The Lodger (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: old aunt, newspaper parcel, new lodger, The Lodger, The Avenger, Joe Chandler (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Marie Belloc Lowndes's story explores the psychology of survival in the face of agonizing moral conflict. Lorna Raver's performance is a tour de force. Her dexterity shifting between accents is breathtaking. She creates the precise intensity, uncertainty, or sheer terror called for by each shocking situation. Raver's performance, combined with Lowndes's literate, suspenseful plot, makes this must listening. --AudioFile

More than a story of a serial murderer in foggy London of the early twentieth century, this is also a look at the social and familial mores of the time and of the strange relationship that forms between a mysterious lodger and his landlady....Raver's voice has superb diction and range. She speaks for all characters, except for the lodger, in a strong cockney accent, and she sets the mood from start to finish. --Kliatt --This text refers to the MP3 CD edition.

Product Description

Marie Belloc Lowndes' most famous novel is THE LODGER. Based on the Jack the Ripper murders, it is about a London family who suspects that their upstairs lodger is a mysterious killer known as "The Avenger." The novel was the basis for four movie adaptions. It was even made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock. Certainly a must-have for all true thriller fans.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 148 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace (September 16, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1440416842
• ISBN-13: 978-1440416842
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #494,027 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars atmospheric, September 30, 2003

By	"itchik" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lodger (Paperback)

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.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scariest book I ever read!, August 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Lodger (Paperback)

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!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Master Psychological Thriller, December 17, 2008

By	Nash Black "Troubadour" (Jamestown, KY) - See all my reviews

Marie Belloc Lowndes' THE LODGER was first published in 1913 and is as fresh as the newest psychological thriller. The grandmother of them all had what it takes to keep you turning the page with its tight plot, crisp dialogue, terror and suspense.
Bunting and his wife, Ellen are down to their last penny when an eccentric gentlemen answers their sign for "Rooms to Let" and engages three by paying a month in advance with gold sovereigns.
Their meager lives are again comfortable as "the lodger" requires small meals and light cleaning, but Ellen is torn by her suspicion that the quiet man may be the serial killer who is stalking London's foggy streets.
Mrs. Lowndes taught later writers how to build tension, suspense, and fear in the mind of the reader as the story unfolds. THE LODGER is a must read for fans of thriller fiction and mystery readers alike. This classic of the genre set the standard, which was made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock and into an opera by Phyllis Tate.
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