The Boys from Brazil / A Kiss Before Dying / Rosemary's Baby / Sliver / The Stepford Wives

by Ira Levin

Titles in this Set : Rosemary's Baby: Introduction by Chuck Palanhiuk, The Stepford Wives, A Kiss Before Dying: Introduction by Chelsea Cain, The Boys From Brazil, Sliver: Introduction by Jonathan Trigell. Description : Rosemary's Baby: Introduction by Chuck Palanhiuk Rosemary Woodhouse and her struggling actor-husband, Guy, move into the Bramford, an old New York City apartment building with an ominous reputation and only elderly residents. Neighbours Roman and Minnie Castavet soon come nosing around to welcome them; despite Rosemary's reservations about their eccentricity and the weird noises that she keeps hearing, her husband starts spending time with them. Shortly after Guy lands a plum Broadway role, Rosemary becomes pregnant, and the Castavets start taking a special interest in her welfare. The Stepford Wives 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. A Kiss Before Dying: Introduction by Chelsea Cain 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 fiancé's plans are ruined, for Dorothy would be disinherited if her father discovered the truth. The Boys From Brazil In this classic thriller, Ira Levin imagines Dr Josef Mengele's nightmarish plot to restore the Third Reich. Alive and hiding in South America, thirty years after the end of the Second World War, Mengele gathers a group of former colleagues for a sinister project - the creation of the Fourth Reich. Kay Norris, a successful book editor, moves into the affluent Carnegie Hill 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 the walls.

Genres: Horror

Paperback

About the author

Levin graduated from the Horace Mann School and New York University, where he majored in philosophy and English.

After college, he wrote training films and scripts for television.

Levin's first produced play was No Time for Sergeants (adapted from Mac Hyman's novel), a comedy about a hillbilly drafted into the United States Air Force that launched the career of Andy Griffith. The play was turned into a movie in 1958, and co-starred Don Knotts, Griffith's long-time co-star and friend. No Time for Sergeants is generally considered the precursor to Gomer Pyle, USMC.

Levin's first novel, A Kiss Before Dying, was well received, earning him the 1954 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. A Kiss Before Dying was turned into a movie twice, first in 1956, and again in 1991.

Levin's best known play is Deathtrap, which holds the record as the longest-running comedy-thriller on Broadway and brought Levin his second Edgar Award. In 1982, it was made into a film starring Christopher Reeve and Michael Caine.

Levin's best known novel is Rosemary's Baby, a horror story of modern day satanism and the occult, set in Manhattan's Upper West Side. It was made into a film starring Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes. Ruth Gordon won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance. Roman Polanski, who wrote and directed the film, was nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

Other Levin novels were turned into movies, including The Boys from Brazil in 1978; The Stepford Wives in 1975 and again in 2004; and Sliver in 1993.

Stephen King has described Ira Levin as "the Swiss watchmaker of suspense novels, he makes what the rest of us do look like cheap watchmakers in drugstores." Chuck Palahniuk, in , calls Levin's writing "a smart, updated version of the kind of folksy legends that cultures have always used."

Ira Levin died from a heart attack at his home in Manhattan, on 12 November 2007. He was seventy-eight at the time of his death.

Reviews

[Dark Owl Publishing · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend this set because of the introductions by Chuck Palahniuk. He absolutely captures exactly what Ira Levin's books impress on me. I think Palahniuk understood Levin's goals in both Rosemary's Baby and The Stepford Wives. I think sometimes Levin makes fun of women for being too self-centered, but he does so to warn us. Women should be be strong and confident, but don't do so with short-sightedness and naiveté. Be ready to protect ourselves and our fellow women.

[Clint Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

You absolutely can't go wrong with Ira Levin.

Assuming you know what you are getting into.

I read Rosemary years ago, and then worked through the other four in pretty short order, slipping another book or two in between so I didn't get bored with him. He writes quick, and he writes entertainment. Out of the pack, I would say "The Boys From Brazil" was probably the best, just because it was the oddest.

Which is maybe weird to say, considering there are robot wives and the devil's baby included. "Sliver" is about a man who spies on the people in his apartment building using CCTV. "A Kiss..." is about a guy who marries ladies and then murders them in order to try and gain a healthy inheritance.

Yes, these are overly short synopses, but they are also about all you need to know. You don't read Levin for it's great deep philosophy; you read it because you want a story about hunting Nazis in South America.

So with that in mind, I certainly wasn't disappointed. And plus, they're all pretty short, so perfect for a beach book or something you don't mind just zipping through. Especially good for cleansing the mental palette between other things, depending on what your "other things" are.