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Danse Macabre :: Кинг Стивен
Страница: 254 из 359But the correct issuefor the time of the scene didn't.” Levin has written two horror novels-R osemary's Baby and The Stepford Wlives- and while both shine with the exquisite plotting that is Levin's trademark, probably neither is quite as effective as his first book, which is unfortunately not much read these days. A Kiss Before Dying is a gritty suspense story told with great élan-rarity enough, but what is even more rare is that the book (written while Levin was in his early twenties) contains surprises which really surprise . . . and it is relatively impervious to that awful, dreadful goblin of a reader, he or she WHO TURNS TO THE LAST THREE PAGES TO SEE HOW IT CAME OUT.
*In case you're one of the five or six readers of popular fiction in America who has missed them, they are A Kiss Before Dying , Rosemary's Baby , This Perfect Day, The Stepford Wives , and The Boys from Brazil . He has written two Broadway plays, Veronica' Room and the immensely successful Deathtrap . Less known is a modest but chillingly effective made-for-TV movie called Dr. Cook's Garden , starring Bing Crosby in a wonderfully adroit performance.
Do you do this nasty, unworthy trick? Yes, you! I'm talking to you! Don't slink away and grin into your hand! Own up to it! Have you ever stood in a bookshop, glanced furtively around, and turned to the end of an Agatha Christie to see who did it, and how? Have you ever turned to the end of a horror novel to see if the hero made it out of the darkness and into the light? If you have ever done this, I have three simple words which I feel it is my duty to convey: SHAME ON YOU! It is low to mark your place in a book by folding down the corner of the page where you left Off; TURNING TO THE END TO SEE HOW IT CAME OUT is even lower. If you have this habit, I urge you to break it . . . break it at once! *
Well, enough of this digression. All I intended to say about A Kiss Before Dying is that the book's biggest surprise-the real screeching bombshell-is neatly tucked away about one hundred pages into the story. If you should happen upon this moment while thumbing randomly through the book, it means nothing to you. If you have read everything faithfully up to that point, it means . . . everything. The only other writer I can think of offhand who had that wonderful ability to totally ambush the reader was the late Cornell Woolrich (who also wrote under the name of William Irish), but Woolrich did not have Levin's dry wit. Levin speaks affectionately of Woolrich as an influence on his own career, mentioning Phantom Lady and The Bride Wore Black as particular favorites.
*In case you're one of the five or six readers of popular fiction in America who has missed them, they are A Kiss Before Dying , Rosemary's Baby , This Perfect Day, The Stepford Wives , and The Boys from Brazil . He has written two Broadway plays, Veronica' Room and the immensely successful Deathtrap . Less known is a modest but chillingly effective made-for-TV movie called Dr. Cook's Garden , starring Bing Crosby in a wonderfully adroit performance.
Do you do this nasty, unworthy trick? Yes, you! I'm talking to you! Don't slink away and grin into your hand! Own up to it! Have you ever stood in a bookshop, glanced furtively around, and turned to the end of an Agatha Christie to see who did it, and how? Have you ever turned to the end of a horror novel to see if the hero made it out of the darkness and into the light? If you have ever done this, I have three simple words which I feel it is my duty to convey: SHAME ON YOU! It is low to mark your place in a book by folding down the corner of the page where you left Off; TURNING TO THE END TO SEE HOW IT CAME OUT is even lower. If you have this habit, I urge you to break it . . . break it at once! *
Well, enough of this digression. All I intended to say about A Kiss Before Dying is that the book's biggest surprise-the real screeching bombshell-is neatly tucked away about one hundred pages into the story. If you should happen upon this moment while thumbing randomly through the book, it means nothing to you. If you have read everything faithfully up to that point, it means . . . everything. The only other writer I can think of offhand who had that wonderful ability to totally ambush the reader was the late Cornell Woolrich (who also wrote under the name of William Irish), but Woolrich did not have Levin's dry wit. Levin speaks affectionately of Woolrich as an influence on his own career, mentioning Phantom Lady and The Bride Wore Black as particular favorites.