A Perfect Crime - Softcover

Abrahams, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345426800 ISBN 13: 9780345426802

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1999

Synopsis

Distraught by a failing marriage, Francie Cullingwood enters into a secret affair with charismatic radio psychologist Ned Demarco. But what seems like a refuge takes a decidedly dark turn. For when the liaison is discovered, a seething, enraged genius begins to construct the perfect, flawless murder, manipulating Francie, her lover, and her best friend like chess pieces in a lethal game. But even the most brilliant mind can make mistakes. And soon the intricate plan is spinning wildly out of control--in shocking, fatal directions. . . .

An unfaithful wife. A cheating lover. A loyal friend. A jealous husband. In this stunning thriller, four lives hang in precarious balance--as a cunning killer prepares their roles in A Perfect Crime.

About this title

Review:

Though he is a very smart man (his IQ is 181, "on a bad day"), Roger Cullingwood is remarkably unperceptive. It takes months for him to realize that his wife Francie is involved with another man. But once he recognizes the affair, he hatches a plot to kill her--the perfect crime of the title--in less time than it takes him to finish the London Times crossword puzzle. It makes perfect sense that Roger wouldn't dream of doing the dirty deed himself; there's a paroled killer conveniently on hand, an easily manipulated psychotic named Whitey Truax. It's when Anne Franklin, the wife of Francie's lover, blunders into the murder scene Roger has so carefully contrived that the novel begins to get interesting. There are a few diversions to entertain the reader en route to the bloody denouement, including a couple of lively tennis matches. In one of the book's many coincidences, Francie ends up partnered with her lover's wife in a championship tournament. The sex is better than the violence, but what Abrahams excels at is pace; you could start and finish A Perfect Crime on the New York to Los Angeles redeye and still have time for a nap before the plane lands. --Jane Adams

From the Publisher:

Shock is available to us because Abrahams has written more than a crime story here. His prose is elegant by any literary standard, and the other characters in "A Perfect Crime", the nonvillains, whose flaws lie within the ordinary human range, are engaging and fully rounded, especially the women...Abrahams grips us so closely, line by line, making everything hyper-real...in this case the conventions of the genre have packaged not only the expected thrills but the always unexpected bonus: good writing

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0345426800
• ISBN 13: 9780345426802
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384