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A Kiss Before Dying
A Kiss Before Dying not only debuted the talent of best-selling novelist Ira Levin to rave reviews, it also set a new standard in the art of mystery and suspense. Now a modern classic, as gripping in its tautly plotted action as it is penetrating in its exploration of a criminal mind, it tells the shocking tale of a young man who will stop at nothing—not even murder—to get where he wants to go. For he has dreams; plans. He also has charm, good looks, sex appeal, intelligence. And he has a problem. Her name is Dorothy; she loves him, and she's pregnant. The solution may demand desperate measures. But, then, he looks like the kind of guy who could get away with murder. Compellingly, step by determined step, the novel follows this young man in his execution of one plan he had neither dreamed nor foreseen. Nor does he foresee how inexorably he will be enmeshed in the consequences of his own extreme deed.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1953
About the author
Ira Levin
67 books1,515 followersLevin graduated from the Horace Mann School and New York University, where he majored in philosophy and English.
After college, he wrote training films and scripts for television.
Levin's first produced play was No Time for Sergeants (adapted from Mac Hyman's novel), a comedy about a hillbilly drafted into the United States Air Force that launched the career of Andy Griffith. The play was turned into a movie in 1958, and co-starred Don Knotts, Griffith's long-time co-star and friend. No Time for Sergeants is generally considered the precursor to Gomer Pyle, USMC.
Levin's first novel, A Kiss Before Dying, was well received, earning him the 1954 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. A Kiss Before Dying was turned into a movie twice, first in 1956, and again in 1991.
Levin's best known play is Deathtrap, which holds the record as the longest-running comedy-thriller on Broadway and brought Levin his second Edgar Award. In 1982, it was made into a film starring Christopher Reeve and Michael Caine.
Levin's best known novel is Rosemary's Baby, a horror story of modern day satanism and the occult, set in Manhattan's Upper West Side. It was made into a film starring Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes. Ruth Gordon won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance. Roman Polanski, who wrote and directed the film, was nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.
Other Levin novels were turned into movies, including The Boys from Brazil in 1978; The Stepford Wives in 1975 and again in 2004; and Sliver in 1993.
Stephen King has described Ira Levin as "the Swiss watchmaker of suspense novels, he makes what the rest of us do look like cheap watchmakers in drugstores." Chuck Palahniuk, in , calls Levin's writing "a smart, updated version of the kind of folksy legends that cultures have always used."
Ira Levin died from a heart attack at his home in Manhattan, on 12 November 2007. He was seventy-eight at the time of his death.
After college, he wrote training films and scripts for television.
Levin's first produced play was No Time for Sergeants (adapted from Mac Hyman's novel), a comedy about a hillbilly drafted into the United States Air Force that launched the career of Andy Griffith. The play was turned into a movie in 1958, and co-starred Don Knotts, Griffith's long-time co-star and friend. No Time for Sergeants is generally considered the precursor to Gomer Pyle, USMC.
Levin's first novel, A Kiss Before Dying, was well received, earning him the 1954 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. A Kiss Before Dying was turned into a movie twice, first in 1956, and again in 1991.
Levin's best known play is Deathtrap, which holds the record as the longest-running comedy-thriller on Broadway and brought Levin his second Edgar Award. In 1982, it was made into a film starring Christopher Reeve and Michael Caine.
Levin's best known novel is Rosemary's Baby, a horror story of modern day satanism and the occult, set in Manhattan's Upper West Side. It was made into a film starring Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes. Ruth Gordon won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance. Roman Polanski, who wrote and directed the film, was nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.
Other Levin novels were turned into movies, including The Boys from Brazil in 1978; The Stepford Wives in 1975 and again in 2004; and Sliver in 1993.
Stephen King has described Ira Levin as "the Swiss watchmaker of suspense novels, he makes what the rest of us do look like cheap watchmakers in drugstores." Chuck Palahniuk, in , calls Levin's writing "a smart, updated version of the kind of folksy legends that cultures have always used."
Ira Levin died from a heart attack at his home in Manhattan, on 12 November 2007. He was seventy-eight at the time of his death.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,365 reviews
August 14, 2018
”’You’re crazy,’ he told himself aloud one day, looking at the list. ‘You’re a crazy nut,’ he said affectionately. He didn’t really think that; he thought he was daring, audacious, brilliant, intrepid and bold.”
1956 movie version of the book. I remember it being really good.
I can’t even tell you his name because he didn’t tell me until I was a ⅓ of the way through the novel. I thought I knew who he was, but I was wrong. You will be wrong, too, and I want you to be wrong because I want you to be as unnerved as I was when you find out who he is. More importantly, you will discover what he is.
He is a sociopath.
He tries to fit into society but finds the experience very unsatisfying. ”By the end of August, when he had been in New York five months and had had six jobs, he was again prey to the awful insecurity of being one among many rather than one alone; unadmired and with no tangible sign of success. He sat in his furnished room and devoted some time to serious self-analysis. If he had not found what he wanted in these six jobs, he decided, it was unlikely that he would find it in the next six.”
So our guy can’t find the perfect job and decides that getting rich on his own (he is so brilliant he should be rich) is a lot more work, takes a lot of time and a dollop of luck. Wouldn’t it be easier to just marry money? Hey, you don’t have to be a sociopath to think that is a good idea. After weighing all the girls at college, he finally settles on Dorothy Kingship. Her name denotes her status. Her father is a copper king worth fabulous amounts of money. She is the middle daughter of three. She is beautiful (bonus) and insecure (huge bonus). Everything is going smoothly; then Dorothy gets knocked up.
He has already jumped from the highboard into the family pool, but instead of a swan dive, he smacks the water with that ugly sound of a dive gone wrong. All those puffy cloud dreams he had about his future as the son-in-law of a filthy, rich man dissipate, and all he is left with is the vision of Dorothy’s swelling stomach.
This can’t be!
Her father will disown her. Dorothy doesn’t care about the money, which is infuriating to him. Their conversation reminds me of the interactions between William and Jocelyn in the movie A Knight’s Tale.
”Jocelyn: ‘Now be gone! Go! William.’
William: ‘Where will we live? In my hovel? With the pigs inside during the winter so they won't freeze?’
Joceyln: ‘Yes, William. With the pigs.’”
Which is all very romantic...for about a week, and then when her hair, clothes, and skin start to smell like swine, she will pine for the scents of jasmine, lavender, and rose.
He makes that argument to Dorothy, but really he isn’t worried about how she will react to not having the money. He is frantically trying hang onto his dreams of the Kingship fortune. Without all that money, Dorothy is just a nice girl.
This is where the sociopath segment of the book takes off. The decisions he makes to fix this issue are, frankly, ruthless. He isn’t worried about the morality of it, but he is worried about getting caught and facing punishment.
This is bad; this is very bad, but the moment when my stomach does a few unnatural flip flops is when it occurs to him that it is going to be easier to seduce another Kingship daughter than it is to start all over researching and romancing another debutante.
Next up, Ellen.
And if Ellen doesn’t work out, there is always Marion.
*SHUDDER!!*
There was also a 1991 film version of the book, starring Sean Young and Matt Dillon, that I have not seen but from what I read deviates significantly away from the original plot.
Ira Levin does such a wonderful job creating so much unease in the reader. The tension continues to grow with each turned page, and I found myself rooting against this guy, but at the same time, I was still fascinated to see what he was going to do next. Will he be stopped? And at what point will he make that fatal error? It was no surprise to me to discover that Levin won the 1954 Edgar Award for best first novel. He was twenty-four years old when he wrote this book, but his youth is never evident in the plotting or in the character development. It reads like a writer working in his prime.
I want to share this moment when the criminal mind is accessing the books owned by one of his potential victims and what those books say about her: ”...and the books, for what better index of the personality is there?---(the novels and plays, the non-fiction and verse, all chosen in proportion and representation of her tastes). It was like the concentrated abbreviation of a Help Wanted ad. The egocentricity which motivated it was not that of the spoiled, but of the too little spoiled; the lonely.”
Hey buddy, I don’t know what you’d make of my library, expect that maybe I needed to see a shrink, but I can tell you this reader is never lonely as long as I have a book close to hand.
Highly recommended for those who like their books hardboiled in salt and vinegar.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at: https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
1956 movie version of the book. I remember it being really good.
