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Ira Levin

A Kiss Before Dying Paperback – April 1, 2003

by Ira Levin (Author), Otto Penzler (Introduction)

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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.

Print length

304 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Carroll & Graf
Publication date

April 1, 2003
Dimensions

5.51 x 0.59 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-10

0786711647
ISBN-13

978-0786711642
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Carroll & Graf (April 1, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0786711647
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0786711642
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.51 x 0.59 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,506,367 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #16,629 in Hard-Boiled Mystery

Customer Reviews:
642 ratings

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Amazing Portrait of a Psychopath

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 28, 2014

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Ira Levin is well-known as a writer whose novels have been turned into wildly successful movies, including A Kiss Before Dying, Rosemary’s Baby, The Boys From Brazil, and The Stepford Wives. A Kiss Before Dying first came to the silver screen in 1956 starring Robert Wagner, Joanne Woodward, and Mary Astor. It was remade in 1991, starring Matt Dillon, Sean Young, and Diane Ladd.

This, however, is the book and it came before any of the movies. In fact, what is amazing about it is that it was Levin’s very first novel and was published at age 23. Otto Penzler, in his introduction to the book, marvels at how much genius was shown by this early success, comparing it to Bobby Fischer’s success at chess.

The book is divided into three parts for the three sisters: Dorothy, Ellen, and Marion Kingship.

A Kiss Before Dying is the story of a young man from a poor family in rural Massachusetts, a fair-haired boy who charms everyone he meets. “His schooldays were the happiest of his life; the girls liked him for his looks and his charm; the teachers liked him because he was polite and attentive.” However, “when he started dating, it was with girls from the better part of town.” He was the class president, the most popular, the most likely to succeed. An important moment in his life occurs when he is drafted and manages to dislodge a Japanese sniper from a tree, enjoying his power in that situation, he slaughters the man who was surrendering in abject fear.

He comes home, determined to be a success, but finds that the odd jobs he secures in New York to be unrewarding and eventually decides to go to college on the GI Bill. He specifically chose a Midwestern university known “to be something of a country club for the children of the Midwestern wealthy.” There, he meets Dorothy Kingship, whose father owned and operated a huge mining and smelting concern. She is his ticket to wealth and success.

But, as the story opens, she is pregnant and he is concerned that her wealthy self-made father will not accept him under such circumstances and he tries to get her to abort the fetus by taking pills secured through a connection. Later, he resolves to get rid of her and tricks her into writing a letter that looks like a suicide note and tries to get her to swallow arsenic before pushing her off a tall building on the day that was to be their secret wedding day.

The narrative is so matter-of-fact as he, seemingly on the outside being this normal guy, plans these atrocious deeds, step-by-step. But, from there, the story only gets creepier as he eventually dates the other two sisters, determined to marry into money. And, it is striking how he pulled off the perfect crime, leaving behind such scant evidence that he could never be prosecuted. No one, least of all the authorities, could possibly suspect this fine young man could be capable of such horrendous things.

The greatness of this book is how a charming, intelligent man who no one could possibly suspect of being a murderering sociopath who will stop at nothing to achieve what he wants. The story is haunting in the way it is told and the way Levin slowly takes the reader along for a ride on the creepy express.

This book is highly recommended. Without question, it is to be awarded the coveted five stars.

8 people found this helpful

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E. West

A Great Noir Thriller from the Fifties

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 9, 2020

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I just finished "A Kiss Before Dying." I've enjoyed Ira Levin's other novels, but hadn't heard of this one. Hard to believe it's the work of a writer in his twenties! The plot is tight and it's a really compelling, exciting read.

The book starts with the main character, a nameless con man, attending college after WWII. He's determined to get rich by marrying Dorothy Kingship, daughter of the fantastically wealthy copper magnate Leo Kingship. But obstacles keep blocking his path, and soon he hatches a plot to kill her.

At first it seems like our killer is just clever and greedy, but as the plot continues, it turns out he's also cruel. He enjoys the cat-and-mouse game and laughs at Dorothy's innocent, trusting nature. Soon Dorrie plunges from the top of a building. It's presumed to be a suicide. The writing is terrific, full of details that pay off later. Why was Dorothy carrying a handkerchief that clashed with her outfit? What about the pills he gave her...?

The book is divided into three sections, one for each of the Kingship girls. The first section ends with our guy getting away with murder. The second chapter involves second daughter Ellen Kingship. The story loses a little momentum in this section, but it's worth reading carefully because Levin is planting a lot of clues that will pay off later. Pretty soon we have two more murders on our hands, and our killer has an adversary, a radio DJ and conspiracy buff named Gordon Gant, whose happy-go-lucky demeanor hides his intelligence and determination.

