This is good. Un-put-down-able good. ( )

In Beast in View, the wealthy and reclusive Helen Clarvoe begins to receive threatening phone calls from a woman named Evelyn Merrick. Unable to turn to her estranged family, Helen calls Paul Blackshear, the attorney of her recently-deceased father who is now handling her investments, to investigate. Out of boredom Blackshear takes the job and slowly begins unraveling the story of a fractured family, past regrets, and personal demons. And then people start dying...

Millar draws complicated and interesting characters and makes this novel more than just your usual mystery/suspense fare. The final twist is satisfyingly hidden but once it's revealed the reader can see the trail of hints leading to the inevitable end.

[full review here: http://spacebeer.blogspot.com/2008/07...] ( )

Millar sets up a fantastic story of persecution and delusion, as a lawyer is hired by a rich woman to find her stalker. The author writes sympathetically and realistically of damaged people and true psychosis. There are some unpleasant people in this novel, but Millar treats them with a detached touch, so that they are not one-dimensional characters, and what drives them is clear. This is a tense, psychologically rich novel, highly recommended. ( )

This was my first taste of Margaret Millar, and it definitely made me search out more of her work. This journey into insanity had me in the dark almost to the very end. One of the best in the genre. ( )