I can’t even tell you his name because he didn’t tell me until I was a ⅓ of the way through the novel. I thought I knew who he was, but I was wrong. You will be wrong, too, and I want you to be wrong because I want you to be as unnerved as I was when you find out who he is. More importantly, you will discover what he is.
He is a sociopath.
He tries to fit into society but finds the experience very unsatisfying. ”By the end of August, when he had been in New York five months and had had six jobs, he was again prey to the awful insecurity of being one among many rather than one alone; unadmired and with no tangible sign of success. He sat in his furnished room and devoted some time to serious self-analysis. If he had not found what he wanted in these six jobs, he decided, it was unlikely that he would find it in the next six.”
So our guy can’t find the perfect job and decides that getting rich on his own (he is so brilliant he should be rich) is a lot more work, takes a lot of time and a dollop of luck. Wouldn’t it be easier to just marry money? Hey, you don’t have to be a sociopath to think that is a good idea. After weighing all the girls at college, he finally settles on Dorothy Kingship. Her name denotes her status. Her father is a copper king worth fabulous amounts of money. She is the middle daughter of three. She is beautiful (bonus) and insecure (huge bonus). Everything is going smoothly; then Dorothy gets knocked up.
He has already jumped from the highboard into the family pool, but instead of a swan dive, he smacks the water with that ugly sound of a dive gone wrong. All those puffy cloud dreams he had about his future as the son-in-law of a filthy, rich man dissipate, and all he is left with is the vision of Dorothy’s swelling stomach.
This can’t be!
Her father will disown her. Dorothy doesn’t care about the money, which is infuriating to him. Their conversation reminds me of the interactions between William and Jocelyn in the movie A Knight’s Tale.
”Jocelyn: ‘Now be gone! Go! William.’
William: ‘Where will we live? In my hovel? With the pigs inside during the winter so they won't freeze?’
Joceyln: ‘Yes, William. With the pigs.’”
Which is all very romantic...for about a week, and then when her hair, clothes, and skin start to smell like swine, she will pine for the scents of jasmine, lavender, and rose.
He makes that argument to Dorothy, but really he isn’t worried about how she will react to not having the money. He is frantically trying hang onto his dreams of the Kingship fortune. Without all that money, Dorothy is just a nice girl.
This is where the sociopath segment of the book takes off. The decisions he makes to fix this issue are, frankly, ruthless. He isn’t worried about the morality of it, but he is worried about getting caught and facing punishment.
This is bad; this is very bad, but the moment when my stomach does a few unnatural flip flops is when it occurs to him that it is going to be easier to seduce another Kingship daughter than it is to start all over researching and romancing another debutante.
Next up, Ellen.
And if Ellen doesn’t work out, there is always Marion.
*SHUDDER!!*
There was also a 1991 film version of the book, starring Sean Young and Matt Dillon, that I have not seen but from what I read deviates significantly away from the original plot.
Ira Levin does such a wonderful job creating so much unease in the reader. The tension continues to grow with each turned page, and I found myself rooting against this guy, but at the same time, I was still fascinated to see what he was going to do next. Will he be stopped? And at what point will he make that fatal error? It was no surprise to me to discover that Levin won the 1954 Edgar Award for best first novel. He was twenty-four years old when he wrote this book, but his youth is never evident in the plotting or in the character development. It reads like a writer working in his prime.
I want to share this moment when the criminal mind is accessing the books owned by one of his potential victims and what those books say about her: ”...and the books, for what better index of the personality is there?---(the novels and plays, the non-fiction and verse, all chosen in proportion and representation of her tastes). It was like the concentrated abbreviation of a Help Wanted ad. The egocentricity which motivated it was not that of the spoiled, but of the too little spoiled; the lonely.”
Hey buddy, I don’t know what you’d make of my library, expect that maybe I needed to see a shrink, but I can tell you this reader is never lonely as long as I have a book close to hand.
Highly recommended for those who like their books hardboiled in salt and vinegar.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at: https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
March 17, 2020
Here’s one that really surprised me. I had not expected to like this one as much. And it is also one I don’t know how I had missed for so long. I came across this title because an author I highly respect talked about the book and how it had influenced his writing career--novels (along with Ruth Rendell’s One Across, Two Down—which is now also on the TBR pile). This book is written in the 50’s-60’s style with more narrative “telling” than showing but the author is highly skilled and pulls it off. I picked this book up started reading and couldn’t put it down. The point of view character is despicable, (like the one in The Talented Mr. Ripley by Highsmith) and yet the author kept me engage the entire time. It was like watching a slow-motion train wreck. I knew what was going to happen and couldn’t look away. For those readers who like this kind of suspense, I highly recommend this book.
David Putnam author of The Bruno Johnson series.
David Putnam author of The Bruno Johnson series.
February 16, 2017
I have loved Ira Levin ever since I watched a movie in 1982 -Deathtrap- based on his 1978 play. It is a must see for mystery lovers, and A KISS BEFORE DYING- Levin's first novel -written in 1953- is a must read!
The story starts out like many stories do...
Poor boy
meets-
Rich girl
Poor boy and rich girl start dating
Rich girl gets pregnant
...and this is where things get a little interesting-
Poor boy- is actually a psychopath- only dating rich girl so he could marry her for her money. Now that his plans are ruined, he lures her to the top of the tallest building and pushes her off the roof.
Dorothy is the youngest of three sisters (Ellen the middle, Marion the oldest). She is a naive girl from a wealthy family, and meets the man she thinks she wants to marry while studying at Stoddard College- in Blue River, Iowa. Things with Dorothy and her new beau are going perfectly until she announces she is pregnant, and instead of walking down the aisle- she is falling to her death. The police rule it a suicide, but her sister Ellen isn't buying it, and goes to Blue River in search of the truth.
A KISS BEFORE DYING is a suspenseful well-plotted mystery- where one never knows who to trust.
The story starts out like many stories do...
Poor boy
meets-
Rich girl
Poor boy and rich girl start dating
Rich girl gets pregnant
...and this is where things get a little interesting-
Poor boy- is actually a psychopath- only dating rich girl so he could marry her for her money. Now that his plans are ruined, he lures her to the top of the tallest building and pushes her off the roof.
Dorothy is the youngest of three sisters (Ellen the middle, Marion the oldest). She is a naive girl from a wealthy family, and meets the man she thinks she wants to marry while studying at Stoddard College- in Blue River, Iowa. Things with Dorothy and her new beau are going perfectly until she announces she is pregnant, and instead of walking down the aisle- she is falling to her death. The police rule it a suicide, but her sister Ellen isn't buying it, and goes to Blue River in search of the truth.
A KISS BEFORE DYING is a suspenseful well-plotted mystery- where one never knows who to trust.
April 5, 2021
My escape hatch from the horror that is 2021 has been dipping into 1950s psychological suspense novels (Thank you, thank you, thank you, Patricia Highsmith. I owe you one....).
I was wading in those waters when I stumbled upon this title - isn't it great, by the way? - and decided, who cares that the flimsy Stepford Wives left a mealy taste in my mouth, I'm doing this. It's Levin's first book. It got him all sorts of attention and won him the Edgar Award at the tender age of 24.
The premise is deliciously loathsome: a young, unnamed gold digger gets a young woman of means pregnant. Because her puritanical father would cut her off financially if he found out she was 'in trouble', marriage is out of the question. Thus, poor pregnant Dorothy is a problem. She's going to ruin all his plans to ride off into the sunset with a sugar momma. It's time to... get rid of her, permanently.
I had a pleasant shiver while typing that.
Fresh from reading Ms. Highsmith, I can't help but make a few comparisons. Both she and Levin write suspense fiction, but Highsmith's murderers tend to be quite sympathetic. Levin's nameless guy, on the other hand, is just a sociopathic dick. There's nothing redeeming about him, and as I was reading, rather than rooting for him to walk away scot-free like I did with Highsmith's Tom Ripley and Victor Van Allen, I was propelled by the possibility of his making a fatal flaw and being found out. Not just that, but also paying dearly for his crimes, hopefully in a dramatic, painful fashion.
Continuing with the comparison, I'd have to say that Levin's writing never reaches the murky psychological depths that Highsmith's does. His characters aren't dimensional in the way hers are. We get the sense that his characters aren't acting as fully fledged beings; rather, Levin is moving them around in order to fit his plan, kind of like a grand puppeteer. That isn't a complaint, because Levin knows his way around a story, and this one draws you in powerfully.
