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A review by sardinetin
Thirteen Steps Down by Ruth Rendell
3.0
It's probably fairly obvious that crime fiction is by far and away my favourite genre, ever since a teenage obsession with the novels of Agatha Christie. It therefore seems almost sacrilegious to confess that I am not hugely familiar with the work of Ruth Rendell.
This novel differs wildly from the standard 'whodunit' format. Perhaps a better description would be 'whydunnit', as Rendell seeks to get inside the mind of a murderer and his motivation. From that point of view, this certainly made a refreshing and interesting change for me. Unfortunately, I felt there were three basic problems with this novel, firstly, that the main character Mix Cellini was fundamentally unlikeable, the minor supporting characters were unbelievable, and there was too little mystery to keep me guessing.
This novel differs wildly from the standard 'whodunit' format. Perhaps a better description would be 'whydunnit', as Rendell seeks to get inside the mind of a murderer and his motivation. From that point of view, this certainly made a refreshing and interesting change for me. Unfortunately, I felt there were three basic problems with this novel, firstly, that the main character Mix Cellini was fundamentally unlikeable, the minor supporting characters were unbelievable, and there was too little mystery to keep me guessing.