The Lodger

Rating:
Summary: Scariest book I ever read!
Review: I absolutely loved this book. It had elements of mystery within the story. The question of the identity of Jack the Ripper is always in the back of your mind. I finished the book in two days! That's how good it was-- I couldn't put it down! And the ending-- it's shocking!!! Sort of like the book version of The Usual Suspects. I definately recommend it to everyone!

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book & Story that You'll Never Put Down!
Review: I absolutely loved this book. It had elements of mystery within the story. The question of the identity of Jack the Ripper is always in the back of your mind. I finished the book in two days! That's how good it was-- I couldn't put it down! And the ending-- it's shocking!!! Sort of like the book version of The Usual Suspects. I definately recommend it to everyone!

Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: I loved this book. It was not the horror story that I was expecting, but more of the classic tale of suspense and spine tingling situations. If you need a lot of "blood and guts", this is not the book for you. If you want a great book to read, cozied up the the fire with a cup of tea, prepare to enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: I loved this book. It was not the horror story that I was expecting, but more of the classic tale of suspense and spine tingling situations. If you need a lot of "blood and guts", this is not the book for you. If you want a great book to read, cozied up the the fire with a cup of tea, prepare to enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: A well written story of moral turmoil
Review: Our reading group read this book and the six people present all enjoyed it - some more than others. The consensus - it was more of a period piece dealing with moral conflict rather than a horror story (although we all agreed it was quite disturbing). Almost all of us were disappointed in the ending. Still, we were all glad we read this very well written book.

Rating:
Summary: The Lodger
Review: Sort of a letdown.

First off, this book is billed as one of the first fictional treatments of Jack The Ripper in novel form, appearing not long after the infamous serial killer's reign of terror. But in Lowndes' murkwafting tale we get "The Avenger", not the Ripper. Not only that, but this is really a story about a married couple, named Bunting--Ellen and her husband, uh, well, I don't recall the fella's first name, because even his wife just calls him Bunting--who take in a quiet, gentlemanly boarder just when their financial situation has reached dire straits. They are on the brink of disaster, barely knowing where their next meal is coming from, when salvation comes knocking in the form of Mr. Sleuth, who seems acceptable, despite his moods and his obssessive need for privacy. The Buntings take the stranger in, once it's clear he fairly oozes largesse in the form of sovereigns.

So the Buntings are saved from financial ruin, and the nervous young fellow gets his room for rent; it's a case of one hand washing the other. Except that Ellen starts to wonder if Mr. Sleuth is upstairs washing blood off his hands, once she sees some red rivulets dripping from inside the chiffonier the lodger now always keeps locked (red ink, he says), after one of his many wee-hours excursions out into the dark. And what's in that bag Mr. Sleuth is so attached to? And what does he have against women?

Slowly, as the Avenger slayings continue while the lodger continues to creep out after midnight, Ellen Bunting starts to form a new opinion of her lodger, and she becomes more interested in the horrid stories in the newspapers her generally oblivious husband (just call him Bunting; she does) keeps digesting. But the lodger is always such a gentleman around her (despite his moods, and his tendency not to want anyone visiting the house), and besides, he has saved them from monetary collapse...Ellen keeps her suspicions to herself.

Then Mr. Bunting (or, just Bunting) invites his pretty young daughter by his first wife to come for a prolonged visit, and that in turn causes a local policeman to start hanging around, the better to pitch woo--and suddenly Mrs. Bunting has lots more to worry about than healthy cash flow.

This is a fairly successful little tale of nervous shivers, but the tension levels off quite early, even though, as indicated, the author does keep adding new elements to the story. But it doesn't come to much, ultimately...the ending turning out to be particularly limp and whimpery. I'm not really a ghoul, but the whole Jack-the-Ripper angle is severely underplayed, because we never see him in action, if I may phrase it so indelicately. We just see Mr. Sleuth creeping home to his lodgings; we just see the Buntings, mostly Ellen, rationalizing away what they gradually realize must be true. The horror of the Avenger is hinted at but hidden. Implications mount, but the nervous scenes get repetitive. We wait for things to boil over, and the story just sighs away.

Jittery doings in the Bunting household, but that's all.

Rating:
Summary: Scariest book I ever read!
Review: This is a literate, well-written thriller in the Poe tradition. What happens to the landlords when a strange lodger insists on paying handsomely for simple lodging? And what about the terrible murders that just begin as he moves in? Could they be related? But he is so nice. And he pays so well! The plot is simple. The setting and characters are tightly drawn. But readers are in for a frightening ride!

Rating:
Summary: riveting and unforgettable.
Review: This is the first novel that I read in high school in l957. The suspense was so great at that impressionable age, that I have never forgotten the title or the author. The author's descriptive phrases captured my imagination. For many years I have searched for this book. Now through the use of my computer and Amazon.com, I can relive the danger, and suspense in the fog of London.

Rating:
Summary: atmospheric
Review: This is the suspenseful best-seller by Hillaire Belloc's sister that inspired Hitchcock's first talkie and the 1940s-era remake that won its star, Laird Cregar, an Oscar. The motivation of the murderess lodger's landlady may be hard for moderns to swallow. Her crisis comes from, on the one hand, guessing that her lodger is a serial killer, and, on the other, needing his rent money as well as harboring the working-class Victorian's deeply ingrained aversing to informing to the coppers -- this even though a young detective is a constant visitor and supportive friend. This conflict is never resolved. By accident only are the landlady and her husband saved from "The Avenger." Despite the protagonists' moral cowardice, the deus ex machina ending and considerable over-writing, this is a gripping, atmospheric page-turner, redolent with fine detail of every-day life in the London of the period. Their character warts don't prevent Mr. and Mrs. Bunting from being sympathetic. Indeed, those flaws help the book rise above its genre.