Ira Levin - Free Library Land Online - Historical

A Kiss Before Dying

Wed, 14 Sep 1977 21:47:48 +0300

Dorothy meets a handsome young man with an eye for her inheritance while she is in her sophomore year. They are to be married and her life will be blissful; but Dorothy is pregnant and her fiance's plans are ruined, for Dorothy would be disinherited if her father discovered the truth. So the young man provides his bride to be with some pills that will solve the problem. Soon there will be no baby -- and perhaps no Dorothy either... A Kiss before Dying, Levin's first novel, earned him the 1954 Edgar Award for Best First Novel and is regarded as a modern classic."

The Stepford Wives

Wed, 14 Sep 1977 21:47:48 +0300

The women of Stepford are not all that they seem... All the beautiful people live in idyllic Stepford, Connecticut, an affluent, suburban Eden populated with successful, satisfied hubbies and beautiful, dutiful wives. For Joanna Eberhart, newly arrived with her husband and two children, it all seems too good to be true -- from the sweet Welcome Wagon lady to all those cheerful, friendly faces in the supermarket checkout lines. But just beneath the town's flawless surface, something is sordid and wrong -- something abominable with roots in the local Men's Association. And it may already be too late for Joanna to save herself from being devoured by Stepford's hideous perfection.

Deathtrap

Sun, 01 Oct 1978 13:52:09 +0300

Levin's best-known play is Deathtrap, which holds the record as the longest-running comedy-thriller on Broadway.

Seemingly comfortably ensconced in his charming Connecticut home, Sidney Bruhl, a successful writer of Broadway thrillers, is struggling to overcome a "dry" spell which has resulted in a string of failures and a shortage of funds.
A possible break in his fortunes occurs when he receives a script from a student in the seminar he has been conducting at a nearby college a thriller which Sidney recognizes immediately as a potential Broadway hit.

Sidney's plan, which he devises with his wife's help, is to offer collaboration to the student, an idea which the younger man quickly accepts.

Thereafter suspense mounts steadily as the plot begins to twist and turn with devilish cleverness, and with such an abundance of thrills and laughter, that audiences will be held enthralled until the final, startling moments of the play.

About the Author

Ira Levin was twenty-two when he wrote his first novel, the award-winning thriller A Kiss Before Dying, and twenty-five when, fresh from military service, he wrote his first play, the smash-hit adaptation of Mac Hyman’s No Time for Sergeants.

In the years since, he has continued to work both sides of the literary street. His plays include the comedy hit Critic's Choice, the musical Drat! The Cat! and the thriller Veronica's Room. Among his novels are Rosemary's Baby, generally credited or blamed for having sparked the current revival of occultism, The Stepford Wives, and the international best seller The Boys from Brazil.

A native-born New Yorker, Mr. Levin is an alumnus of New York University and has three sons.

Sliver

Thu, 17 Oct 1991 13:14:53 +0200

A chilling psychological thriller that explores the menacing evil behind the glittering facades of Manhattan’s skyscrapers
Kay Norris, a successful and lovely book editor, moves into the posh Carnegie Hall district of Manhattan, into an apartment in a slender high-rise. A man watches her. He watches her unpack, watches her make her bed. He owns the building: a shocking secret is concealed within its brick and concrete.
Sliver is a sinuous erotic thriller, a hypnotic story of obsession, suspense, and stunning surprises. It is a novel about the ultimate power, and the temptations the use of that power brings.

The Boys From Brazil

Wed, 14 Sep 1977 21:47:48 +0300

Alive and hiding in South America, the fiendish Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele gathers a group of former colleagues for a horrifying project—the creation of the Fourth Reich. Barry Kohler, a young investigative journalist, gets wind of the project and informs famed Nazi hunter Ezra Lieberman, but before he can relay the evidence, Kohler is killed. Thus Ira Levin opens one of the strangest and most masterful novels of his career. Why has Mengele marked a number of harmless aging men for murder? What is the hidden link that binds them? What interest can they possibly hold for their killers: six former SS men dispatched from South America by the most wanted Nazi still alive, the notorious "Angel of Death"? One man alone must answer these questions and stop the killings—Lieberman, himself aging and thought by some to be losing his grip on reality. At the heart of The Boys from Brazil lies a frightening contemporary nightmare, chilling and all too possible.

This Perfect Day

Wed, 14 Sep 1977 21:47:48 +0300

By the author of Rosemary’s Baby, a horrifying journey into a future only Ira Levin could imagine
Considered one of the great dystopian novels—alongside Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange and Aldous Huxley’s A Brave New World—Ira Levin’s frightening glimpse into the future continues to fascinate readers even forty years after publication. The story is set in a seemingly perfect global society. Uniformity is the defining feature; there is only one language and all ethnic groups have been eugenically merged into one race called “The Family.” The world is ruled by a central computer called UniComp that has been programmed to keep every single human on the surface of the earth in check. People are continually drugged by means of regular injections so that they will remain satisfied and cooperative. They are told where to live, when to eat, whom to marry, when to reproduce. Even the basic facts of nature are subject to the UniComp’s will—men do not grow facial hair, women do not develop breasts, and it only rains at night. With a vision as frightening as any in the history of the science fiction genre, This Perfect Day is one of Ira Levin’s most haunting novels.

This Perfect Day: A Novel

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:30:38 +0200

Rosemary's Baby

Wed, 14 Sep 1977 21:47:48 +0300

Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse, an ordinary young couple, settle into a New York City apartment, unaware that the elderly neighbors and their bizarre group of friends have taken a disturbing interest in them. But by the time Rosemary discovers the horrifying truth, it may be far too late!

Son of Rosemary

Fri, 17 Oct 1997 13:14:53 +0300

The sequel to the New York Times bestseller *Rosemary’s Baby—*a thrilling cautionary tale of the troubling forces that war within each of us
The modern master of suspense Ira Levin returns to the horror of his 1967 groundbreaking novel Rosemary’s Baby with this darkly comic sequel set at the dawn of the millennium. Thirty-three years ago, Rosemary gave birth to the Devil’s child while under the control of the satanic cult of witches. Now the year is 1999, and humanity dreads the approaching twenty-first century, desperately in search of a savior for this troubled world. In New York City, Rosemary’s son, Andy, is believed to be that savior. But is he the force of good his followers accept him to be? Or is he his father’s son? Rosemary and Andy will be reunited in a battle of wills that shall decide the fate of humanity—and keep readers on the edge of their seats until the final page.

Boys from Brazil

Wed, 14 Sep 1977 16:06:06 +0300

The classic thriller of Dr. Josef Mengele's nightmarish plot to restore the Third ReichAlive and hiding in South America, the fiendish Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele gathers a group of former colleagues for a horrifying project. Barry Koehler, a young investigative journalist, gets wind of the scheme and informs famed Nazi hunter Yakov Liebermann, but before he can relay the evidence, Koehler is killed.Thus Ira Levin opens one of the strangest and most masterful novels of his career. Why has Mengele marked a number of harmless aging men for murder? What is the hidden link that binds them? What interest can they possibly hold for their killers: six former SS men dispatched from South America by the most wanted Nazi still alive, the notorious "Angel of Death"? One man alone must answer these questions and stop the killings—Liebermann, himself aging and thought by some to be losing his grip on reality.At the heart of The Boys from Brazil lies a frightening contemporary...