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The Rottweiler |  | Author: Ruth Rendell
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
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Rating:  30 reviews
Sales Rank: 392152
Media: Paperback
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 1400095883
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781400095889
ASIN: 1400095883
Publication Date: September 13, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The first victim had bite marks on her neck so the London papers nicknamed her killer, “the Rottweiler.” He has been stalking the small and diverse London community of Lisson Grove, where Inez Ferry runs an antique shop frequented by a motley collection of eccentric individuals. When the Rottweiler’s trinkets start showing up in the shop, suddenly, everyone Inez knows is a suspect, and the killer feels all too close. Enthralling and deeply unsettling, The Rottweiler alternates expertly between the mind of a psychopath and the daily affairs of those living in his shadow. It is a transfixing mystery that only Ruth Rendell could write.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 30
 Dull...Zzzzzzzz.... December 21, 2009
BBBongo
I am a fan of Ruth Rendell and Barbara Vine and fortunately have read some of her wonderful novels. If "The Rottweiler" had been my first Rendell novel, it probably would have been my last. The book is just plain dull. The plot goes nowhere and plods along at a snail's pace. I wanted to finish the book so I stayed with it, but it took me forever because I kept falling asleep trying to read it. The characters are one dimensional stock caricatures. They are a sad lot with none having any redeeming qualities. I ended up disliking all of them and I wouldn't have cared if the book ended with the killer doing away with every last one of them. One of the problems with the plot is that there are too many subplots going...even the main plot (the murders) is more like a subplot. The many plotlines are never really brought together in a satisfactory way. It just leaves you with the feeling, "thank goodness that's over." Yawn...
Well written November 16, 2009
An Avid Reader (Chicago, IL United States)
The Rottweiler is a very well-written thriller with a large (too large) cast of characters. Her villain is wonderfully wicked - one of her best I think - and I like the way this one unfolds, not with any real mystery as to "who done it" - we learn fairly early on who "the Rottweiler" is, but how the rest of the cast fits into the picture. I believe there are too many extraneous characters that really do not further the plot - Will and Becky being a case in point, and really just about everyone except for Jeremy and the robbers. Couldn't Rendell have wrapped the others into the story a little better? For example I thought Kim had "potential victim" written all over her and even Zeinab is not given as much space as she deserved. Bringing in the band of teenage thieves to wrap things up seemed to take away from the others. It seems like they were only there to provide Rendell a kind of escape valve to catch the killer. Still I enjoyed it, very suspenseful, (as usual) and loved getting into the mind of the killer (though his wanderings into his past life seemed a bit too contrived.) Recommended - it's a page turner!
The Rottweiler - Not the 'Best of Show' August 23, 2009
JAC (Northern VA, USA)
Positives: Though not a terrific mystery - I eventually accepted the comedy and characters. At the end I really did care about most of these people. She always reinforces my belief that we barely resemble the 'rational man' of economics.
Deltas: Tried to tell a few too many tales within the novel.
Overall: Library book
The Rottweiler April 4, 2009
Patricia Ibbotson (Westland, MI)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Ruth Rendell is a prolific British author. She writes in her own name as well as Barbara Vine and has written 19 Chief Inspector Wexford novels which are my personal favorites. In this novel the main characters all live in flats above an antique store in London where items taken from victims of a serial killer turn up. The Rottweiler is the name given the killer as his first victim had bite marks on her neck given to her by her boyfriend, not the killer. This is more of a psychological thriller than a murder mystery as we learn that the killings were triggered by something specific on each of the victims. The book is well written, though it has been edited for American audiences and the term soccer used instead of football which is a flaw in a book set in England. Rendall fans will enjoy this book.
 Good, But Not One of Rendall's Best January 11, 2009
R. Schultz (Chicago)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
It was a little hard for me to get into this book, partly because the reader is introduced to so many characters so soon. It's almost like a Russian novel in that regard. In fact, there are some vague echoes of "Crime and Punishment" here. It features a landlord who runs an antique store on the ground floor of her building. Then there are all her tenants upstairs, some of whom might be harboring dangerous hostilities. But if you stick with it, you'll learn all the characters soon enough and will most likely find them all distinct and interesting.
This isn't really a traditional who-dun-it. It's more like an episode of "Columbo." The identity of the serial killer is revealed fairly early on. The book's suspense grows from questions about how or if the killer will be caught - where he might strike next - and if he'll manage to frame an innocent person for his crimes.
Rendall is known for her subtle psychological insights into killers' motives. She tries to break new ground on that score with this novel. She suggests a wholly new trigger for a serial killer's irresistible impulses. I'm not sure that her theory could be valid though. I'd never heard of any serial killer beginning his/her career later in life as the result of encountering such a specific trigger.
This book, published past the millennium, perhaps shows signs of Rendall winding down a bit. Her "Rottweiler" doesn't have a lot of bite. Still, you won't be barking up the wrong tree by checking this out.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 30
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