Demon in My View

by Ruth Rendell

She waits for him in the dark, her mind and body perfect, passive, until one day, when he goes to the cellar, and she is gone . . .

In A Demon in My View, Ruth Rendell creates a character as frightening as he is fascinating. Mild-mannered Arthur Johnson has never known how to talk to women. And his loneliness has perverted his desire for love and respect into a carefully controlled penchant for violence. One floor below him, a scholar finishing his thesis on psychopathic personalities is about to stumble—quite literally—upon one of Arthur's many secrets.

Haunting and intelligent, A Demon in My View shows the startling results of this chilling alchemy of two very disparate minds—one pathological and the other obsessed with pathology.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Thriller, Suspense, Mystery Thriller, British Literature

214 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

A.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.

Reviews

[Dannii Elle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an odd book to classify. I found it to be a chilling insight into the sociopathic mind, and a startlingly haunting portrait of an individual. I also found it did not adhere to the expected layout of a crime novel, which both perturbed and intrigued me. As an in-depth character study, it is profound and exceptional. As a crime story it is unnervingly slow-paced and anticlimatic.

[Hal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ruth Rendell's ability to create characters with true-to-life emotional depth is unparalleled. I have read a few dozen of her novels and this is one of the best.

She often writes of those mentally ill people who live on the fringes of society and get away with it for years until some error in judgment sets them down a path of no return. This gripping novel is an outstanding example of her work in that genre.

A common theme in her work is the stunted psychological development of those who are raised by folks who are not their parents. "A Demon in My View" fits this pattern, too.

I have been a serious reader for most of my life and I have rarely if ever encountered a novelist with such wide-ranging imagination.

[notgettingenough · Rating 2 out of 5]

Late last year we were offered the library of an avid, widely read deceased uncle of a friend. He had a habit of writing angry comments at the front of the books he disliked. I can do no better on this occasion than quote him: 'Another bad one.'

I'm really surprised that this is a seventies Rendell, I thought her work from that period would read better. Have I overrated her in the past?

I do wish I could have kept the entire library of this stranger to me. Going through his books, picking one and discarding another - as it was, we kept maybe a couple of hundred of them - his scathing commentaries almost urged me to read the books, I could see some companionship in agreeing with him. Can you get anything like that from a kindle? With the book comes so much more than the book. Books, paper and glue books, that have been touched in ways that are passed on to the next reader, value added, if you like. Long may even the bad ones live.

[Makis Dionis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Βραδυφλεγες κλασσικό νουάρ στα 2/3 με παράλληλες ιστορίες πολύ πιο ενδιαφέρουσες από την κύρια. Απότομο φινάλε με θεία δίκη, λίγο άδικη για τον φλεγματικό κύριο Τζόνσον

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

A portrait of a psychopath as a middle aged man. Short and yet this one packs a punch, albeit in a quaintly mild mannered British fashion. It is traditionally accepted that real estate is all about location, location, location and yet any seasonal urban dweller will tell you it's about the neighbors. This particular boarding house is no exception and when two neighbors (one new and one a resident of 20 years) share the same building and the same last name, it's bound to get ugly. Especially when one of them is a classic by the book psychopath and the other studies them. Neat concept and just as neat of an execution, plots wrapping themselves up every so cleverly and yet I'd say the real strength here is in the writing itself, the first chapter alone is terrific. The subtle creepiness of the basement, the descriptions of London, particularly night London, the psychopath himself, self described as a perfectly normal man with a slight quirk he manages to control, until his life of perfect order gets thrown into disorder and he can't that is...all very nicely done. Good quick read for fans of suspense and psychological fiction.

[Bruce Beckham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ruth Rendell manages to present psychopathic behaviour as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Maybe it is!

Here we have dual protagonists – who by coincidence share the same surname – they become co-residents of a seedy London boarding house. There unfolds a battle of good versus evil – though neither are wholly one thing nor the other.

It is not a complex plot – but she develops the characters and what has defined them and brought them together. And there is a well-described supporting cast.

There are two main threads, running parallel and yet intertwined. Will the serial killer be caught? Will the good guy get his girl (before the bad guy does)? The ever-present hint of danger meant I enjoyed picking it up each night.

If there was a disappointment it was in the sudden, precipitous ending – which employs a rather corny if clever device. (I can’t say much more than that.)