One clever thing he does is split up the book into three parts, each told from three different points of view. This way, the identity of the killer is kept from the reader as long as possible, keeping tension and interest taut, even if suspension of disbelief is tested.
On that note, mine was tested quite a bit, especially by the end of part 2. I thought - what, the book's not OVER? There's MORE? Yes, there is more, and since I don't want to venture into spoiler territory, I'll leave it at that. My advice to readers is to just get comfortable and enjoy the ride. Don't worry about how incredibly audacious the plot (and its young murderer) becomes. It's part of the pulpy fun.
Just as Highsmith guides us through a dark 1950s setting in her books, Levin shows us the underbelly of this so-called innocent time in history. Also like Highsmith, Levin delivers an ending that might not surprise, but which darkly satisfies, and caters to the reader's desires.
Both writers captured a kind of magic that keeps them relevant and compelling - look, we're still reading, almost 70 years later. Wow. Gimme some of that!
4.5 stars
I was wading in those waters when I stumbled upon this title - isn't it great, by the way? - and decided, who cares that the flimsy Stepford Wives left a mealy taste in my mouth, I'm doing this. It's Levin's first book. It got him all sorts of attention and won him the Edgar Award at the tender age of 24.
The premise is deliciously loathsome: a young, unnamed gold digger gets a young woman of means pregnant. Because her puritanical father would cut her off financially if he found out she was 'in trouble', marriage is out of the question. Thus, poor pregnant Dorothy is a problem. She's going to ruin all his plans to ride off into the sunset with a sugar momma. It's time to... get rid of her, permanently.
I had a pleasant shiver while typing that.
Fresh from reading Ms. Highsmith, I can't help but make a few comparisons. Both she and Levin write suspense fiction, but Highsmith's murderers tend to be quite sympathetic. Levin's nameless guy, on the other hand, is just a sociopathic dick. There's nothing redeeming about him, and as I was reading, rather than rooting for him to walk away scot-free like I did with Highsmith's Tom Ripley and Victor Van Allen, I was propelled by the possibility of his making a fatal flaw and being found out. Not just that, but also paying dearly for his crimes, hopefully in a dramatic, painful fashion.
Continuing with the comparison, I'd have to say that Levin's writing never reaches the murky psychological depths that Highsmith's does. His characters aren't dimensional in the way hers are. We get the sense that his characters aren't acting as fully fledged beings; rather, Levin is moving them around in order to fit his plan, kind of like a grand puppeteer. That isn't a complaint, because Levin knows his way around a story, and this one draws you in powerfully.
One clever thing he does is split up the book into three parts, each told from three different points of view. This way, the identity of the killer is kept from the reader as long as possible, keeping tension and interest taut, even if suspension of disbelief is tested.
On that note, mine was tested quite a bit, especially by the end of part 2. I thought - what, the book's not OVER? There's MORE? Yes, there is more, and since I don't want to venture into spoiler territory, I'll leave it at that. My advice to readers is to just get comfortable and enjoy the ride. Don't worry about how incredibly audacious the plot (and its young murderer) becomes. It's part of the pulpy fun.
Just as Highsmith guides us through a dark 1950s setting in her books, Levin shows us the underbelly of this so-called innocent time in history. Also like Highsmith, Levin delivers an ending that might not surprise, but which darkly satisfies, and caters to the reader's desires.
Both writers captured a kind of magic that keeps them relevant and compelling - look, we're still reading, almost 70 years later. Wow. Gimme some of that!
4.5 stars
April 20, 2016
Oh. My. Goodness. A KISS BEFORE DYING is Excellent!
I like Levin. I like his easy-to-read style of writing. I like the suspenseful way he plotted the route of the evildoer, and I like that he kept me guessing.
I have to be careful here as I do not want to give anything away, but will say MURDER is the name of the game, and the story is set in the year's between 1949-1951 when tips were a quarter and young women were naive and gullible.
Forbidden to attend the same college as her older sister Ellen, a shy Dorothy is feeling alone and vulnerable in a strange new world away from the safety and comfort of her family home until she hesitantly welcomes the attentions of a very handsome and charming young man and fellow student......with an agenda.
And, that's all I'm going to say about this 1953 classic with a wonderful book-cover and Great Ending except......READ IT!
June 27, 2021
We all know they're out there. Sociopaths. It is chilling how they manage to blend in with everyone else. Not apt to be loners, they are fully prepared to mix and mingle with everyday people. It's not out of the realm of possibility that they may be full of charm and good looks. The one in this tale is resourceful and cunning, as well. His eye is on the prize; he intends to have it, and he is relentless.
Published in 1953. Loved the notion that a person's books are the best index of his or her personality. And no, you don't need to have a closer look at my bookshelves. Now, please step off.
Published in 1953. Loved the notion that a person's books are the best index of his or her personality. And no, you don't need to have a closer look at my bookshelves. Now, please step off.
March 9, 2024
A Kiss Before Dying is a clever title. It suggests tenderness—perhaps a last kiss to a much-loved aged parent, or spouse, or tragically a child. It is an act of caring, and love.
Or is it?
I had not read the blurb of this book before reading it. I came to it “cold”. It could have been a gentle book describing a deeply sensitive relationship. On the other hand, it was by the American author Ira Levin, and since the other books I know by him are “Rosemary’s Baby”, “The Stepford Wives” and “The Boys from Brazil”, there seems to be a common, disturbing theme. They all feature a character who is self-serving in one way or another. His ultimate aim may be portrayed as serving an ideal, or abstract concept, but essentially these men—and it is men—are arrogant and contemptuous of others, especially women. They are single-minded to the point of obsession, and will do anything—literally anything—to achieve their goal. These characters are manipulative and charming, but appear to have no moral compass. In psychological terms, we would say they are psychopaths.
In this debut novel from 1953 by Ira Levin, the subject matter is not as startling as in his later novels. Nobody has a plan to dominate or change the world, either by futuristic scientific or supernatural means. This protagonist sets his sights far lower; he is merely concerned with himself. Yet the novel is just as chilling.
How far would a young man go to achieve his ambitions? Most people have a line they will not cross. We have a moral code, either determined by ourselves, our upbringing or our religion. Our actions are tempered by both this and by the law of the land. The main character here is extremely clever, and very ambitious, but he has no inner sense of morality. What lengths will he go to, since the only thing to deter him is the idea of whether he will be caught?
This is the young man we meet on page 1. He is blond-haired, blue eyed, handsome and charming. Intelligent, well-groomed and high-achieving, his mother thinks the world of him. Her son can do no wrong in her eyes. However, we know from the very first page that this young man is not as he seems. The viewpoint character here is actually a nasty piece of work, whose inner thoughts contrast wildly with his behaviour. He presents himself in this first scene as a devoted young lover, full of concern, especially when his girlfriend tells him she is two months pregnant. But the devil inside him is coldly furious; resentful that she has destroyed his plans. He begins to calculate how to get rid of her.
This premise of an amoral hero may now seem familiar, but for a thriller written in 1953, it explored new territory. Is this a mystery novel? Yes, but not in a conventional sense. We know that the killer is a psychopath, and we even think we know who this is, until about half way through, when we realise that we do not know his name. Were this written today, we would probably class it as a psychological thriller, or psychopathy novel, although it has none of the explicit violence and sexual content of many of contemporary thriller novels.
We backtrack through the protagonist’s life, learning what made him the way he is. Desperate to get away from his humble origins, he aimed high, but was diverted from his plans when he was drafted into the U.S. army, serving in World War II and stationed in the Pacific. Again, he determined to better himself, treating with disdain all those who displayed what he viewed as cowardice. Never were his reactions those of a typical soldier; in fact, he relished scenarios in which he could exert power over those he was told were his enemies. He gloried in one such episode, when he wounded a Japanese sniper. Fearing for his life, the Japanese soldier wet himself, which only made our viewpoint character feel disgusted and superior to this weakling, promptly then finishing the job with pleasure. Thus we know right from the beginning, that this man must have always had latent psychopathic tendencies, despite his honourable discharge from the army in 1947.
