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tucked away about one hundred pages into the story. If you should happen upon this moment while thumbing randomly through the book, it means nothing to you. If you have read everything faithfully up to that point, it means ... everything. The only other writer I can think of offhand who had that wonderful ability to totally ambush the reader was the late
210:– just as the Japanese soldier, his symbol of pathetic cowardice, had done. He begins to confess, then, delirious with fear and shame, falls to his death in the vat below. The accusers, whose threat was only a bluff, return home in shock. They face the prospect of explaining the incident to Corliss' mother.
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Marion, her father, and Gant all corner
Corliss during a visit to one of the Kingship family's copper manufacturing plants, threatening to push him into a vat of molten copper unless he confesses his crimes. When they refuse to believe his protestations of innocence, Corliss panics and wets his pants
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Corliss lies low for a few months until the press coverage of
Dorothy's death has subsided. Then he pursues Dorothy's sister, Ellen, who does not know he was Dorothy's boyfriend. The romance is going according to plan until Ellen begins to probe into Dorothy's death, convinced her sister did not kill
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called Levin’s first novel “a gritty suspense story told with great élan.” He describes the novel as unique in the sense that a key element of the story—a revelation about who committed a particular murder—takes the reader by complete surprise. In King’s words: " real screeching bombshell is neatly
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Gordon Gant, who met Ellen during her investigation of
Dorothy's death, begins investigating the case, and is immediately suspicious of Corliss. He breaks into Corliss' childhood home and steals a written plan for meeting and seducing Marion to get her family's money. Days before the wedding, he
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seems to be loosely inspired by the 1991 Hollywood remake rather than the original novel. Substantial changes were made to the protagonist, Ajay Sharma. In the film, Sharma's family is ruined at the hands of his father's employee, Madan Chopra. Thus, Sharma wishes to exact revenge by stealing
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190:, and then throws her from the roof of a tall building. He runs no risk of getting caught, having urged Dorothy to keep their relationship a secret from her family and friends. He continues to live with his mother, who dotes on him and has no clue as to what he has done.
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Unfazed by this setback, Corliss courts the last remaining
Kingship daughter, Marion. This affair is the most successful; Corliss sweeps her off her feet and charms her father, and soon he and Marion are engaged.
186:, however, he panics; he is sure that her stern, conservative father will disinherit her. Resolving to get rid of Dorothy, he tricks her into writing a letter that, to an unknowing observer, would look like a
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Chopra's company from him by wooing his two daughters. In this fashion, Sharma is more of an anti-hero than a pure villain, and the aspect of vengeance dominates much of the film.
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Now a modern crime classic, Levin's story centers on a charming, intelligent man who will stop at nothing, even murder, to get where he wants to go. His problem is a
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and begs for mercy. Corliss is elated by the total power he holds over the soldier; at the same time, he is disgusted by the man's display of abject terror.
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Burton “Bud” Corliss is a young man with a ruthless drive to rise above his working-class origins to a life of wealth and importance. He serves in the
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herself. Eventually, Ellen uncovers the truth about
Corliss and confronts him. Corliss nonchalantly confesses to the crime and kills Ellen as well.
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shows up at the
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Upon returning to the U.S., he enrolls in college and meets
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The most pivotal moment in his life occurs during the war, when he first wounds, then kills, a
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in 1947 he learns that his father was killed in an automobile accident while he was overseas.
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and, except for eliminating the third sister, Marion, he followed the novel's
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The novel has been adapted twice into
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woman who loves him. The solution involves desperate measures.
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The book has been adapted twice for the cinema: first in
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as Thor
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It was also an episode in the BBC 2 television series
382:"Most Underrated Psychopaths in Malayalam Cinema"
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363:... but Woolrich did not have Levin's dry wit.”
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300:Matt Dillon
279:Gerd Oswald
251:Adaptations
234:Gordon Gant
121:Edgar Award
648:Categories
391:15 January
308:Diane Ladd
304:Sean Young
275:Mary Astor
214:Characters
612:Deathtrap
494:Ira Levin
386:Pinklungi
367:Footnotes
298:starring
117:Ira Levin
104:244 pages
80:June 1953
65:Publisher
41:Ira Levin
623:Musicals
335:Baazigar
296:neo-noir
184:pregnant
166:Japanese
139:pregnant
57:Language
151:Pacific
60:English
634:(1965)
615:(1978)
607:(1974)
599:(1968)
591:(1960)
583:(1956)
562:(1997)
554:(1991)
551:Sliver
546:(1976)
538:(1972)
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502:Novels
445:Google
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180:tycoon
177:copper
37:Author
571:Plays
490:Works
101:Pages
414:ISBN
407:ISBN
393:2023
283:plot
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132:1991
128:1956
492:by
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