Ein Hauch von Gift

by Alfred Hitchcock

If you've designed a motion picture correctly in terms of emotional impact, Alfred Hitchcock once said, the Japanese audience should scream at the same time as the Indian audience. By he same token, if a mystery story is written correctly, every reader will react as its author intended in a given place in the story.

What makes our teeth chatter? A freezing day? Something more ominous? A wintry reception? A bitter glance? An icy atmosphere? A cold blooded act? The chill of cold metal? A raw, cutting edge? A grave, watery or otherwise?

Perhaps its unfair to publish this new Alfred Hitchcock anthology in the dead of winter, but that is where the unfairness ends. The tales in the collection all meet the shiverous standards readers have come to expect from the Master of Suspense.

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE (1899-1980) was an iconic and highly influential film director and producer, who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and thriller genres.

Following a very substantial career in his native Britain in both silent films and talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood and became an American citizen with dual nationality in 1956, thus he also remained a British subject.

Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career which spanned six decades, from the silent film era, through the invention of sound films, and far into the era of colour films. For a complete list of his films, see Alfred Hitchcock filmography.

Hitchcock was among the most consistently recognizable directors to the general public, and was one of the most successful film directors during his lifetime. He continues to be one of the best known and most popular filmmakers of all time.

Reviews

[Daniel Moskowitz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let's just get this out of the way, Hitchcock had nothing to do with the putting together of this book. He made no choices, got no credits, didn't even write the forward.

That being said, it is a collection of Noir and Mystery stories in the same vain as classic Hitchcock movies. Most are rather boring and uninspired, some are pretty decent noir (detective, femme fatale, a quick and easy mystery) and some are just stories. 2 stars taken by an average of all 28 stories.

I would like to highlight one though in particular. "Not An Enemy In The World" by Charlotte Edwards stood out amongst the crowd. It was beautifully told suspense. Set 'em up, leave them waiting, and then knock them down. Truly wonderful.

[Chuck Engelhardt · Rating 2 out of 5]

You would think a book titled Alfred Hitchcock’s Tales to Make Your Teeth Chatter would include scary, or at least creepy stories. Not a single one of these stories fit that description. I felt cheated and mislead. I didn’t even find any of the endings to be surprising.

Some of the stories were interesting, some entertaining, and some were neither interesting nor entertaining. Not going to keep this one in my library.