THE STEPFORD WIVES - Ira Levin

At just under 150 pages, Ira Levin's The Stepford Wives remains one of the most taut, suspenseful thrillers ever written, over forty years after its initial publication in 1972.  If you've seen the original film you know the story, but the book still deserves a read for its brilliance.  The story: Joanna and her husband Walter, the latter fed up with trying to raise their kids in the dirty, congested and crime-riddled New York City, leave the Big Apple for the bucolic suburbs of Stepford. Here, not only are the trees trimmed, lawns mowed, and houses perfectly maintained - so, Joanna soon learns, are the women, nearly all of whom (in an age where feminism was hitting its stride) seem perfectly content with doing housework, raising their children, and taking care of their hardworking husbands.  Most of the men, meanwhile, belong to a private and secretive Men's Association that Joanna grows more and more curious about - and as she pokes more into the club, and the lives of the residents of this "perfect" little community, she discovers true horror hiding behind the smiling faces and perfect bodies of these extraordinarily old-fashioned women.  The book has come under fire over the years, many speculating whether it was Levin's way of spotlighting or poking fun at the feminist movement ... but what the novel is, first and foremost, is a hell of a creepy ride.  ****1/2