Book Review: The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes

Ever since fellow blogger FictionFan raved about this book a few years ago, I’ve been meaning to read it. And then another fellow blogger buddy Laila reviewed it, mostly enjoyed it, and very very kindly, sent me her copy. So this book has crossed borders!!! I’m talking about the classic suspense novel The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes, originally published in 1913. It’s fairly well known, one of the blurbs on the back from The New York Times calls it “One of the best suspense novels ever written” which is high praise indeed. It also formed the basis of the Alfred Hitchcock film The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog. I really enjoyed reading it, and I’m grateful to Laila for so very generously sending it to me. I’ve decided I’m going to review it on the CBC for my Halloween column, and give it away in a call-in contest so this little paperback can continue it’s journey in delighting new mystery lovers .

Plot Summary

Mr. and Mrs. Bunting have (mostly) retired from servitude, and live a quiet life in downtown London. They are anxiously awaiting a lodger, as they are down to their last few dollars, and have pared their life down to the bare necessities to get by. They are almost on the verge of starvation when a knock on their front door announces a saviour; a strange man looking for lodgings, willing to pay upfront, and at a generous rate for their rooms upstairs. The old couple are overjoyed at their turn of luck, and Mrs. Bunting busies herself in making meals and cleaning up after the quiet man known as Mr. Sleuth. He has some strange habits, but nothing that can’t be overlooked; nocturnal walks, obsessive reading of the bible, and no luggage to speak of other than a small oblong handbag he keeps locked up. At first the Buntings are too distracted by their change in fortune, but now that they can afford the newspaper again, they are reminded of the strange murders that have been happening: young intoxicated women are found murdered, their dead bodies pinned with a scrap of paper reading ‘The Avenger’. As Mrs. Bunting begins to suspect their lodger of devious deeds, guilt begins to gnaw away at her, and she becomes increasingly jumpy and irate. Mr. Bunting’s daughter from his first marriage comes to stay with them for a few weeks, which attracts the attention of a young detective on the police force, but the Buntings are also worried that she will attract the wrong kind of attention from this serial killer who remains on the loose.

My Thoughts

The true strength of this book is the eerie atmosphere it creates, and the discomfort it elicits within its characters and readers. There is very little dialogue or conflict of any kind. Instead, it is what is left unsaid that creates the unease. So much of the plot centers around Mrs. Bunting’s ruminations, and inner turmoil. Mrs. Bunting even surprises us by finding ways of defending, or pitying the odd Mr. Sleuth. She is so attentive to his few requests that her stepdaughter remarks that Mr. Bunting ought to be jealous the way she dotes on their lodger. Nothing moves quickly in this book, the majority of the story takes place in the sitting room of their home, quietly listening to their clock tick away, while no one says a word. Some readers may find this dull, but I enjoyed the slow building of agitation, made almost supernatural by the London Fog that permeates the whole city for days a time.

This depressive, eerie atmosphere was starkly contrasted by the lurid fascination that Mr. Bunting, and his fellow London neighbors had with the case. People would flock to the murder sites as soon as the bodies were found, and the newspaper boys would shout out the gruesome details to sell more papers. While Mr. Bunting is out visiting the latest crime scene, Mrs. Bunting realizes:

“Perhaps because the sun was shining for the first time for some days, the whole of London seemed to be making holiday in that part of the town” (p.131 of The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes).

Although the book doesn’t delve into the Avenger’s reasons for hating women, it’s interesting to note that the murdered women aren’t viewed entirely as victims, simply because they were drinking publicly at the time of their death. No one excuses the behavior of the murderer, but no one spends much time mourning these women either. Instead, their death is a spectacle to stave off the boredom that other are experiencing.

It’s a fairly short read, but you won’t want to stew long in this feelings of discomfort and guilt that Mr. and Mrs. Bunting spend the entire story marinating in. Definitely check this one out if you’re a suspense lover, it’s considered a classic for good reason.