Definitely worth inclusion on the to-read list for RR fans.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently read a book about a super agent who needed to save the world from a threat so terrible civilization would collapse. While reading this book I felt many emotions, chiefly annoyance, self blame and mild curiosity on how such stupidity could continue. I never felt an iota of dread in any of the 700 plus pages. "A Demon in My View" conjures up dread in that most drab of settings, a late 1960s london boarding house, from the very first page. The villain starts as a creepy caricature to be sure but is so deftly brought to life in an understated way that not only do you recognize him in your everyday interactions, he scares the pants off you. A superbly chilling read with a relentless ratcheting up of suspense throughout.

[Elizabeth (Alaska) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first 2 pages are about as dark as I care to get in a novel. Because it happens in the first 2 pages, it technically wouldn't be a spoiler for me to relate it, but I won't. If this were a novel where I felt threatened, then it could easily be shelved as horror. Those 2 pages are that dark.

Much of this is written from the viewpoint of a psychopath - I feel comfortable saying that much. To balance that, there is a fellow who is studying for his doctorate and his thesis will be on the psychological makeup and behavior of psychopaths. I feel a bit perverse in saying I preferred the darker viewpoint. What? I'd rather be reading from the viewpoint of the psychopath? Not exactly, but there was that thriller aspect that I was primed for.

The house at 142 Trinity Road was unlit, every street-overlooking window a glaze of blackness between dim drifts of curtain. The curtains on the top floor shimmered whitely like the lacy ball gowns of women who wait in vain to be asked to dance. Inside the house there was total, breathless silence. Arthur, leaning against the banisters, his hot forehead against cold smooth wood, thought he had never known it so silent - no tap of heels, no soft giggles, mutter of words, whistle of kettles, trickle of water, throb of heaters, thud of door, heartbeat of life.

Previous to this, the only books I've read by Ruth Rendell are from her Inspector Wexford series. Those are good police procedurals. I did not know she could write this way. There is no way I could take a steady diet of her non-series titles if they are all this dark. I have two others on hand and will - eventually - look for a way to incorporate them into my quarterly lists. I am impressed, though not quite 5-stars impressed.

[Mitch McCrimmon · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite Ruth Rendell novels. This is one of her "standalone" novels, as opposed to the Inspector Wexford Series. I have read more than a dozen of her standalone novels since early 2013. I enjoyed them all so much that it is hard to pick a favourite. The standalone novels seem to have more depth than the Wexford detective stories; they are deeper character studies, but their real beauty is the great sense of humour, very much like Monty Python. For example, the main protagonist in "A Demon in My View" is a reclusive middle aged man living in a London boarding house or block of flats. He has a compelling urge to strangle women but he has developed a unique way of controlling his "demons". All the characters living in this house are interesting and funny, but especially the "strangler" - I find Rendell's perceptiveness and psychological depth, along with her great humour an irresistable combination.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m re-reading A DEMON IN MY VIEW, one of the most highly-regarded novel from Ruth Rendell’s ‘early’ period (in this case, 1976 – it was her 14th novel and 6th stand-alone – as we know, she doesn’t have much good to say about the stand-alones that preceded it, but she hit her stride with DEMON and has never regressed) – she received her first CWA Gold Dagger for it. Even at this stage RR was quite adept at something she will do in all subsequent ‘phases’ of her career, up to and including her latest book, TIGERLILY'S ORCHIDS): setting a group of disparate, even eccentric people (one of whom is just a bit more eccentric than the others) together In a location (in this case, a large house converted into smaller flats) and allowing them to inter-act, usually with dangerous consequences. In Arthur Johnson we have the prototype for future obsessive RR characters such as Dolly in THE KILLING DOLL, Teddy Brex in A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES, Minty in ADAM AND EVE AND PINCH ME, Jeremy Quick in THE ROTTWEILER, and Mix Cellini in THIRTEEN STEPS DOWN.

Rendell is unafraid to give away important information early on in a book (she famously reveals the denouement of A JUDGMENT IN STONE in the books opening lines), doing it in such a way that the reader can't help but continue reading. So we know the worst about Arthur Johnson, what he has done in the past and how that mannequin in the cellar serves to keep it from happening again, until it's inadvertently turned into the 'guy' for a Guy Fawkes bonfire...then the past and the present will collide for Arthur Johnson, with fatal results.

[Ahtims · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was a grim appearing psychological mystery told in languid terms. Listened to the audio book which enhanced my morning walks. Loved listening to the varying cadences voice.
Gist:
Arthur Johnson is a stodgy old anal retentive who has had a dismal childhood living with his rigid spinster aunt.
Anthony Johnson is a handsome young student of psychology writing his thesis on psychopaths and is in love with Helen, a married lady, who he urges to elope with him, but she is dithering.
Both come to occupy the same apartment complex and things escalate to violence and murder.
Shall recommend it to fans of DPT (dark psychological thrillers)

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A chilling book. I especially liked the ending which was unexpected. The boarding house, bleakness of the area with the fastidious psychopath. The drunken polish couple, West Indian accountant, Taiwanese woman and the student ironically doing his thesis on psychopaths are all good characters. The characters were well written and it takes me back to the days of letters in this email age.

