After last week's horribly annoying book it was time for something old this week. Not something I've read before but a writer I'm very familiar with. Who doesn't know Ira Levin who is famous for writing Rosemary's Baby and The Stepford Wives? I certainly do. So this week it was time for his first novel, written in 1954; A Kiss Before Dying.
Levin wrote about a mother giving birth to a demon child and a town full of robotic wives. His first book is relatively harmless compared to them, but so much more realistic. It must occur to everyone that Mr. Perfect might not be as perfect as he comes across. The main character in the book certainly isn't. He has blond hair and blue eyes, he's ambitious, charming and very smart, but behind all these perfect trademarks hides a vicious killer with no selfless feelings. He is intent on marrying a rich girl and seems to have found that girl in Dorothy, but her father would disinherit her if he found out she's pregnant so he slips her some pills hoping she will never wake up.
The writing style Levin adopts in Rosemary's Baby is a little bit more intriguing than here because it shows you what Rosemary's thinking and your frustration at not knowing what is going on will be just as strong as her frustration. However, A Kiss Before Dying is still very well written considering we move from the mind of the killer to the point-of-view of the soon-to-be-wife/victim. And the fact that even though we can see in his mind, halfway through the book we become aware we literally don't know who this person is. It could be anyone and that's what makes this book very exciting at first. After we find out who it is, it dulls down a bit, but not enough to stop reading.
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