Beast in View

By: Margaret Millar

Narrated by: Jennifer Wydra

At 30, Helen Clarvoe is alone: Her only visitors are the staff at the hotel where she lives, and her only phone calls come from a stranger. Until that stranger, with a quiet, compelling voice, lures the aloof and financially secure Miss Clarvoe into a world of extortion, pornography, vengeance, madness, and murder. But who is the hunter and who is the victim?

A gothic chiller which still feels incredibly modern, Beast in View is a true classic of the crime fiction genre.

©1955 Margaret Millar; copyright © 1983 Margaret Millar Charitable Remainder Unitrust (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Satisfying classic mystery

Aside from the 1950s era homophobia and some pretty inaccurate psychology, a very satisfying thriller/mystery. The ending definitely surprised me.

Definitely a product of the time

_TW/ CW: The book is definitely written at a time when casual racism and homophobia were far more prevalent.

Overall, this was a fast-paced read, but definitely a product of the times, not just in the casual slurs department. Without giving anything away, the story starts with a setup like “Sorry Wrong Number,” but it’s a specific crank call from a mysterious person, not a mistake.

I figured out the twist by the end of the first page, but because I’m generally horrible at doing this accurately, I figure was being set up as a reader to expect Ending X when I’d really be getting Ending Y—a twist in a direction I wasn’t expecting.

Nope. Happened like I predicted.

A big subplot concerns a character who is revealed to be gay. The characters react like you’d expect, and the fate of this character is also as you’d expect. :-( Just be aware.

What?

I kept reading hoping to develop a fondness for any of the characters. Couldn't do it. Not my kind of story.

Superb psychological study

If you could sum up Beast in View in three words, what would they be?

This is a superb psychological study disguised as a novel of suspense and terror. Millar is a master of the unexpected twist and this clearly is one of her best books. In Millar, like Highsmith, crime is more interesting than detection and the ultimate focus is on a diseased society and the way it breeds fear.

Irritating performance

I wish I had read this book instead of listening to it. The performance drove me nuts, especially the voice of the matriarch in the story, which overemphasized the melodrama. As for the book, the characterization of Blackshear is utterly inconsistent and unbelievable. I will try another Millar book before I give up on her, but I think I'll switch to reading these.