Ira Levin’s A Kiss Before Dying

A Kiss Before Dying was Ira Levin’s first novel. It appeared in 1954. It was a very impressive debut for a 23-year-old writer. It was a bestseller, as were all of Levin’s subsequent books.

New York-born Ira Levin (1929-2007) was not a prolific novelist but he was an extraordinarily interesting one.

At first you think this is going to be an inverted detective story with a psychological tinge, somewhat in the mould of Frances Iles’ Malice Aforethought and Before the Fact. With perhaps some noir fiction flavour.

Then at a certain point it switches gears and switches focus, and then throws in a huge plot twist right out of left field, and we realise this is going to be a different kind of book altogether. It could be assigned to a couple of different genres but to say more might risk spoilers.

Given the ambitious and slightly unusual structure I’m going to be even more vague than usual in discussing the plot.

The story does involve a murderer. We do know his identity right from the start. We have some inkling of his motivations. The full scope of his motivations slowly becomes more obvious.

He’s a fine character creation, a young man who comes across as smooth and charming and confident but he is in fact a total loser. It’s all bluff. He’s never held down a job for more than a few weeks. He’s now a college student, which for him is clearly a retreat from a real world which is too much for him to deal with. In a vague sort of way he recognises his own inadequacy, which is what leads him to murder.

Initially murder is a way to avoid inconvenience but it occurs to the young man that it could be profitable as well. He will need to be very clever but he really does believe that he’s very clever.

So there’s a fine character study here but it’s the intricate and daring structure that raises this novel to the status of greatness.

And there are some extraordinarily subtle and clever clues.

This is an ambitious book but Levin doesn’t put a foot wrong.

There are some great set-pieces with a very cinematic feel. With some very tense and imaginative murder scenes. Almost all of Levin’s novels were filmed and, remarkably, all the film adaptations are excellent. He just had a knack for writing books that would translate extremely well to film.

One word of warning - some reviews and online plot synopses reveal a very very big spoiler.

A Kiss Before Dying has its own distinctive flavour and it’s very highly recommended.

I’ve reviewed the first of the two movie adaptations of this novel, A Kiss Before Dying (1956). And I’ve reviewed Ira Levin’s much later thriller, the excellent and rather under-appreciated Sliver.