A Kiss Before Dying by Ira Levin

 A Kiss Before Dying by Ira Levin


 

I stay away from detective stories. Even this excellent book was a near miss- I have read a few pages and was on the point of abandoning it. I tend to put away books quite quickly, a fault which is destined to make place for a second run of the books I admire, in case I run out of new books that I like. Since I know that I have some 70-80 books that not only I love, but with time I will forget much of their plot and events, what is the point to hang on to works that seem indigestible?

Well, A Kiss Before Dying offers an answer.

There were two options: one- after reading two pages and looking on the cover and seeing this is a crime story, I could put it away, second: try and stick a while with it.

It paid off handsomely- not only I got trapped and enticed by this thrilling book, but I loved it so much that I offered it to myself in small portions, like caviar.

Now the problem is- how do I tell you about it?

Since there is no question of mentioning something of the plot, I am thinking of the start. From the start we get “action’- violence is present to begin with.

This in fact my main opposition to the crime stories:

-why waste time reading about a guy (the killer is rarely a woman, if I am not mistaken) who is violent, devious and unworthy??

- perhaps for same reason that we read about Mephisto, Machiavelli, Wormwood…these people or demons exist and sometimes they make for pretty interesting personages

- it is often more exciting to learn about characters that are complex, smart, but also devilish, than have one-sided and often boring roles.

 

The Smartest Guy in the Room is the author. It takes gumption to create such complex stories with surprising, if not shocking events.

The perspective of Ira Levin is flawless. At one point, there is a new apparition that I thought will stay with us for a while, if not to the end.

Unlike the blockbuster movies where you figure out from the start- this is a star who gets $ twenty million per movies, so he or she is going to hang around to the end and survive aliens, tornadoes, tsunamis, you name it. There is a slim chance that he only got two million for that role and then he may disappear after ten minutes, but it is a long shot, with odds of one to twenty.

There is a feel of “too much” in A Kiss Before Dying, I can’t say from what angle, since I am sworn to not give anything away, but even that aspect is amazingly handled by Ira Levin, who is a master of dealing with suspense and making you believe things are really turning out the way you read  about them.

The psychological insight of such a great author is nothing short of marvelous. The creepy thing is you start wondering:

- Is this guy for real, or what?

- It looks like Levin has all it takes to kill someone

- but what if he did? He is so good at planning everything; he will get away with it.

Kevorkian, the Literature professor I had in high school used to say that every masterpiece has an excellent crime story in it. I am thinking Crime and Punishment, War and Peace …But what is the crime story in Madame Bovary? Perhaps her infidelity?

 

This is an excellent book.

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