A Kiss Before Dying

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View books by Ira Levin, F.H. Cornish.

A PERFECT MURDER - A PERFECT NOVEL - Rated
This is my absolute favourite book. I've read it so many times since I first read it 15 years ago. As far as structure and style and the fact that you just can't put it down, to me it's the perfect novel. It's about a brilliant, good-looking, charming young psychopath who has just about everything, but has grown up poor. All he wants is money, and he'll do anything to get it. Considering the book was written in 1956, the only thing that has dated is the forensic techniques. These days, with DNA testing, they'd have caught him after the first murder. If you brush over that though, it's a great story even by today's standards. Even the two film versions (one with Robert Wagner, and the other Matt Dillon) are pretty true to the book. Not only is this a first class thriller, but it is beautifully written, descriptive and evocative, with not one boring sentence. Ira Levin's most underrated work.