The Lodger [Paperback]

Marie Belloc Lowndes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2003

The Lodger was the basis for Alfred Hitchcock's first thriller, and a remarkable film it is. But the story Hitchcock tells -- of young love and mistaken identity (and is that a mistake, or malicious accusation by a rival. . . ?) -- is very different from Lowndes's tale, a story of an elderly couple with a strange and unsettling tenant -- a man with peculiar habits who may be the Ripper himself. . . .

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.

About the Author

MARIE BELLOC LOWNDES (1868-1947), the sister of the celebrated writer Hillaire Belloc, was herself a noted novelist and activist in her day. The Lodger was an immediate best-seller and became the basis for Alfred Hitchcock's first talking motion picture. In a later film version, Laird Cregar won an Oscar for portraying the title character. --This text refers to the MP3 CD edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Wildside Press (September 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592243304
• ISBN-13: 978-1592243303
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,621,865 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eerie and Suspenseful, July 7, 2010

By 

C. Parker "Author" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Lodger (Kindle Edition)

While this book is old, first published in 1913, believe; it never reads that way. The style and tempo are very modern, although some of the vocabulary is not. This makes in read like a well-done modern-day period piece. The suspense continues until the very end, and is a must-read for any mystery, or even horror, lover.

As for this edition, "purchased" the Public Domain Books version for free from the Kindle Store and downloaded it directly to my Kindle. It was well done without any spelling errors. It did have one extraneous period and a few missing commas, but expect that those errors were probably errors in the original text. The only issues that I had with this version were that a few times the start of a new paragraph was not indented. ll in all, an excellent job by the PDB volunteers.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars psychological thriller, October 12, 2010

By 

Paul Roberge (Exeter NH USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Lodger (Kindle Edition)

A period piece shrouded in the Edwardian London fog but a good psychological thriller on the whole. Focuses on a husband and wife who run a boarding house (of the type that Holmes might have lived in) whose lives are changed by a mysterious lodger whom they increasingly suspect to be a serial murderer calling himself the Avenger. You get a good sense of the times and of the lives of the people involved: an ordinary couple who are suddenly forced to deal with the possibility of a homicidal madman in their house.

17 of 17 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.