Mix Cellini is obsessed. And not just with the supermodel he’s been stalking. He’s also endlessly fascinated by the life of Reggie Christie, the infamous serial killer hanged fifty years ago.

So when things get difficult—his snoopy landlady and her friends watch him with growing suspicion and the object of his desire ignores him—Mix turns to his hero, Reggie Christie, for inspiration. And Reggie was a man for whom murder began as a practical solution and became a matter of appetite.

In Thirteen Steps Down, Ruth Rendell masterfully interweaves the multiple narratives that connect the angry young man who longs for recognition, the young model he dreams about, and his elderly spinster landlady, who has found a reason to hope that romance may still find a way into her life. Chilling, charming, and utterly compelling, Thirteen Steps Down winds its way to a conclusion that defies the reader’s expectations in every way. This is psychological suspense at its very best.