Rendell captures Johnson’s paranoia wonderfully and how his imagination foresees bizarre scenarios. The flashbacks to his youth and his crazy Aunt Gracie who turned him into a psycho are also well written. I think Anthony Perkins playing Johnson was a good choice and I look forward to watching the movie.

[Graham Seager · Rating 5 out of 5]

This, without doubt is my favourite Rendell novel. She rightly won the Gold Dagger Award in 1976 for this wonderful story.

It tells the life of Arthur Johnson, a psychopath who lives in a house of flats with other renters. Every so often, he has to strangle a mannequin hidden in the basement to feed his desire. Complications arise when a new person with a slightly similar name to the psychopath rents one of the flat rooms and the mannequin vanishes.

One of the most edge-of-seat page turners. Really creepy.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite work of Rendell's (probably her shortest book as well). She creates a very creepy portrayal of the main protagonist Arthur Johnson, who has more than a few skeletons in his closet. If you are looking for a quick and thrilling read, this comes highly recommended.

[Sandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

An award winner back in 1976, I found this to be a very satisfying though disturbing tale of psychological suspense. The narrative flow was excellent and kept the tension level high, the characterizations were spot on, and I especially liked that it was not graphically violent.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wickedly good. She can do creepy.

[Bettie · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://bettie.booklikes.com/blog

[aPriL does feral sometimes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arthur Johnson is peculiar. He keeps to himself in his apartment, which he keeps meticulously cleaned, scrubbing the surfaces down daily. His day is an unchanging schedule. He describes his job as a surveyor, but he's actually an office manager for Grainger's, Contractors and Builders' Merchants. He carries an empty briefcase because he feels it adds respectability to his power suit. "For him, as for everyone, he had no particular feeling most of the time. He wished only to be esteemed, to keep in with the right people, to know where he stood." He sees everyone around him as unkempt, undisciplined and dirty. Every day he blesses his late aunt, Gracie, who taught him how to keep himself rigidly controlled, because he needs a lot of self-control. He likes to hurt things, like helpless babies. But even worse, he likes to kill people. Aunt Gracie was strict with him; it was her nature to present a consistent socially correct image at all times. Though he found himself enduring her constant surveillance and punishments for any infractions, the truth is he was born wrong. Aunt Gracie's teaching has enabled him to function correctly.

Most of the time.

Downstairs, a new neighbor has moved in. Alarmingly to Arthur, his name is Anthony Johnson. He is lanky and loose, with many friends and a lover, a student of psychology, and he is completely a reversed mirror image of Arthur. Anthony is working on his thesis about psychopaths.

He will soon be able to add an actual case to his theoretical work.....

[Ruthiella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arthur Johnson is a middle aged psychopath who (for the most part) has been able to subvert his desire to kill into non-lethal methods. That all changes when a young man called Anthony Johnson moves into the same apartment house. Unwittingly, Anthony upends Arthur’s well-ordered existence. Ironically, Anthony is writing his doctoral thesis on psychopathology. This was a really good psychological thriller. It’s set in the 1970s but doesn’t have a dated feel to it, which was refreshing.

[Satara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

[Joanne Sheppard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last year I re-read Heartstones, a Ruth Rendell book I really loved when I was about 13, and this is another book by Rendell that I first read at around that same time. My mum borrowed it from the library and gave it to me to read after her, although I'm sure many parents today would consider it highly unsuitable reading for a young teen.

A Demon In My View opens with a woman being strangled to death - only it isn't a woman. It's a hollow plastic shop mannequin that Arthur Johnson, a prim loner of 50, keeps in the cellar of the converted house in which his flat is located. 'Killing' his mannequin in the darkness is his only release, and, along with avoiding going out at night, it helps him to control his impulse to kill real women. Not that Arthur, a sadistic psychopath, feels guilty about the idea of killing women - he's simply terrified that he'll be caught. So when something happens to stop Arthur from acting out his fantasies, it's only a matter of time before the uneasy equilibrium he'd previously managed to maintain becomes disrupted.

Meanwhile, another A. Johnson - this one a PhD student called Anthony - has rented a room in the same building while he tries to make sense of his affair with a married woman who is trapped in an abusive relationship. One day, Arthur accidentally opens one of Anthony's letters, which sets in a motion a chain of events that has terrible consequences for both of them.