Now the young man is at Stoddard College in Blue River, with a girlfriend, Dorothy Kingship, whose father is a copper industry tycoon. She idolises him, and thinks no further than being his wife. She does not expect the child who is coming to make any difference to their idyllic love. Their relationship is secret, for the time being, because her father has made it plain that he would view anyone from such a deprived background as her new boyfriend is, as simply after her fortune. But she knows better. Of course she does.
The wheels are set in motion. The readers are well aware that there is no way this young man will assume the responsibilities of a father, especially since it is likely Dorothy’s staid and suspicious father will disinherit her. Dorothy’s romantic idea of living in poverty, as long as they are together, does not fit into his well-mapped future. It is an annoyance, to be disposed of as soon as possible. He smoothtalks his oblivious girlfriend into
And of course his plan succeeds. All his plans succeed. He is supremely confident and powerful, as he moves inexorably towards his goal. And because Dorothy had fallen in with his idea that it was best to not tell anyone at all about their relationship, he manages to fool everyone. But this is only the start.
Just as our viewpoint character is methodical, plotting out his plans with great care, A Kiss Before Dying is extremely well crafted and precise. At some point around now it occurs to us that there may be a reason for its main structure: divided into three sections, each containing fifteen chapters, titled:
For several months, our protagonist stays in his role as the all-American golden boy, charming everyone he meets. In the background he plots his next move
A Kiss Before Dying has been adapted twice: one film in 1956, and another in 1991. By all accounts they vary considerably from the novel. It would certainly be difficult to film some of the sections, where we assume we are following one character, only to realise with a shock that it is another.
Of course, the ending is perfect karma: very symbolic, and very satisfying. The entire novel is extremely well crafted; taut with suspense and with just the right amount of misdirection. There is a traditional detective story to follow here; we are invited to solve the puzzle. But there is also a central device which is very clever indeed; a sort of verbal trick, which stands it on its head. When this is revealed, it is a jaw-dripping moment which might make you exclaim out loud, but it also might make you want to kick yourself because you didn’t get it. The couple of audacious, unpredictable twists are very cleverly brought about.
In addition, the world it creates is very believable, even to someone who has no knowledge of the USA, especially in the 1950s. By the end we know not only who really committed the crime, but also know a lot about the environment which gave rise to this kind of pressure. We have got to know the characters and their times quite well, and we know what pressures they were under. We may admire and thoroughly enjoy A Kiss Before Dying as a beautifully contrived mystery on the surface, but also, unexpectedly, underpinning the entire concept is an angry and disturbing analysis of class injustice in the USA.
For a first novel, written when its author was only 23, it is an impeccably structured novel. His trademark themes are all there, and the tension is superbly controlled. It well deserves its Edgar Allan Poe Award the following year, in 1954, for the Best First Novel. Now it is regarded as a modern classic of the genre. We can tell we are in the hands of a master craftsman, one with startlingly original ideas, and who was to go on to write six more compelling page-turners, most of which became major films. As Stephen King said:
“Every novel he has ever written has been a marvel of plotting. He is the Swiss watchmaker of the suspense novel; he makes what the rest of us do look like those five-dollar watches you can buy in the discount drug stores.”
And the New York Times:
“Incomparable excitement.”
Or is it?
I had not read the blurb of this book before reading it. I came to it “cold”. It could have been a gentle book describing a deeply sensitive relationship. On the other hand, it was by the American author Ira Levin, and since the other books I know by him are “Rosemary’s Baby”, “The Stepford Wives” and “The Boys from Brazil”, there seems to be a common, disturbing theme. They all feature a character who is self-serving in one way or another. His ultimate aim may be portrayed as serving an ideal, or abstract concept, but essentially these men—and it is men—are arrogant and contemptuous of others, especially women. They are single-minded to the point of obsession, and will do anything—literally anything—to achieve their goal. These characters are manipulative and charming, but appear to have no moral compass. In psychological terms, we would say they are psychopaths.
In this debut novel from 1953 by Ira Levin, the subject matter is not as startling as in his later novels. Nobody has a plan to dominate or change the world, either by futuristic scientific or supernatural means. This protagonist sets his sights far lower; he is merely concerned with himself. Yet the novel is just as chilling.
How far would a young man go to achieve his ambitions? Most people have a line they will not cross. We have a moral code, either determined by ourselves, our upbringing or our religion. Our actions are tempered by both this and by the law of the land. The main character here is extremely clever, and very ambitious, but he has no inner sense of morality. What lengths will he go to, since the only thing to deter him is the idea of whether he will be caught?
This is the young man we meet on page 1. He is blond-haired, blue eyed, handsome and charming. Intelligent, well-groomed and high-achieving, his mother thinks the world of him. Her son can do no wrong in her eyes. However, we know from the very first page that this young man is not as he seems. The viewpoint character here is actually a nasty piece of work, whose inner thoughts contrast wildly with his behaviour. He presents himself in this first scene as a devoted young lover, full of concern, especially when his girlfriend tells him she is two months pregnant. But the devil inside him is coldly furious; resentful that she has destroyed his plans. He begins to calculate how to get rid of her.
This premise of an amoral hero may now seem familiar, but for a thriller written in 1953, it explored new territory. Is this a mystery novel? Yes, but not in a conventional sense. We know that the killer is a psychopath, and we even think we know who this is, until about half way through, when we realise that we do not know his name. Were this written today, we would probably class it as a psychological thriller, or psychopathy novel, although it has none of the explicit violence and sexual content of many of contemporary thriller novels.
We backtrack through the protagonist’s life, learning what made him the way he is. Desperate to get away from his humble origins, he aimed high, but was diverted from his plans when he was drafted into the U.S. army, serving in World War II and stationed in the Pacific. Again, he determined to better himself, treating with disdain all those who displayed what he viewed as cowardice. Never were his reactions those of a typical soldier; in fact, he relished scenarios in which he could exert power over those he was told were his enemies. He gloried in one such episode, when he wounded a Japanese sniper. Fearing for his life, the Japanese soldier wet himself, which only made our viewpoint character feel disgusted and superior to this weakling, promptly then finishing the job with pleasure. Thus we know right from the beginning, that this man must have always had latent psychopathic tendencies, despite his honourable discharge from the army in 1947.
Now the young man is at Stoddard College in Blue River, with a girlfriend, Dorothy Kingship, whose father is a copper industry tycoon. She idolises him, and thinks no further than being his wife. She does not expect the child who is coming to make any difference to their idyllic love. Their relationship is secret, for the time being, because her father has made it plain that he would view anyone from such a deprived background as her new boyfriend is, as simply after her fortune. But she knows better. Of course she does.
The wheels are set in motion. The readers are well aware that there is no way this young man will assume the responsibilities of a father, especially since it is likely Dorothy’s staid and suspicious father will disinherit her. Dorothy’s romantic idea of living in poverty, as long as they are together, does not fit into his well-mapped future. It is an annoyance, to be disposed of as soon as possible. He smoothtalks his oblivious girlfriend into
And of course his plan succeeds. All his plans succeed. He is supremely confident and powerful, as he moves inexorably towards his goal. And because Dorothy had fallen in with his idea that it was best to not tell anyone at all about their relationship, he manages to fool everyone. But this is only the start.
Just as our viewpoint character is methodical, plotting out his plans with great care, A Kiss Before Dying is extremely well crafted and precise. At some point around now it occurs to us that there may be a reason for its main structure: divided into three sections, each containing fifteen chapters, titled:
For several months, our protagonist stays in his role as the all-American golden boy, charming everyone he meets. In the background he plots his next move
A Kiss Before Dying has been adapted twice: one film in 1956, and another in 1991. By all accounts they vary considerably from the novel. It would certainly be difficult to film some of the sections, where we assume we are following one character, only to realise with a shock that it is another.
Of course, the ending is perfect karma: very symbolic, and very satisfying. The entire novel is extremely well crafted; taut with suspense and with just the right amount of misdirection. There is a traditional detective story to follow here; we are invited to solve the puzzle. But there is also a central device which is very clever indeed; a sort of verbal trick, which stands it on its head. When this is revealed, it is a jaw-dripping moment which might make you exclaim out loud, but it also might make you want to kick yourself because you didn’t get it. The couple of audacious, unpredictable twists are very cleverly brought about.
