Audiobook ( )

I gave up listening after CD4. The two principal characters thoughts and fantasies about their respective crushes reminded me much too painfully of my junior high school days. There is a murder within those CDs.

This book came across my shelves as a book club monthly read. I am familiar with Rendell's classic British mysteries, but somehow had missed out on the fact that she writes wonderfully suspenseful thrillers. 13 Steps Down fits into the latter category since there is the lack of a detective and you follow the crimes from the murderer's point of view through most of the story.
Mix, a young man in love with fame, celebrities, and wealth is followed closely in this novel as the author recounts the growing obsession the character feels towards a serial killer from his neighborhood and a local well-known fashion model. Mix is absorbed with crime literature showcasing the life of his hero, Reggie Christie, who brutally killed numerous women, and visits the former place of residence of the murderer. He begins to stalk Narissa, the beautiful model, and convinces himself they can have a future together. The dream of the "perfect" woman he believes her to be leads him to murders that he then rationalizes by the actions of his hero.
The story took a few chapters to truly hold my curiosity, but as the feelings of his idolization and obsession grows, so does the suspense of the book. The reader is given an in-depth look inside of the mind of a killer and the ways his heinous actions are justified in his mind. It is sufficiently dark, gripping, and disturbing.
Now for the bad. I did feel that some of the plot twists were hard to swallow. Narissa, knowing that Mix is stalking her, receives him into her home towards the end of the book. I didn't feel like this was in character for her and was quite surprised by this turn. Also, throughout the book you are given a look into the twisted mind of Mix. At times, he sees a ghost, that he believes to be that of Reggie Christie, in the old home he rents a room from. I'm not sure why this wasn't explained as a figment of his menacing, obsessive imagination. Instead, it's a homeless man who somehow manages to sneak into the house and basically "squat" unnoticed for months. Seems highly unlikely.
Overall, I rated this novel extremely high. I loved the suspense and the look at the deviant mind behind a killer. Ruth Rendell will be added to my "must-read" shelf.

( )

Great audiobook, very convincing narrator. Thought it ended rather suddenly, though. ( )

Interesting perspectives...one of the main voices is that of a killer, with unusual tendencies, like procrastination. Serious personality studies with amused shakes of the head.

(I listened on CD. Good reader.) ( )