Book Review: The House of Stairs

Reviewed By: Fiona Walker

The House of Stairs    
Barbara Vine
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Penguin UK, 1989, 282pp

As Elizabeth Vetch is travelling down the street in a taxi, she suddenly spots a woman whom she used to know many years before. A woman that she thought was still in prison. She calls the vehicle to a stop, and rushes off in pursuit of her old friend. Eventually, Elizabeth looses her amid the bustle of London. Then, here memories triggered by this event, she begins to tell the reader her story…

It’s a tale that leads to a time when Elizabeth was staying in a tall boarding house (known by its residents as the House of Stairs) run by her kindly old friend Cosette, when all the varied inhabitants lived in peace and harmony, and when she was in a relationship with the enigmatic bell a woman who will soon be arrested for murder. But, then Mark comes into their lives, and the effects of his presence soon mean that none of their lives will ever be the same again. For death is following in his path…

Barbara Vine (aka Ruth Rendell) is quite, quite marvellous. The way she mixes past and present, the current story and the flashbacks to the events which happened at the House of Stairs is masterful, and not nearly as confusing as a lesser writer might make it. Her demonstrations of how the past can hold an inextricable grip on all our future’s are brilliantly subtle. The characters she creates are almost unbearably realistic, and few of them are likeable. Even the kindly Cosette’s needy dependency may grate on some after a while. She also injects a great subplot concerning the fact that Elizabeth, our narrator, may well have inherited the Huntington’s Chorea that runs in her family.

The suspense Rendell creates with the almost unbearably slow (although never, ever boring) teasing out of her plots is immense, and she maintains it right to the end, when the final surprise is revealed. Some longstanding fans of Rendell may be able to guess the main subtle twist that she uses (but not all she has up her sleeve), for she has used a similar one before (but in a rather different way). But then, as another reviewer has said, very aptly, of Rendell, "she pulls back the curtain to reveal, rather than to surprise".

Vine/Rendell is not going to be ideal for anyone who prefers their thrillers to be fast-paced and exciting, with constant surprises, but if you’re the sort of reader who admires an intelligent, immaculately written thriller, full of realistic characters, subtle suspense, and with one or two surprises along the way, then there is no one better at providing this that Rendell. The House of Stairs is a prime example.

Fiona Walker

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Fiona Walker