You either like Ruth Rendell's style or you don't. Eminently British and immensely popular her books are, however, subtly very clever indeed. What first appears as slightly plodding is suddenly, by a seemingly chance sentence, escalated into the realms of the best of British crime writing.
"The Rottweiler" is a prime example. Slow to start, its pace quickly gathers, subplots and even sub-subplots swirling around the main crime, misting the mind and muddying the waters before becoming clear as daylight in an unbelievably neat and clever conclusion. Revolving around the owner of a London antique shop and her tenants in the flats above, the daily discussions amongst this disparate collection of humankind is the "Rottweiler", a man killing young girls and taking a keepsake after death.
When one such keepsake is discovered in the shop, the police are faced with the all too real possibility of the killer being very nearby. Using her usual psychological proficiency, the cast are expertly depicted as possible suspects or victims, no detail too small or insignificant to mention. And when the subplots start the pace quickens anew. A must for all Rendell fans. - Lucy Watson
