The Secret House of Death

By Ruth Rendell

I cannot say this is a bad novel, because there is simply no such thing as a bad Ruth Rendell novel. However, it falls into the average category. It is an uninteresting plot and the story goes nowhere. The good thing, though, is that this is one of Ruth Rendell’s first novels and fortunately they have evolved a lot from then. Another positive thing is that the ending is, as always, surprising and well worth waiting for.

The plot is fairly simple and straightforward. Louise North has an affair. She tells everyone the man who has been coming to her house is a central heating salesman, though he is, of course, her lover. Susan Townsend is Louise’s next door neighbour. One day she discovers the dead bodies of Susan and her lover. From that day on Susan helps Louise’s husband, Bob, get back on his feet again. But is Bob ‘only’ her neighbour or has he also got something to do with the murder??

The Lovely Bones

By Alice Sebold

“My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.”

On 6 December 1973 14-year-old Susie Salmon is raped and murdered by a neighbour, a serial killer who moves from town to town after each of his crimes.

It is a novel that explores the two levels of death - both those that are left behind and the departed. The narrator of the story is Susie. From heaven she is watching her friends, family and the murderer move on with their lives. She watches how life on Earth is continuing without her; how her school-friends trade rumours about her disappearance, how her family holds out hope that she'll be found and how her killer tries to cover his tracks.

Susie is able to witness events on Earth without the limitations imposed by time and space and can thus witness her family, friends and murderer, and know what they are thinking and doing. She can see anything and follow thoughts, even see into her killer’s past, but has only minimal impact on events. All Susie wants is to live again but knowing that she can’t, she watches everyone she knew deal with their own grief and understanding of death and tragedy. Her father, who suspects the killer's identity, goes crazy with grief over the loss of his first-born and his inability to do anything about it. Her mother, who never wanted children, withdraws from her family and into an affair. Susie's sister, Lindsey, fears the kids at school will forever define her by Susie's death and their little brother, Buckley, struggles to understand the meaning of death.

In the book Susie describes heaven as a place of many things to many souls. Susie’s heaven is filled with delights, like peppermint stick ice cream that is not seasonal.

“Heaven wasn't perfect. But I came to believe that if I watched closely, and desired, I might change the lives of those I loved on Earth.”

The dead may be able to see and hear the people they loved on earth and the living may even believe they are seeing and hearing brief glimpses of their lost loved ones, but they cannot communicate with each other. Susie cannot name her killer or tell anyone where her body is, nor can she get her number one wish: to be alive again with her killer dead.

This is a different murder mystery. We already know the solution and what happened. The story is one filled with hope and tenderness told in a very sensitive and uplifting manner. It is reassuring for anyone who has ever lost a loved one; maybe there is a sense of communication between the living and the dead. This is not one of the best books I have ever read – towards the end certain sections fell somewhat flat and at times it is rather tedious reading – but it was intriguing enough to make me turn page after page and go on reading.