The Beast in View
Decide its fate
The record
Time
An eveningA season256 pages, about 5 hours: four-fifths the length of a typical book on the shelf.
Getting in
Walk right inSteep climbHelen Clarvoe gets a threatening phone call and asks her late father’s investment counselor, Paul Blackshear, to trace the caller.
What it gives
Plot and actionIdeas to live byIn 10 reviews from critics and book blogs, 9 credit the plot and 6 credit the ideas or a change in how they live.
One of a kind
Others do thisNothing else doesOne blog notes that it beat The Talented Mr. Ripley for the 1956 Edgar Award.
The case for it
on the lobby employees
“Every character is memorable here, even the minor ones, like the lobby employees”
a book blog on the opening lines
“They’re the best opening lines I have read in a long time.”
Megan Mitchell · Criminal Element, 18 January 2019 on the beast
“is a woman with an uncanny knowledge of others’ weaknesses, preying on their fears”
Laura Lippman · Library of America, Women Crime Writers, 2015 on the suspense
“Millar builds up some decent suspense as Blackshear grows more concerned about what he learns”
M.A. Orthofer · The Complete Review, 6 April 2015
The case against
on a gay character
“harrowing aspect of the book is the treatment of a gay character”
a book blog on the romance
“It just doesn’t work and comes out of nowhere.”
a book blog on Helen’s backstory
“My only real criticism of the book is that I would have liked more exposition”
four stars · a book blog on the opening chapter
“in which Miss Clarvoe is alone in her room, feels overly formal and dated”
a book blog