In addition, the world it creates is very believable, even to someone who has no knowledge of the USA, especially in the 1950s. By the end we know not only who really committed the crime, but also know a lot about the environment which gave rise to this kind of pressure. We have got to know the characters and their times quite well, and we know what pressures they were under. We may admire and thoroughly enjoy A Kiss Before Dying as a beautifully contrived mystery on the surface, but also, unexpectedly, underpinning the entire concept is an angry and disturbing analysis of class injustice in the USA.
For a first novel, written when its author was only 23, it is an impeccably structured novel. His trademark themes are all there, and the tension is superbly controlled. It well deserves its Edgar Allan Poe Award the following year, in 1954, for the Best First Novel. Now it is regarded as a modern classic of the genre. We can tell we are in the hands of a master craftsman, one with startlingly original ideas, and who was to go on to write six more compelling page-turners, most of which became major films. As Stephen King said:
“Every novel he has ever written has been a marvel of plotting. He is the Swiss watchmaker of the suspense novel; he makes what the rest of us do look like those five-dollar watches you can buy in the discount drug stores.”
And the New York Times:
“Incomparable excitement.”
May 31, 2022
Reread. One of my all-time favorites. Just sheer greatness. Review below.
“A false-hearted lover is worse than a thief.
For a thief will just rob you and take what you have,
But a false-hearted lover will lead you to the grave".
Ira Levin- "A Kiss Before Dying".
I love Ira Levin. This book is so much more then a 'thriller". It is so good and really the intro in the beginning of the book explains why better then I eve r could.
SPOILERS:
Two..not one..two of the best twists in book history in this masterpiece.
I will always love Levin. One of the best thrillers ever written. Five wonderful stars!
“A false-hearted lover is worse than a thief.
For a thief will just rob you and take what you have,
But a false-hearted lover will lead you to the grave".
Ira Levin- "A Kiss Before Dying".
I love Ira Levin. This book is so much more then a 'thriller". It is so good and really the intro in the beginning of the book explains why better then I eve r could.
SPOILERS:
Two..not one..two of the best twists in book history in this masterpiece.
I will always love Levin. One of the best thrillers ever written. Five wonderful stars!
December 26, 2018
Stephen King has described Ira Levin as " the Swiss watchmaker of the suspense novel" and I couldn't agree more. Rosemary's Baby was great, but this one was a masterpiece, truly a masterpiece. A plot filled with twists that makes you so anxious to read more, thinking about it even when you're not reading.
I can't say much about the novel without spoiling it. But "Saving the best for last" is one way describe it, and I recommend it to anyone who likes psychological suspense.
I can't say much about the novel without spoiling it. But "Saving the best for last" is one way describe it, and I recommend it to anyone who likes psychological suspense.
November 12, 2022
Savage and entertaining.
Our tale begins with a sociopath who accidentally impregnates his girlfriend, and he decides that he won’t benefit financially or socially from the situation so the only solution is murder (and if you’re thinking he wants to be merciful about it, think again).
….and then everyone lived happily ever after.
Just kidding! I mean, no spoilers but some bananas chaos ensues, because you know how nothing ever goes according to plan? Well, this book leans hard into that sentiment. And our little sociopath has been around the block a bit so the tale gets kind of twisty.
I’ve been poking around in 1950s thrillers/noir, and this was a great start! I also appreciate endings like this one, very satisfying. I would recommend to anyone who wants to read a crime novel that is fairly breezy and not mentally taxing.
Our tale begins with a sociopath who accidentally impregnates his girlfriend, and he decides that he won’t benefit financially or socially from the situation so the only solution is murder (and if you’re thinking he wants to be merciful about it, think again).
….and then everyone lived happily ever after.
Just kidding! I mean, no spoilers but some bananas chaos ensues, because you know how nothing ever goes according to plan? Well, this book leans hard into that sentiment. And our little sociopath has been around the block a bit so the tale gets kind of twisty.
I’ve been poking around in 1950s thrillers/noir, and this was a great start! I also appreciate endings like this one, very satisfying. I would recommend to anyone who wants to read a crime novel that is fairly breezy and not mentally taxing.
May 11, 2023
11/2019
Amazing suspense and unpredictably. Levin wrote this when he was 23 (in 1953), then was a very successful playwrite (among other hits, he wrote the popular Deathtrap). He didn't write another novel until Rosemary's Baby in 1967.
Amazing suspense and unpredictably. Levin wrote this when he was 23 (in 1953), then was a very successful playwrite (among other hits, he wrote the popular Deathtrap). He didn't write another novel until Rosemary's Baby in 1967.
June 3, 2014
If
A Kiss Before Dying
were to come out tomorrow, I might use words like "predictable" to describe certain aspects of it. However, Ira Levin published this (his first novel) in 1954, which gives it the sort of satisfying, but olden-timey thrill I remember getting from watching the likes of Double Indemnity and Wait Until Dark in my grandparents' home as a kid.
There's something different about witnessing 50s characters unwittingly fall prey to the machinations of a seemingly swell guy. After all, not having been subjected to endless hours of crime procedural television, and without Google, those prone to trust don’t come across as cloyingly naïve.
There's plenty of suspense and dread packing into a worthwhile, brief and classic mystery.
Also, for the purposes of disambiguation, A Kiss Before Dying is not to be confused with A Kiss While Dying which, of course, looks something like this.
There's something different about witnessing 50s characters unwittingly fall prey to the machinations of a seemingly swell guy. After all, not having been subjected to endless hours of crime procedural television, and without Google, those prone to trust don’t come across as cloyingly naïve.
There's plenty of suspense and dread packing into a worthwhile, brief and classic mystery.
Also, for the purposes of disambiguation, A Kiss Before Dying is not to be confused with A Kiss While Dying which, of course, looks something like this.
October 28, 2022
Dorothy has a happy future ahead of her with her fiance on her arm and the inheritance from her wealthy father to settle them. All this alters when she falls pregnant out of wedlook and the happy couple might have to face her father's disapproval. Her fiance decides to take matters into his own hands to ensure his future is free of screaming children and poverty, even if that also means it has to be free from Dorothy entirely, as well.
I read this book straight after Levin's other publication, The Boys from Brazil, which I did not wholly enjoy and so was not as highly anticipating this read. However, I found the concept intriguing and the trajectory of events creepily delightful to read about. I didn't find the twists were hard to figure out but I did enjoy witnessing the story developing and had much sinister fun with this one, throughout the course of it.
I read this book straight after Levin's other publication, The Boys from Brazil, which I did not wholly enjoy and so was not as highly anticipating this read. However, I found the concept intriguing and the trajectory of events creepily delightful to read about. I didn't find the twists were hard to figure out but I did enjoy witnessing the story developing and had much sinister fun with this one, throughout the course of it.
March 19, 2014
Thank you, thank you, thank you to my friend Delee, who recommended this humdinger of a novel. Ira Levin, best known for his terrifying Rosemary's Baby, wrote A Kiss Before Dying as his first novel. The novel won the 1954 Edgar Award for Best First Novel, and readers will marvel that this suspense-filled thrill ride of a book could possibly have been written by a first-time novelist, one just 24 years old.
Levin packs surprise after surprise into this novel, a book that will leave you exhausted when you release the breath you hadn’t realized you were holding. Highly recommended.
Levin packs surprise after surprise into this novel, a book that will leave you exhausted when you release the breath you hadn’t realized you were holding. Highly recommended.
January 25, 2020
An oldie but a goody!
November 9, 2019
If that new thriller in your hand is unsatisfying or disappointing, put it down. Get this one. Trust me.
A handsome and smoothtalking gold digger has a plan. He will stop at nothing to get what he wants, even murder.
One of the best books I have read this year! This mystery / suspense / thriller / crime novel was amazing! This 1953 modern classic set the bar of what the current thriller genre authors are *trying* so hard to do. It has aged well and is an easy and engrossing read. I stress "engrossing." I managed to wiggle out of some house chores today to finish this one.
Levin is also the author of "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Stepford Wives" but this one is a million times better, in my opinion. This one sucks you in and won't let you go, it has twists, turns, it has it all! My heart was racing at the climatic ending. I highly recommend and feel it is a must read. This novel has been made into a movie twice, the first movie starring Robert Wagner and the second starring Matt Dillon. So, if it is good enough to be made into a movie twice, you know it has to be good.
*** One word of caution: some harsh profanity. Not on every page and not in every chapter, but it has one particular harsh expletive (that I hate) around 10 times in the entire novel.
