Sliver

Kay Norris, a successful single woman, moves into a posh Manhattan high-rise that harbors a shocking, evil secret relating to the building owner, in a chilling novel about power and its temptations

Short, slick, and not up to snuff is the latest suspense thriller by the author of The Boys from Brazil ( LJ 4/15/76). Levin draws on his experience as a screen playwright during the Golden Age of Television to create hero Sam Yale, a down-and-out veteran TV director who lives in a "sliver" high rise in Manhattan's Carnegie Hill district. The novel's central character is Yale's neighbor, Kay Norris, an editor at a major publishing house. The young son of a famous soap actress owns their building and seems to know everything about his tenants, past and present--including several who met grisly deaths. When it's almost too late, Norris and Yale discover their demonic landlord's secret--that he watches real-life daytime (and nighttime) dramas with TV monitors he has placed in each apartment. It's contrived, but there are some surprising moments. Literary Guild main selection.
- Joyce Smothers, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Manalapan, N.J.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.