Although Ruth Rendell was well-known for her detective stories, this book isn't a mystery - we know who and what Arthur is, and what he's done, right from the start. Instead, this is partly a study of the mind and habits of a psychopath, and partly a tense study of the impacts we inadvertently have on the lives of others. It's also a fascinating portrait of Bedsit Land, set in a house in a rundown London borough with a changing demographic, where properties are converted into multiple tiny flats of one or two rooms and residents come and go in uncomfortably close proximity to one another. I lived for several years in tiny rooms contained in a property exactly like it, and a lot of the details - trips to the laundrette, residents who come and go at odd hours, confusion over post and bin collections - did ring very true. The only difference is that the residents in A Demon In My View actually talk to each other - although not enough, clearly, because despite researching psychopathy for his PhD, Anthony doesn't realise that his buttoned-up middle-aged neighbour is a killer hiding in plain sight.

There's also plenty of social commentary, some of it relevant today and some of it, let's say, more of its time: this book was written in the 70s, and it shows in some of the depictions of non-white characters. Arthur himself is a vile racist who is horrified when a charming, erudite black man moves into one of his landlord's flats, and this is perhaps what we'd expect from him, but even the supposedly positive depictions of black characters are stereotypical - I felt pretty uncomfortable about the somewhat fetishistic descriptions of Anthony's Jamaican friend Linthea, for example, and the Taiwanese Li-Li doesn't always fare terribly well either (although, with her outrageous nerve and string of boyfriends, she's one of my favourite characters in the book).

The book is also, to an extent, an exploration of misogyny. Arthur's overt dislike of women and desire to hurt them clearly stems from his childhood, which he spent with a controlling, suffocatingly over-attentive aunt who he simultaneously worshipped and feared. Also unnerving, though, is how rapidly Anthony falls subconsciously into misogynistic thought patterns when Helen, the woman with whom he's been having a clandestine affair, seems close to rejecting him.

A Demon In My View is a fairly quick read and yes, in some ways it's dated (partly because the plot hinges around a pay phone and letters being Anthony's only means of contacting Helen, but also because many readers today would look for more complexity in a fictional psychopath than we get from Arthur, who is something of a cliché and bears more than a passing resemblance to Norman Bates).* But Ruth Rendell really did excel at this sort of story, exploring the dark psychological motivations behind chillingly unpleasant, awkward characters, and I enjoyed revisiting this book as an adult.

*And indeed, in the film version of A Demon In My View, Arthur was played by Psycho's Anthony Perkins.

[Anna Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional book, worth all the stars and more. The plot is very different, dated in a good way. I´m also reading the serial killer files by Harold Schecter (almost done) and the main character, Arthur Johnson, is so phenomenally well developed and real that it´s mind blowing. I devoured this book in 2 days and the ending is something that you can´t really begin to guess, because the "mystery" or crime element is so a-typical and different, but then almost on the last page RR comes up with an additional twist that is probably very unexpected for 99% of readers. I would have liked to indulge myself with learning more about the psychology of A. Johnson & the other A. Johnson, in a longer book, but that is the only flaw in this fantastic story.

Also I have to say that it was a nice coincidence that I happened to read it mostly on Guy Fawkes day :)

[Jim Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rendell was a master of what she did--twisted tales of London murderers and what makes them tick. This book dissects the psychology of a repressed apartment manager with a dark secret. When someone with the same name moves into his building, his carefully constructed world slowly crumbles. But this book is also about his namesake whose own life begins to unravel as the killer begins tampering with his correspondence. We see the thin line between the two men and how the "sane" one could easily become just as unhinged. Also this is a novel about England in transition. The old ways are giving way to new--modern flats, sexual promiscuity, ethnic diversity, and gender rolls being less rigid (ultimately this is what stops the killer!), A great read and a great view into post-war England.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

Having read Ms. Rendell's two short story collections earlier, which were good, I decided to read a standalone book. And it was satisfying. This one was based on a psychopath. Being not an Inspector Wexford novel, I liked it. Am sort of tired with reading 'Inspector' detective stories, for now.

A decent fast-read. Quick and not too long. Not too many characters either. Not much of a mystery. But a good crime novel; good for passing time. Nothing much contemplative, excepting about trying to understand a psychopath. Honestly though, I feel can be skipped. :)

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

What has intrigued me about the Ruth Rendell novels I've read so far is how unorthodox they are in plot while remaining incredibly orthodox in language. The semantics are never allowed to interfere with the author's pontifications - in this case, what if a murderous psychopath desperately trying to control himself comes face to face with a sort of doppelganger, seen in a glass darkly, who is writing a PhD in psychopathy. It doesn't transcend its genre, but it so casually subverts it that I found myself nodding in appreciation.