A handsome and smoothtalking gold digger has a plan. He will stop at nothing to get what he wants, even murder.
One of the best books I have read this year! This mystery / suspense / thriller / crime novel was amazing! This 1953 modern classic set the bar of what the current thriller genre authors are *trying* so hard to do. It has aged well and is an easy and engrossing read. I stress "engrossing." I managed to wiggle out of some house chores today to finish this one.
Levin is also the author of "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Stepford Wives" but this one is a million times better, in my opinion. This one sucks you in and won't let you go, it has twists, turns, it has it all! My heart was racing at the climatic ending. I highly recommend and feel it is a must read. This novel has been made into a movie twice, the first movie starring Robert Wagner and the second starring Matt Dillon. So, if it is good enough to be made into a movie twice, you know it has to be good.
*** One word of caution: some harsh profanity. Not on every page and not in every chapter, but it has one particular harsh expletive (that I hate) around 10 times in the entire novel.
November 23, 2022
I am enjoying an Ira Levin marathon. This one is a dark and compulsively readable story about a guy who is too handsome and has been too doted on by his adoring mother. When the world doesn't instantly reward him with the wealth and recognition he feels entitled to, he decides to marry into it. But the plan goes awry, with deadly results.
It was very clever the way Levin constructs this novel. While the first part is told from the murderer's point of view, you never learn his name, which turns out to be an important plot point. The plot, incidentally, is contrived but fascinating, and it could only work in the pre-internet world.
A Kiss Before Dying was the basis of two movies, made 35 years apart (1956 and 1991) and I've seen both of them. I didn't expect to be surprised by anything in the novel, except maybe to settle the argument about whether Dorrie and Ellen were in fact twins. But what do you know! In the novel, there was a THIRD sister.
It was very clever the way Levin constructs this novel. While the first part is told from the murderer's point of view, you never learn his name, which turns out to be an important plot point. The plot, incidentally, is contrived but fascinating, and it could only work in the pre-internet world.
A Kiss Before Dying was the basis of two movies, made 35 years apart (1956 and 1991) and I've seen both of them. I didn't expect to be surprised by anything in the novel, except maybe to settle the argument about whether Dorrie and Ellen were in fact twins. But what do you know! In the novel, there was a THIRD sister.
May 23, 2016
This book is an underrated gem, buried under the more famous The Boys from Brazil and Rosemary's Baby. But of the three, I found this to be the most suspenseful. The mystery is very well hidden; yet it's not a whodunit. The big revelation comes in the middle of the book: from then onwards, pure suspense carries it through.
Challenge for Indian readers: identify the Bollywood blockbuster based on this novel.
Read it!
Challenge for Indian readers: identify the Bollywood blockbuster based on this novel.
Read it!
February 8, 2015
If at first you don't succeed, get rid of the bitch and move on to the next sister.
A Kiss Before Dying is a taut little thriller about a sociopath who conceives an ingenuous plan to seduce the daughter of a wealthy copper baron. Except she goes and gets pregnant before his plan can come to fruition. Since Daddy is the moralistic disinheriting type, he figures a kid before they are properly married and he's had time to work his charms and soften the old man up will just ruin everything. When he can't persuade her to get rid of it, he's left with only one option - a well-planned murder in which he manages to make it look like a suicide, and then avoid any connection between him and the dead girl.
Which allows him to move on to daughter #2.
But daughter #2 proves a little too intuitive — she starts putting clues together and realizing her sister didn't commit suicide, and wants to find out who murdered her. She figures everything out just a little too late.
And our boy, as long on audacity as he is short on scruples, decides third time's the charm: the rich industrialist had three daughters, and after all that research he did to seduce the first two, he knows the oldest sister pretty well...
As improbable as this story may sound, I couldn't really spot any plot holes. Sure, our protagonist needed a bit of luck here and there, but nothing so overwhelmingly coincidental as to be completely implausible. He's just a meticulous, cold-blooded schemer with a knack for manipulation.
A lot of people want books with "relatable" protagonists. Well, the protagonist of this book is a murderous, gold-digging sociopath. You want him to trip up and get caught, and you want his victims to get away, and at the same time, the exciting part is finding out how he's going to get away with it.
This book is dated now — it was written in 1954 and it's set in the early fifties, so the campus life described, and the so-visible class distinctions are not the same now, but that just makes this suspenseful novel a period piece as well. In fact, some of the period details are what made it interesting. For example, there is surprisingly little moralizing about the proposed abortion — she doesn't want to do it, but it seems more for emotional reasons than any real ethical or religious qualms. And it struck me that in some ways, the "boy from the wrong side of the tracks" was a thing that would be even harder to envision today — nowadays, we like to pretend that American society is less class-stratified, but that's because the rich are increasingly distant and out of sight. Working class people just don't socialize, at all, with the very wealthy, which makes it easier for us to pretend that there is no such thing as class.
Ira Levin also wrote other thrillers, like Rosemary's Baby and The Stepford Wives, and with this pacey, suspenseful novel, it's easy to see how readily his stories became a part of pop culture. Definitely worth reading, and motivated me to read more by him someday.
A Kiss Before Dying is a taut little thriller about a sociopath who conceives an ingenuous plan to seduce the daughter of a wealthy copper baron. Except she goes and gets pregnant before his plan can come to fruition. Since Daddy is the moralistic disinheriting type, he figures a kid before they are properly married and he's had time to work his charms and soften the old man up will just ruin everything. When he can't persuade her to get rid of it, he's left with only one option - a well-planned murder in which he manages to make it look like a suicide, and then avoid any connection between him and the dead girl.
Which allows him to move on to daughter #2.
But daughter #2 proves a little too intuitive — she starts putting clues together and realizing her sister didn't commit suicide, and wants to find out who murdered her. She figures everything out just a little too late.
And our boy, as long on audacity as he is short on scruples, decides third time's the charm: the rich industrialist had three daughters, and after all that research he did to seduce the first two, he knows the oldest sister pretty well...
As improbable as this story may sound, I couldn't really spot any plot holes. Sure, our protagonist needed a bit of luck here and there, but nothing so overwhelmingly coincidental as to be completely implausible. He's just a meticulous, cold-blooded schemer with a knack for manipulation.
A lot of people want books with "relatable" protagonists. Well, the protagonist of this book is a murderous, gold-digging sociopath. You want him to trip up and get caught, and you want his victims to get away, and at the same time, the exciting part is finding out how he's going to get away with it.
This book is dated now — it was written in 1954 and it's set in the early fifties, so the campus life described, and the so-visible class distinctions are not the same now, but that just makes this suspenseful novel a period piece as well. In fact, some of the period details are what made it interesting. For example, there is surprisingly little moralizing about the proposed abortion — she doesn't want to do it, but it seems more for emotional reasons than any real ethical or religious qualms. And it struck me that in some ways, the "boy from the wrong side of the tracks" was a thing that would be even harder to envision today — nowadays, we like to pretend that American society is less class-stratified, but that's because the rich are increasingly distant and out of sight. Working class people just don't socialize, at all, with the very wealthy, which makes it easier for us to pretend that there is no such thing as class.
Ira Levin also wrote other thrillers, like Rosemary's Baby and The Stepford Wives, and with this pacey, suspenseful novel, it's easy to see how readily his stories became a part of pop culture. Definitely worth reading, and motivated me to read more by him someday.
March 8, 2021
Basically, this
IS
a good book, but it’s not really for
ME
. It’s just not my cup of tea.
What will a person do to achieve his goals?
What is this story’s particular person looking for?
Money and wealth!
The setting is after the Second World War, the Midwest and the East Coast of America. Leo Kingship is a man of wealth—the owner of a copper manufacturing company. He is the father of three college-age daughters—Dorothy, Ellen and Marion.
This book is both a mystery and a thriller—we are supposed to be scared. Parts are creepy! We are also kept somewhat in the dark about who we are to be frightened of. I like that by the end all is made crystal clear. Hints are dropped as one proceeds. By the end, no vestiges of ambiguity remain.
This book exudes its era—America in the 1950s. It is impossible not to note this. A nonchalance toward smoking is just one example of many. We see the era in the clothes worn, the art and books spoken of, gender differences, social mores and the author’s choice of words. The prose has a simplicity, straightforwardness and clarity that suits the time period and how the story is told.
