A Demon In My View by Ruth Rendell
Last year I re-read Heartstones, a Ruth Rendell book I really loved when I was about 13, and this is another book by Rendell that I first read at around that same time. My mum borrowed it from the library and gave it to me to read after her, although I'm sure many parents today would consider it highly unsuitable reading for a young teen.
A Demon In My View opens with a woman being strangled to death - only it isn't a woman. It's a hollow plastic shop mannequin that Arthur Johnson, a prim loner of 50, keeps in the cellar of the converted house in which his flat is located. 'Killing' his mannequin in the darkness is his only release, and, along with avoiding going out at night, it helps him to control his impulse to kill real women. Not that Arthur, a sadistic psychopath, feels guilty about the idea of killing women - he's simply terrified that he'll be caught. So when something happens to stop Arthur from acting out his fantasies, it's only a matter of t…
A Demon In My View opens with a woman being strangled to death - only it isn't a woman. It's a hollow plastic shop mannequin that Arthur Johnson, a prim loner of 50, keeps in the cellar of the converted house in which his flat is located. 'Killing' his mannequin in the darkness is his only release, and, along with avoiding going out at night, it helps him to control his impulse to kill real women. Not that Arthur, a sadistic psychopath, feels guilty about the idea of killing women - he's simply terrified that he'll be caught. So when something happens to stop Arthur from acting out his fantasies, it's only a matter of t…
