Description
Samuel French Ltd Rope by Patrick Hamilton
Brandon wants excitement and little cares how he gets it. He persuades his weak-minded friend, Granillo, to assist him in the murder of a fellow undergraduate. The two place the body in a wooden chest and, to add spice to their handiwork, invite a few acquaintances, including the dead man's father, round to a party, the chest with its gruesome contents serving as a supper table. The horror and tension are worked up gradually; thunder growls outside, the guests leave, and we see the reactions of the two murderers, watched closely by the suspicting Rupert Cadell. Finally, they break down under the strain and confess their guilt. The final curtain descends on Cadell blowing the whistle which will summon a waiting policeman. Rope, first produced and published in 1929, was filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1948 and remains to this day one of the classics of the thriller genre.