A Demon in My View

infobox Book |
name = A Demon in my View


image_caption = Early paperback edition cover
author = Ruth Rendell
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
genre = Crime, Mystery Novel
publisher = Hutchinson
release_date = 3 May 1976
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 184 pp (first edition, hardback)
isbn = ISBN 0-09-126100-7 (first edition, hardback)
preceded_by = Shake Hands Forever
followed_by = The Fallen Curtain

"A Demon in my View" is a novel by British author Ruth Rendell. First published in 1976, it won the CWA Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the Year, gaining Rendell the first of six Dagger awards she received during her career, more than any other writer.

ynopsis

A man researches psychopathic personalities, oblivious to his apparently harmless neighbor's murderous activities.

ample text

:"Her white face, beautiful, unmarked by any flaw of skin or feature, stared blankly back at him. He fancied that she had cringed, her slim body pressing further into the wall behind her He didn't speak. He had never known how to talk to women. There was only one thing he had ever been able to do to women and, advancing now, smiling, he did it. Then, when it was all over, he straightened her against the wall so that she would be ready to die for him again. It was the best thing in his life, just knowing she was there, waiting until the next time... But one day she wasn't there waiting..."

Film version

The novel was made into a film, also titled "A Demon in My View", in 1992. It starred Anthony Perkins and was also set in London. (imdb title|id=0102394|title=A Demon in My View).