Deathtrap: A Thriller in Two Acts [Hardcover]

Ira Levin (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Random House; 1st edition (July 12, 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394507274
• ISBN-13: 978-0394507279
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,916,434 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolutely spellbinding play!, January 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Deathtrap: A Thriller in Two Acts (Paperback)

Having played the part of Clifford Anderson in a local production of Deathtrap, I was fortunate enough to hear the audience's reactions to the plot's twists and turns night in and night out. This show combines terror and humor in a way that really keeps people on the edge of their seat. I very highly recommend this work, and if you have a chance to see it performed live, do so, or if that's not possible, rent the movie. You won't be disappointed!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Absolutely Outstanding Play, July 31, 1998

By 

"[e-mail]" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deathtrap: A Thriller in Two Acts (Paperback)

Possibly Ira Levin's best play, this is up there with "Rosemary's Baby." It is a very suspenseful and surprising story of a down-on-his-luck playwright, his wife, and an amateur writer who plays an important role. Filled with plays within plays within plays, countless "heart-in-the-mouth" shocks, and a surprising amount of dark humor, you will never forget this play once you have read it.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic thriller where fiction becomes fact and then . . ., April 8, 2002

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Deathtrap: A Thriller in Two Acts (Paperback)

What makes this play superb is captured right in the title: "Deathtrap: A Thriller in Two Acts." This is because the thrill of the first act is replaced by a twistedly different thrill in the second act. In Westport, Connecticut, we find playwright Sidney Bruhl and his loving wife Myra. Unfortunately, the well has run dry for Sidney who desperately needs a hit play and come not come up with anything. But then Sidney shows Myra "Deathtrap." It is, he explains, "A thriller in two acts. One set, five characters. A juicy murder in Act One, unexpected developments in Act Two. Sound construction, good dialogue, laughs in the right places. Highly commercial." With that blatant self-description author Ira Levin gives us the first of many nudge-nudge, wink-winks. You see, the only problem with "Deathtrap" is that Sidney did not write the play. It was written by Clifford Anderson, one of the "twerps" from Sidney's playwriting seminar. But maybe Sidney can find a way of making the play his own, even if it is over young Mr. Anderson's dead body.

Of course, Levin has already told us what is going to happen in the play, but as to who will be the victim of the first act's juicy murder, well, that is just the beginning of the fun. After all, there are still two other characters to be met and one of them is a Dutch psychic. "Deathtrap" is a roller-coaster ride that alternately amuses and terrifies, which is exactly what you want from a thriller. Best of all, you never catch up to the twists and turns. If there is a lesson to be learned here, then it is simply that nothing is more dangerous than a good idea.