Review by Jamie Stanley
Many people are familiar with the movie Laura directed by Otto Preminger (1944), but they are less familiar with the novel written by Vera Caspary (1943) that is the basis for the movie. Without going into it too much, let me say the movie is similar to the book in plot, but there the similarity stops. In the movie, Laura Hunt is a pretty face, a vessel. In the book Laura Hunt is a self-possessed woman with a successful career who also happens to be attractive. Like all the males in the novel, director Preminger saw in Laura Hunt what he wanted to see in her (a possible femme fatale without depth). This is why the book should be read by anyone interested in a mystery novel with a compelling story line, nuanced characters, complex shifting first person narrative perspectives AND is unusually female forward for the day and age in which it was written. Highly recommended for adults.