Mauro Hantman narrates the audiobook. I like the narration a lot. His reading is clear, strong, simple and neat, as is the text. He fits his voice to the tone of the prose. A narrator might easily have overdramatized, but he doesn’t. I prefer narrators who allow the prose to speak for itself. Even when there is a shriek, he doesn’t overdo it. Four stars for the audio narration.
Yeah, I like this, but solving mysteries is not really my thing. Nor was I terribly scared. The era described does feel genuine. At one point you are in a hall where ore is processed into copper. This is well drawn too. I like the writing.
**********************
*Rosemary's Baby 4 stars
*A Kiss Before Dying 3 stars
What will a person do to achieve his goals?
What is this story’s particular person looking for?
Money and wealth!
The setting is after the Second World War, the Midwest and the East Coast of America. Leo Kingship is a man of wealth—the owner of a copper manufacturing company. He is the father of three college-age daughters—Dorothy, Ellen and Marion.
This book is both a mystery and a thriller—we are supposed to be scared. Parts are creepy! We are also kept somewhat in the dark about who we are to be frightened of. I like that by the end all is made crystal clear. Hints are dropped as one proceeds. By the end, no vestiges of ambiguity remain.
This book exudes its era—America in the 1950s. It is impossible not to note this. A nonchalance toward smoking is just one example of many. We see the era in the clothes worn, the art and books spoken of, gender differences, social mores and the author’s choice of words. The prose has a simplicity, straightforwardness and clarity that suits the time period and how the story is told.
Mauro Hantman narrates the audiobook. I like the narration a lot. His reading is clear, strong, simple and neat, as is the text. He fits his voice to the tone of the prose. A narrator might easily have overdramatized, but he doesn’t. I prefer narrators who allow the prose to speak for itself. Even when there is a shriek, he doesn’t overdo it. Four stars for the audio narration.
Yeah, I like this, but solving mysteries is not really my thing. Nor was I terribly scared. The era described does feel genuine. At one point you are in a hall where ore is processed into copper. This is well drawn too. I like the writing.
**********************
*Rosemary's Baby 4 stars
*A Kiss Before Dying 3 stars
August 3, 2023
First published in 1953, this begins in the Spring of 1950. A young man is presented with the knowledge that Dorothy, his girl friend of only a few months, is 2 months pregnant. It becomes obvious that this is not at all what the young man planned. He is a male gold-digger and fears Dorothy's very wealthy father will cut them off without a dime should they need to marry in a hurry. How best to resolve this is his quandary.
This does not have an action-driven plot. It is more of a psychological thriller rather than a true mystery. Levin gives us tension early on and there are few places where we can relax. The characterizations are not fully-fleshed, but I'm not convinced that is even wanted for this type of novel. The writing is certainly better than one might expect.
But ... Just Wow! I have a shelf for debuts and all I can say is I hope the others are as good as this one. I don't normally rate this genre 5-stars, but I'm making an exception here.
This does not have an action-driven plot. It is more of a psychological thriller rather than a true mystery. Levin gives us tension early on and there are few places where we can relax. The characterizations are not fully-fleshed, but I'm not convinced that is even wanted for this type of novel. The writing is certainly better than one might expect.
But ... Just Wow! I have a shelf for debuts and all I can say is I hope the others are as good as this one. I don't normally rate this genre 5-stars, but I'm making an exception here.
May 13, 2019
Those of you who have followed my reviewing adventures for a while may have noticed a downward rating trend when it comes to Ira Levin's work.
Rosemary's Baby, read in 2011 - 5 stars
The Stepford Wives, read in 2013 - 4 stars
Sliver, read in 2015 - 1 star
Now, thankfully, I can say that the trend is back on the upswing! Not that it could have gone any lower, honestly. Sliver was TERRIBLE. It would be super hard to get worse than that.
So, I am pretty pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed this book as much as I did. I picked this up on Audible in 2014 (the year BEFORE the awful-terrible-bad Sliver), and then never got around to reading it, because that's what I do. But then after reading Sliver, I was honestly a little afraid that the bloom was off the Ira Levin rose for me and there was no coming back from that.
I can't say that this book was anywhere near the Rosemary's Baby level of good, but it WAS pretty good, considering that it was Levin's debut novel, and I'll be honest and say that there was a twist in the middle that had me all like "WHUT? O_O" I did not see it coming AT ALL, and it's probably one of the best twists I've seen in a long time.
I will say that some of the early 50s attitudes toward women came across as maddeningly sexist, but... it was a different time then. There were ALSO moments of female empowerment, to be fair, though not in any vital or important way to the story. And the outcomes usually favored or featured men.
Anyway, I liked this well enough to think that maybe the rest of Levin's work isn't a complete loss to me after Sliver, but I don't really have too much to say. It is a bit dated, but in a "this aged well" kind of way rather than a "old and sad" kind of way.
One note on the audiobook... I'm not a fan of readers who try too hard to "do the voices", and this reader did that for one of the characters, to a really distracting and annoying degree, even though the voice wasn't caricaturish or anything. There's a character that is a DJ on the local college radio station, and he is described as having a smooth, announcer type voice. Totally legit for a DJ, but this is ALSO a college kid. So he should NOT sound like a modern day George Takei. Which is exactly what he sounded like to me. And it was annoying.
Otherwise, no complaints from the audio. Or the book, really. Pretty solidly good.
Rosemary's Baby, read in 2011 - 5 stars
The Stepford Wives, read in 2013 - 4 stars
Sliver, read in 2015 - 1 star
Now, thankfully, I can say that the trend is back on the upswing! Not that it could have gone any lower, honestly. Sliver was TERRIBLE. It would be super hard to get worse than that.
So, I am pretty pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed this book as much as I did. I picked this up on Audible in 2014 (the year BEFORE the awful-terrible-bad Sliver), and then never got around to reading it, because that's what I do. But then after reading Sliver, I was honestly a little afraid that the bloom was off the Ira Levin rose for me and there was no coming back from that.
I can't say that this book was anywhere near the Rosemary's Baby level of good, but it WAS pretty good, considering that it was Levin's debut novel, and I'll be honest and say that there was a twist in the middle that had me all like "WHUT? O_O" I did not see it coming AT ALL, and it's probably one of the best twists I've seen in a long time.
I will say that some of the early 50s attitudes toward women came across as maddeningly sexist, but... it was a different time then. There were ALSO moments of female empowerment, to be fair, though not in any vital or important way to the story. And the outcomes usually favored or featured men.
Anyway, I liked this well enough to think that maybe the rest of Levin's work isn't a complete loss to me after Sliver, but I don't really have too much to say. It is a bit dated, but in a "this aged well" kind of way rather than a "old and sad" kind of way.
One note on the audiobook... I'm not a fan of readers who try too hard to "do the voices", and this reader did that for one of the characters, to a really distracting and annoying degree, even though the voice wasn't caricaturish or anything. There's a character that is a DJ on the local college radio station, and he is described as having a smooth, announcer type voice. Totally legit for a DJ, but this is ALSO a college kid. So he should NOT sound like a modern day George Takei. Which is exactly what he sounded like to me. And it was annoying.
Otherwise, no complaints from the audio. Or the book, really. Pretty solidly good.
April 2, 2020
Between 1948 & 1954 legendary film director & master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock supplied us with unbearable tension in films like Rope, Strangers on a Train & Rear Window. Then in 1954 a 24 year old writer called Ira Levin published his first novel, A Kiss Before Dying, & added a new dimension to the word suspense.
I've always felt that Levin's tale of murder & menace worked far better than either of the film adaptations. Perhaps Hitchcock could have made a better version ? It's been a long time since I first read this novel, which did have one advantage: I could remember who wasn't the killer, but I was damned if I could remember who it was!
Though not my favourite Levin novel, it's an impressive debut & one that was well worth a second read.
I've always felt that Levin's tale of murder & menace worked far better than either of the film adaptations. Perhaps Hitchcock could have made a better version ? It's been a long time since I first read this novel, which did have one advantage: I could remember who wasn't the killer, but I was damned if I could remember who it was!
Though not my favourite Levin novel, it's an impressive debut & one that was well worth a second read.
