The Beast in View

⚖The case for it

A woman is being stalked by telephone. Millar's psychological thrillers are among the most underrated of the 20th century: sophisticated, dark, formally inventive. The central twist is as jaw-dropping as Christie at her best. Edgar Award winner, 1956. Millar was among the few women crime writers of her era who worked in pure psychological suspense rather than drawing room detection.

— the canon

✕The case against

Its famous twist leans on a piece of midcentury pop psychiatry that the field has since disowned, and seventy years of imitators have taught you to spot the machinery early. Millar's economy cuts both ways: the supporting cast are sketches, present to be menaced by telephone and shuffled offstage.

— the honest librarian