I enjoyed this book. It was a bit different from all the other stories I've read by Muriel Spark, darker and more morbid than what I am used to from her. In this story a woman takes a vacation from work and makes all sorts of bizarre preparations as she is leaving, pissing off people along the way and acting so odd that no one can quite figure her out. She's on a mission, and has her victim in her sights, even though she does not seem to know what he even looks like. The ending is rather clever, I thought, and the story reminded me a bit of the sorts of twists Stephen King writes. ( )

I think this has immediately become one of my favourite books. Actually perfect.

Intense, compact study of an unbalanced 34-year-old woman who will wind up murdered, as laid out at the beginning. A relentless death spiral, likened to The Blind Owl and The Turn of the Screw. Spark's pick of all her books. ( )

Con estilo descarnado y seco, Muriel Spark narra en El asiento del conductor las últimas horas de Lise, una turista nórdica que se va de vacaciones a un país meridional del que nunca regresará. Como en alguna ocasión declaró la escritora escocesa, su intención al escribir fue la de «aterrorizar deleitando» máxima que se cumple de modo magistral en esta turbadora novela.

A rather startling tiny, dark book - a novella, i guess. Read quickly as i wanted to find out what was going on! Uptight-ish lady (maybe that's not fair... but who knows) leaves a northern european city to vacation in italy (i guess?). She is on a quest to find her man. She wears outlandish clothes and says and does unusual things throughout the story. Hmmm.. how much to say- this is an interesting book!!! She is twice semi-attacked by ravenous men and both times she manages to escape and steal their car (not bad!) though she is pretty easy with the whole milieu- no matter what happens. As it turns out, we had thought she was looking for her man for a romantic liaison (at least i thought that) but it turns we (well, ...i) was all wrong! It was something else altogether! Pretty amazing book. ( )