January 14, 2018
I had to stop myself from trying to read this in one sitting! I struggled between wanting to get to the next scene and wanting it to last longer. Really great tension, suspense, surprises. Ending was low-key but appropriate! Wish Ira Levin was still around....and writing!
December 15, 2021
I've only read Rosemary's baby from this author before and it kind of made me unsettled in the same way. Through the psyology of things. Not necessarily the content and crimes but the way Ira Levin seems to make the story crawl under my skin. Reading for the main character and murderer was very unsettling indeed but I'm very tempted to read something more by this author. Definitely a read that was hard to put down
August 6, 2017
Impressed... I am utterly impressed...! How on earth? How on earth did Levin manage to produce this? Oh my gosh! I might write an essay on this book for university in the upcoming academic year... Yes! I might! I really might! Perhaps I might even consider writing a dissertation on this!
April 9, 2012
The title 'A Kiss Before Dying' conjures up, for me, an image of a 1950s pulp thriller with a fabulous, stylish cover featuring a woman who looks like the hourglassy one from Mad Men and a man in a fedora concealing a gun. And indeed, that's pretty much exactly what A Kiss Before Dying is, on the face of it - it's a crime novel published in 1953 about a handsome psychopath who preys upon a series of rich young women in a bid to secure a stake in their father's fortune.
And yet, while A Kiss Before Dying, by the late Ira Levin, has all the signature style and undeniable glamour of a somewhat noirish American thriller, not to mention a characteristically sensationalist plot, there's plenty to set it apart.
The story begins with an unnamed young man plotting the death of his fiancée, Dorothy Kingship - a pretty, rich, naive college student. Having planned to marry her to get his hands on some of her father's money, he's furious to learn that she's pregnant. This being somewhere around 1950, this seems likely to force them to marry immediately and incur the wrath of Dorothy's father, who will almost certainly disinherit her as a result, leaving the nameless protagonist poorer than ever and saddled with a wife and child he never wanted as well as ruining his master-plan. Consequently, when pills from a backstreet abortionist fail to work their magic, the only alternative, he feels, is murder.
It's chilling, tense and (like the much-maligned and underrated 1950s shocker, Peyton Place) remarkably evocative of its time and setting. And it's a decent enough thriller plot, of course. All pretty straightforward...
But then, Levin pulls a particularly clever trick. He switches the novel's point of view. Suddenly, we're in the position of Ellen Kingship, trying to discover who has wronged her younger sister. All she knows is that she has to look for a handsome, charming blond college boy in his mid-20s (his academic career having been interrupted by World War II, of course). There are a number of contenders. And it could be any of them. Terrifyingly, any of these affable, bright, all-American boys Ellen meets could have the mind of a psychopathic killer - a mind into which we, as readers, already have a horrific insight.
Those familiar with Ira Levin's best-known works - Rosemary's Baby, The Boys From Brazil, The Stepford Wives, all of which became immensely successful films - will know that his books tend to stretch plausibility a little, and yes, A Kiss Before Dying does this too. But somehow, it's all so neatly plotted in every detail, with every character so absolutely spot-on for the roles they have to play in the story, that I found myself believing every word. It may be pulp-influenced at times, and at times it's a wee bit overblown, but the writing is so sharp that it simply doesn't matter, and Levin has been astute in building his characters convincingly to give them credible motivation.
As in his other books that I mentioned, Levin uses A Kiss Before Dying to tug at a sinister, dysfunctional thread that unravels the fragile tapestry of a classic American setting to reveal a dark, calculating cruelty lying beneath. Nobody and nothing are what they seem in Levin's novels, and reading this book is like stepping into the world of a stylish Hitchcock film full of beautiful women, fabulous outfits, ever-building tension, surprise plot twists and ambiguously charming men who may or may not be calculating killers.
And yet, while A Kiss Before Dying, by the late Ira Levin, has all the signature style and undeniable glamour of a somewhat noirish American thriller, not to mention a characteristically sensationalist plot, there's plenty to set it apart.
The story begins with an unnamed young man plotting the death of his fiancée, Dorothy Kingship - a pretty, rich, naive college student. Having planned to marry her to get his hands on some of her father's money, he's furious to learn that she's pregnant. This being somewhere around 1950, this seems likely to force them to marry immediately and incur the wrath of Dorothy's father, who will almost certainly disinherit her as a result, leaving the nameless protagonist poorer than ever and saddled with a wife and child he never wanted as well as ruining his master-plan. Consequently, when pills from a backstreet abortionist fail to work their magic, the only alternative, he feels, is murder.
It's chilling, tense and (like the much-maligned and underrated 1950s shocker, Peyton Place) remarkably evocative of its time and setting. And it's a decent enough thriller plot, of course. All pretty straightforward...
But then, Levin pulls a particularly clever trick. He switches the novel's point of view. Suddenly, we're in the position of Ellen Kingship, trying to discover who has wronged her younger sister. All she knows is that she has to look for a handsome, charming blond college boy in his mid-20s (his academic career having been interrupted by World War II, of course). There are a number of contenders. And it could be any of them. Terrifyingly, any of these affable, bright, all-American boys Ellen meets could have the mind of a psychopathic killer - a mind into which we, as readers, already have a horrific insight.
Those familiar with Ira Levin's best-known works - Rosemary's Baby, The Boys From Brazil, The Stepford Wives, all of which became immensely successful films - will know that his books tend to stretch plausibility a little, and yes, A Kiss Before Dying does this too. But somehow, it's all so neatly plotted in every detail, with every character so absolutely spot-on for the roles they have to play in the story, that I found myself believing every word. It may be pulp-influenced at times, and at times it's a wee bit overblown, but the writing is so sharp that it simply doesn't matter, and Levin has been astute in building his characters convincingly to give them credible motivation.
As in his other books that I mentioned, Levin uses A Kiss Before Dying to tug at a sinister, dysfunctional thread that unravels the fragile tapestry of a classic American setting to reveal a dark, calculating cruelty lying beneath. Nobody and nothing are what they seem in Levin's novels, and reading this book is like stepping into the world of a stylish Hitchcock film full of beautiful women, fabulous outfits, ever-building tension, surprise plot twists and ambiguously charming men who may or may not be calculating killers.
June 26, 2023
The wonderful art of manipulation and deception, wrapped up in (at least) two masterclasses. #1; how to take a reader by surprise (I did not see that coming) and #2; how to make a finale cinematic (I saw the whole thing happening in front of me). Ira Levin; my man.
December 28, 2016
It always amazes me how many people have never heard of Ira Levin. "Ira who? Never heard of him". "You saw the movie The Stepford Wives or Rosemary's Baby? Well, Levin wrote those". Yup, everyone saw those movies but still they don't recognize Levin's name. It's a shame really because he was a brilliant writer with an amazing gift at storytelling. In fact, A Kiss Before Dying was his first and it won an award. It was written over six decades ago but it's an easy to read. Not nearly as dated as you'd think.
It's kind of the opposite of a murdery-mystery. You know who did the murder because you're actually following him and his plans. At least for the first one. The plot thickens (as they say) and the murderer gets deeper and deeper into the hole he dug for himself. The thing I really liked, once I realized it, was that the murderer's name isn't mentioned once for about half the book. Once details start being looked at and suspects named, you're just as much in the dark as the characters trying to capture him.
I recommend reading Levin in general, he's that good, but this is a great place to start.
Levin was a genius.
It's kind of the opposite of a murdery-mystery. You know who did the murder because you're actually following him and his plans. At least for the first one. The plot thickens (as they say) and the murderer gets deeper and deeper into the hole he dug for himself. The thing I really liked, once I realized it, was that the murderer's name isn't mentioned once for about half the book. Once details start being looked at and suspects named, you're just as much in the dark as the characters trying to capture him.
I recommend reading Levin in general, he's that good, but this is a great place to start.
Levin was a genius.
February 16, 2017
Everything begins like a fairy tale with one exception. Here prince charming is ambitious though as poor as a church mouse and princess is a daughter of a millionaire. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances she has to be killed. I don’t reveal anything at this moment – you can read it on the blurb.
Despite this, career and money are still at fortune hunter's hands because as luck would have it on the horizon appears the sister of the murdered girl. But by a strange twist of fate she either must say goodbye to this world. Then, there's the last chance: third sister, which certainly won’t resist the handsome and mysterious seducer. And so fairy tale turns into a real thriller with a surprising epilogue.
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