OK, I’ve got some more comments on Ira Levin… I’ve now read all of his (only seven! Why didn’t he write more?) novels except for
The Boys from Brazil and
Sliver. He’s an exceptional writer, particularly as far as naturalism goes; he’s able to make the reader believe just about every kind of plot twist or situation, no matter how fantastical. Polanski is given a lot of credit for putting Satanism in a mundane, real-world setting for
Rosemary’s Baby, but that’s really Levin’s doing. (And Polanski’s adaptation is one of the most faithful-to-source-material I’ve ever seen.) And his characterization—Rosemary Woodhouse is beautifully characterized—is usually excellent.
Something else that struck me when I read
A Kiss Before Dying is that Levin wrote in nearly every genre yet, beneath the surface, always remained a mystery writer.
Kiss is a thriller, not an Agatha Christie-esque murder-mystery, but it has one of the greatest clues I’ve ever seen, something up there with the meaning of “blunt instrument” in Queen’s
The Tragedy of Y, the statement “everything tastes foul today” in Christie’s
Five Little Pigs, the bulging suitcase in Carr’s
He Who Whispers, and (for non-literary examples) the title of Sondheim and Perkins’
The Last of Sheila and the top hats in Nolan’s
The Prestige: exactly why Dorothy Kingship asked her friend for a blouse she didn’t need. It has what Stephen King called a “real screeching bombshell…neatly tucked away about one hundred pages into the story”—the only twist I know that comes halfway through the book, rather than at the end. It was his first book, yet it displays the skill of an old master.
Anyway, as I wrote, Levin was always somewhat of a mystery writer. Every one of his books has clues that lead up to an inevitably yet surprising ending, no matter the genre. Even
No Time for Sergeants’ style of humor is based on setup-and-resolution, rather than random joking.
Rosemary’s Baby is for all intents and purposes a mystery novel in which we’re led to believe, until the end, that the Satanists are trying to sacrifice the baby.
This Perfect Day, which is Huxleyan dystopian science-fiction, builds up to a (clued) twist that changes the very nature we’d assumed the “brave new world” is based on. Etc.
Also, I’d like to draw some attention to
Son of Rosemary, the widely-reviled sequel to Levin’s best-known book. It’s not a great book at all, but it’s better than its reputation (though, considering that reputation, it’d almost have to be): it goes against everything we’d expect would happen after
Baby, it proceeds as a fair-play mystery (complete with an anagram clue, “roast mules,” and a least-likely suspect), and it has a twist that infuriated readers but actually makes sense in-context.
I’d like to see some of Levin’s plays, too: the original version of
No Time for Sergeants, a comedy called
Critic’s Choice, the TV adaptation of
Dr. Cook’s Garden (with Bing Crosby in a serious role), a thriller called
Veronica’s Room. I’ve seen
Deathtrap onstage and preferred the movie. Levin also wrote the book and lyrics for
Drat! The Cat!, a musical I’d love to see: the songs (music by Milton Schafer, who had definite talent but never made it big as a theater composer) are superb. Levin really should have written more musicals.