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The Rottweiler |  | Author: Ruth Rendell
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
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Seller: Blue Cloud Books
Rating:  32 reviews
Sales Rank: 868841
Media: Paperback
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 0.8
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 32
Impressive August 26, 2010
Olga Bezhanova (Edwardsville, IL)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
What can anybody say about Ruth Rendell that hasn't been said before? She is one of the best (and I would say simply THE best) authors of the mystery genre anywhere in the world. Rendell's great skill at creating unforgettable characters makes her novels unique. THE ROTTWEILER is no exception. You will remember every character of this great mystery long after you finish reading the book.
There was, however, one thing that disappointed me greatly in this book and caused me to give it only 4 stars. For some strange reason, Rendell decided to reward all of the really nasty characters in the book with happy dream-come-true endings. The only character who is not a really disgusting human being is punished by misery and unmitigated suffering. The novel would be perfect without these last few pages that disrupt the narrative integrity of the book and offer a strange break with everything we have learned up to that point.
In spite of these weird last pages, the novel is really great and, as usual, beautifully written.
 A novel in search of a plot May 31, 2010
Red Rivere (Home on the Range)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Disappointing novel from Ruth Rendell, past mistress of suspense. In this one, there is precious little suspense, the serial killer plot having an oddly perfunctory and cursory feel to it. The tale is more a slice of life study of some London characters, with a serial murderer thrown in to the mix, but most of these people are not interesting, so it's hard to see what the appeal of this novel would be.
The identity of the serial murderer is revealed a third of the way into the novel, and then the main mystery is the motivation of this person to kill. When we learn that motivation it's no great surprise (it's one of tritest explanations one can get), provoking in the reader a "Who cares? So what?" reaction. This marks a sad decline from classic Rendell psychological thrillers from the 1970s and 1980s. Read instead A Demon in My View, which The Rottweiler superficially resembles, for an example of a good Rendell. The Rottweiler is toothless, while A Demon in My View has bite.
Dull...Zzzzzzzz.... December 21, 2009
BBBongo
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
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)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
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)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
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
Showing reviews 1-5 of 32
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