A Kiss Before Dying: Introduction by Chelsea Cain

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....

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.

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.

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.

I enjoyed this 50’s novel! I am a fan of this era in American literature. Yes it may seems little dated but that is the beauty of it in my eyes you get to grips with the way of life in days gone by! Transported to another time when morals and etiquette were quite different. This book is suspenseful and creepy cleverly plotted and well worth reading.

What a novel!! Written in in the 1950s, this must be one of the most concise yet thrilling books I've ever read. It reads like a screenplay and is highly cinematic. In fact, it was filmed not just once but twice. It may be slightly dated to those unaware that it was then considered the norm to marry if you became pregnant - whether you wanted to or not!I so admire Ira Levin's writing; while the market is currently flooded with overlong meandering novels without tension his stands out as a lesson in plotting and characterisation with no superfluous dialogue. A master at work!

Enjoyed this, as I have his other books I've read (Rosemary's baby, Stepford Wives and This Perfect Day). But I'm no literary critic so can't really comment any further! I will just say (however) that there were a few typos in the book (kindle version). I have no idea if they are in the paper version or if they are a result of converting it to ebook, but they shouldn't be there. (Not that I could remember where they are when I tried looking just now...)