Ruth Rendell is as English as Simenon is French. In The Lake of Darkness … she does not make the mistake of attempting to cross the cultural borders. Instead of playing spot-the-murderer as in the traditional detective novel, the excitement and tension of her story derive, as with Patricia Highsmith, probably the most notable exponent of this form of thriller, from spotting the victim and watching as disparate strands come together to make an unexpectedly terrible combustion resulting in death…. The killer of the story is a very enjoyable creation; a young man who as a teenager caused poltergeistly manifestations and as an adult is able to levitate, while meditating, to the ceiling. Miss Rendell writes particularly well and I have not often enjoyed a thriller more than this well-constructed and deftly executed story.

Harriet Waugh, in a review of "The Lake of Darkness," in The Spectator (© 1980 by The...