[Margaret Unger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. Though the plot was decent, the writing was tedious and amateurish and I found the sentimentality overdone. The twist ending would have been all right had I not been just waiting for the book to end. I did, however, listen to this as an audiobook read by a dreadful reader, so that may have coloured my view somewhat.

[Paul Christensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grim London psychological crime novel, nevertheless has a lot of subtle ironic humour, and very funny ending.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deliriously conceived and plotted psychological thriller abounding with delight.

[Tommy Verhaegen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heel anders dan de inspekteur Wexford detectives heeft Ruth Rendell ook een aantal psychologische misdaadromans geschreven. Hierbij ligt de focus meer op de psychologsie van misdadiger en hoe hijzelf maar ook zijn omgeving daar mee omgaat.
Veel van dat soort werk werd gepubliceerd onder het pseudoniem Barbara Vind.
Op de cover van dit boek zien we een foto van een mooie, ouderwets geklede vrouw tegen de achtergrond van een wazig mannengezicht. De kleur is hoofdzakelijk een tint bruinrood, die al dan niet bewust aan bloed doet denken. Het is vooral de groot afgedrukte naam Ruth Rendell in gouden letters die moet aanzetten om het boek mee te pakken uit de boekhandel.
De hoofdpersoon, Arthur Johnson, leidt een eenzaam maar ogenschijnlijk ook heel eerzaam leven, enerzijds als brave huurder in een gebouw waar hij vaak direct contact heeft met de huisbaas en verder heel onopvallend en teruggetrokken leeft. Anderzijds een baan op een kantoor waar hij heel nauwgezet en met veel toewijding een tamelijk oninterressant baatje uitvoert, maar wel tot volle tevredenheid van zijn baas en diens klanten.
Langzaam komen we te weten dat hij een psychopaat is, maar wel één die zijn afwijking onder controle heeft - op gezette tijden "vermoordt" hij een etalagepop in de kelder.
De dingen beginnen mis te lopen als er een nieuwe huurder op het toneel verschijnt. Die heet ook A. Johnson en dat zal aanleiding geven tot een aantal zich opeen stapelende misverstanden.
Het ergste is dat die Anthony Johnson 's avonds thuis blijft en zo de toegang tot de kelder verspert voor Arthur. Die geraakt geestelijk helemaal in de war. En dat leidt tot moord.
Het boek is grotendeels geschreven vantuit het brein van Arthur, de nauwgezetheid en wereldvreemdheid van zijn gedrag wordt verklaard door de opvoeding door tante Gracie.
Alles komt in een stroomversnelling als hij in, zoals later zal blijken onnodige, paniek een brief voor Anthony wegneemt.
Anthony is de tweede protagonist, een man die in een driehoeksverhouding zit en wil dat zijn maitressen een keuze maakt - voor hem uiteraard - en bij haar man weggaat. Ondertussen werkt hij aan een proefschrift over psychopaten.
En dat heeft Rendell subliem gebracht: enerzijds de stukjes die Anthony schrijft over het gedrag van psychopaten, de symptonen en hoe die te herkennen afgewisseld met de "praktijk": Arthur die het plaatje volmaakt illustreert.
Dit is geen detective in de strikte zijn: er lopen wel moordonderzoeken maar die leiden tot niets, het enige effekt is dat Arthur zich opgejaagd voelt en in paniek raakt.
Rendel zorgt, net wanneer er voor Arthur eigenlijk geen uitweg meer is en Anthony ondanks alles toch nog heel onverwacht het geluk vindt, voor een dramatische en totaal onverwachte ontknoping.
Geen speurtocht naar een moordenaar in de klassieke zijn, maar wel een huiveringwekkend inzcht in de geestelijke processen van een moordende psychoot. Hierna kijk je met andere ogen naar je buurman die zich een beetje vreemd gedraagt...

[Plum-crazy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The usual good psychological fare from Rendell, plenty of misunderstandings between people & assumptions being made leading to tragic conclusions.

Arthur Johnson has a dark secret & the arrival of Anthony Johnson to the same set of flats turns him paranoid...two A Johnsons in one house was never going to be without its mixups & this being a Rendell novel of course it leads to a mixup of tragic consequences.

An entertaining read, same as all the others but hey, thats why I enjoy tbem :o)