Think of it: On his twenty-third birthday, he completed the manuscript of his first novel, A Kiss Before Dying, which was published in 1953 and received the Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America for the Best First Mystery of the Year. While one would not dare to compare the achievements of Ira Levin with those of Mozart or Alexander, his works, though modest in number, have demonstrated a range and level of excellence that suggest the existence of that elusive quality we call genius. And, to go to a ridiculous extreme, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was writing symphonies and sonatas at the age of five, while Alexander the Great had essentially conquered the entire civilized world, excepting only the Far East, before his death at the age of thirty-three (the often-repeated myth is that he died mainly of boredom). Bobby Fischer was the world’s greatest chess player when still a teenager. Percy Bysshe Shelley, too, was dead before thirty, having written some of the most beautiful romantic poetry ever penned. It is well known that John Keats wrote all of his poetry in his teens and early twenties he died at the age of twenty-five. G ENIUS, THAT MUCH OVERUSED word, shows itself early. The places, too-with the exception of certain points of interest in New York City-are imaginary and not intended to represent specific places The persons and incidents described in this book are fictional any similarity to specific individuals and events is unintended by the author.

“All in all, it’s probably the most striking debut of the year.” Altogether, a very satisfying contribution, and one that is a pleasure to recommend.” “The book is a succession of solid and quite legitimate surprises, the suspense is admirably sustained, the detail is thorough and convincing, and the writing is considerably above the level usually associated with fictional crime and passion. “A remarkably constructed story depicting an inconceivably vicious character in episodes of chilling horror.” Levin combines great talent for pure novel writing-full bodied characterization, subtle psychological exploration, vivid evocation of locale-with strict technical whodunit tricks as dazzling as anything ever brought off by Carr, Rawson, Queen or Christie.” “Here is not merely an extraordinary first but an extraordinary suspense novel by the highest professional standards and you have an evening of incomparable excitement ahead of you.

A kiss before dying book review