highly suspenseful and tightly constructed. Her greatest talent is her ability to create characters and plots that are multilayered, interesting and a challenge to readers. She is one of the small coterie of novelists who can manage to produce work that is always new and no two books are the same Her body of work is legion and readers can always count on getting a fresh, well-crafted book. In an interview for Financial Literary Newsletter she says, "There's a lot of satisfaction also, in knowing that people feel that once they've got hold of a book of yours, they can't put it down. It distracts them from everything else, it takes them from all their duties, and they just have to finish the book. And that's a very satisfying thing."
13 STEPS DOWN is more confirmation of how much Rendell deserves the fine reputation she has earned among readers and other writers. Those new to Rendell's more than 70 books will find her latest novel unique, meeting the high standards that Rendell has always imposed upon herself and that has become expected from her by an adoring public. This book is a keeper, definitely to be read more than once.
--- Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum
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