Things really get rolling in the third section, "Marion." Our killer is more obsessed than ever with getting a piece of the Kingship fortune, and sets out to woo and marry the last Kingship daughter, Marion. She's resentful and plain, an 'old maid' at twenty-five, but Levin succeeds in making her sympathetic. He pursues her like prey, ruthlessly getting under her defenses, and soon they're set to marry. Gordon Gant is still on the trail. The police haven't been any help, so he continues tracking down evidence on his own. The book races toward its conclusion. In the last chapter, the killer's excitement turns to mania as he sees the copper fortune finally within his grasp. Will he marry Marion? Kill her? It comes to a blazing conclusion that's entirely satisfying and, in Levin's hands, seemingly inevitable. I thought "Oh! This is where he's been leading us all along!".

So in short...I enjoyed this book a lot, and hope you will too.

9 people found this helpful

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Josh Mauthe

An incredible opening, but the rest is merely pretty good

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 3, 2012

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In its first section, A Kiss Before Dying tells an absolutely riveting noir tale of a money-chasing young man who finds out that his meal ticket may have ended up pregnant and has some concerns about getting rid of the child. What could any amoral young gold-chaser do in such circumstances? And what follows is a riveting tale of a young sociopath convinced that murder may be the only way to proceed. It's a great tale, and builds effortlessly to a great climax...but all of that only really contains the first third of the book. What follows from there all comes as a result of that tale's conclusion, as investigations come together, mind games are played, and people do their best to learn about people they think they know. Here's the thing about the rest of A Kiss Before Dying: there's nothing wrong with it at all. It's interesting enough, and has at least one twist that's pretty surprising and beautifully executed. But what the first section does is immerse you in the mind of a killer, and Levin's narration does a beautiful job of creating the mind of someone capable of justifying their own actions in any circumstances, no matter how horrible they may be. It's a fascinating, compelling voice, and with the shift to other narrators in the remaining sections of the book, Levin casts aside his most interesting and intriguing character in favor of some who don't grab the reader nearly as well. That being said, the book is still fascinating enough; it just never attains the heights of that first section, and what follows is a lot harder to become as riveted by.

2 people found this helpful

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A work in Progress

Soooo Good!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 21, 2020

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I have had this book on my shelf for a while, one of my TBR books...well lock-down and something I read recently prompted me to pluck it from the confines of my bookshelf and start reading. It is rare that I will consistently want to read a book without stopping, faster readers will probably finish it in a day. I took about 2-3 days simply because I read it mainly at night and fell asleep, rising with the thought 'just one more chapter'.....other distractions meant I couldn't read it again until the evening but when I did I was completed absorbed, riveted. yes it is dated but it is so well written that I would say it outclasses most modern thrillers, these days it is rare to find a modern thriller of the same caliber. Recommended....

6 people found this helpful

P. G. Russell

Magnificently chilling!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 6, 2021

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This is only my second favourite Levin title (after This Perfect Day - don't miss it!) but it still merits 5 stars.
The man was capable of excelling in every genre. As I don't want to put in spoilers, just get this and gobble it up - then get all the rest of his stuff. Everything from S.F. through murder and gothic horror - you will never be bored. Sadly missed!

3 people found this helpful

Joanne Sheppard

Stylish 50s noir thriller by a master of suspense

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 9, 2012

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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.

14 people found this helpful

bexdad1

Ahead of its time

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 21, 2018

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I read this many years ago and remembered loving it so thought I’d give it another go. It definitely stands up still, despite being more than sixty years old. It was published the year before The Talented Mr Ripley, and bears comparison with it. Levin’s versatility was astonishing, there’s very little comparison between this and his other novels, almost all of which are classics of their genre, horror, sci-fi, crime and an epic, what-if historical novel in Boys from Brazil. Just a great writer with a terrific imagination.

4 people found this helpful

Peter Lee

An overlooked masterpiece

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 4, 2013

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When people mention Ira Levin's novels they always remember "Rosemary's Baby", "The Stepford Wives", and "The Boys From Brazil", but this book is often overlooked. Until I'd read it myself I knew nothing of the story, unlike the others, so I was pleasantly surprised by just how good it is.

The book is a thriller and as the introduction says is basically the story of the worst boyfriend ever. In the opening section we follow a man as he courts a woman, but when she reveals she is pregnant he tries to make her have an abortion, but when she disagrees he decides to kill her instead, and we see things through his eyes. It's a chilling, compelling opening. The rest of the book sees events from the perspective of women as they meet a wonderful man, but all is not as it seems. As the novel progresses we discover that the women are related, and the man is the same person we had met in the opening. What is he doing? What will happen next?

It's a fantastic page-turner with some shocking scenes and a memorable ending. I'm amazed I'd not heard of it sooner, but I'll remember it for a long, long time. In some ways I enjoyed this more than Levin's other work. A great read.

3 people found this helpful

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