Bask - Shop now
$11.99 with 33 percent savings
Digital List Price: $17.99

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Sold by Amazon.com Services LLC.

Audiobook Price: $17.46

Save: $9.97 (57%)

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Joyce Maynard
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

To Die For: A Novel Kindle Edition

by Joyce Maynard (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 out of 5 stars 729 ratings
“A seductive page-turner” about a murderously ambitious cable-news star by the New York Times–bestselling author of Labor Day (The New York Times Book Review).

Local weather reporter Suzanne Maretto craves nothing more than to transcend life at her suburban cable television news station and follow in the footsteps of her idol: Barbara Walters. When she concludes that her unglamorous husband is getting in the way of her dream of stardom, the solution seems obvious: Get rid of him. She seduces a fifteen-year-old admirer, Jimmy, and persuades him to do her dirty work. Mission accomplished, Suzanne takes to the airwaves in her new role as grieving widow, in search of a TV deal. If that means selling Jimmy down the river, she’s ready.

Maynard’s brilliant, funny, and groundbreaking novel—adapted by Gus Van Sant into the cult classic movie of the same name, starring Nicole Kidman—was first published in 1992 before the era of manufactured stardom and the phenomenon of televised murder trials as entertainment. The book still stands as a razor-sharp satire of celebrity-fixated culture and the American obsession with TV—a novel that imagined the phenomenon of reality television before its creation, with alternately bone-chilling and hilarious accuracy.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Joyce Maynard including rare photos from the author’s personal collection.
Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    424 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Open Road Media
  4. Publication date
    April 17, 2012
  5. File size
    5.7 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
Next slide of product details

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Taking her inspiration from a recent murder trial, Maynard ( Baby Love ) reimagines the protagonists in fictional form: 22-year-old Suzanne Maretto, a pathologically self-absorbed, ruthlessly ambitious would-be TV journalist, and the three high school misfits she recruits to kill her husband so that she can be free to pursue her chosen career. Using short vignettes related by 24 characters involved in the incident--parents, neighbors, a high school principal, even Phil Donahue--Maynard attempts to show how Suzanne could gull all three fatherless, poverty-stricken teenagers into committing murder for her sake. While carefully thought out and constructed, the narrative is only partially convincing. Although she does a good job of conveying Suzanne's low intelligence in monologues replete with pretentious errors ("myself having been a very different sort of individual"), Maynard fails both to make the voices of other characters sound genuine and to differentiate among them. In addition, Suzanne is so singleminded, manipulative and obtuse that she is essentially a caricature. Maynard is, however, more deft in her portrayal of our pervasive, pernicious TV culture, especially its influence on the lower middle class. Though Maynard's imagined ending is a cop-out, those not familiar with the outlines of the original case may find the novel absorbing. First serial to Penthouse; Literary Guild selection .
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Perky, aspiring newscaster Suzanne Maretto persuades her teenaged lover and his buddy to kill her straight-arrow husband; just deserts follow for all. Suzanne, who thinks that ``if people could just be on TV all the time, the whole human race would probably be a much better group of individuals,'' sets out to captivate the none-too-bright kids she's interviewing for a demo tape that'll get her out of her local (suburban Boston) station and onto the network fast track. There's Jimmy Emmet, who worships her as stupidly as does her hapless restaurant-family husband Larry; Russell Hines, who's just in it for the thousand dollars; and Lydia Mertz, who's so hopelessly smitten with Suzanne's big-sister glamour that she's willing to supply the gun. But the real culprits, as bestselling author/media-child Maynard (Baby Love, 1981; Domestic Affairs, 1987, etc.) keeps screaming in an amusingly flat series of self-revealing monologues, are Malibu Barbie, Victoria's Secret, Wheel of Fortune, abusive (or adoring) parents, and Donahue--all the accoutrements of cut-rate acculturation that give her characters such venal dreams and mindless determination. Maynard's ear for sincere garbage (``We're so connected, I can taste her Tic Tac,'' boasts Jimmy after Suzanne deflowers him) is as sharp as ever, but after 50 pages of such homogeneous stuff you'll start looking for the exit--unless, of course, your own taste for pulp romances of sex, power, and violence are just as depraved as the ones so lovingly excoriated here. What's most offensive here, as in Bret Easton Ellis's notorious American Psycho, is the raised-nostril pretense that this revolted attack on pop culture, already due for serialization in Penthouse, stands above it all. A more penetrating writer could have a field day analyzing recent popular fiction's disavowal of the tawdry culture that continues to grip it as tightly as Suzanne holds Jimmy. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B007S7JYWS
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Road Media (April 17, 2012)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 17, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 5.7 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 424 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 729 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Joyce Maynard

Joyce Maynard

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

A native of New Hampshire, Joyce Maynard began publishing her stories in magazines when she was thirteen years old. She first came to national attention with the publication of her New York Times cover story, “An Eighteen Year Old Looks Back on Life”, in 1972, when she was a freshman at Yale.

Since then, she has been a reporter and columnist for The New York Times, a syndicated newspaper columnist whose “Domestic Affairs” column appeared in over fifty papers nationwide, a regular contributor to NPR and national magazines including Vogue, The New York Times Magazine, and many more, and a longtime performer with The Moth.

Maynard is the author of seventeen books, including the novel To Die For and the best-selling memoir, At Home in the World—translated into sixteen languages. Her novel, To Die For was adapted for the screen by Buck Henry for a film directed by Gus Van Sant , in which Joyce can be seen in the role of Nicole Kidman’s lawyer.. Her novel Labor Day was adapted and directed by Jason Reitman for a film starring Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin, to whom Joyce offered instruction for making the pie that appeared in a crucial scene in the film.

The mother of three grown children, Maynard runs workshops in memoir at her home in Lafayette California. In 2002 she founded The Lake Atitlan Writing Workshop in San Marcos La Laguna, Guatemala, where she hosts a weeklong workshop in personal storytelling every winter.

She is a fellow of The MacDowell Colony and Yaddo.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
729 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Customers say

Customers find the book thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining, with a fast-paced narrative that's hard to put down. The story quality receives positive feedback for its interesting storytelling technique, and customers appreciate the great character development based on multiple perspectives. While the sharp satire is appreciated by some, others find the book not worth the time.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Select to learn more

34 customers mention "Readability"34 positive0 negative

Customers find the book thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining to read.

"This story immediately drew me in and kept me interested...." Read more

"...Interesting technique that kept me engaged, but story was too simple and not really worth the time." Read more

"...Overall a great read. Ms Maynard is great at developing the character of her fictional figures, in this case, Suzanne in particular.." Read more

"...several years ago, and enjoying both the sharp satire and the strong performances..." Read more

24 customers mention "Story quality"24 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the story's multiple-narrator format and rich detail, making it an easy and engaging read.

"...Although it turns out the movie is a pretty faithful adaptation of the book, there is a lot in the book that got left out of the movie..." Read more

"...In this case the way it is written is much more interesting than the implausible storyline...." Read more

"...Most are fairly brief. This is an interesting way to tell a story. Ending was good but somewhat abrupt...." Read more

"...It's well-written, with several very different perspectives that each maintain their own voice..." Read more

16 customers mention "Character development"13 positive3 negative

Customers appreciate the character development in the book, noting that it is based on multiple points of view.

"...rich detail in the book and the voices are so clear and pitch-perfect for the characters...." Read more

"...Overall a great read. Ms Maynard is great at developing the character of her fictional figures, in this case, Suzanne in particular.." Read more

"...I also liked how we got a look into each character for their take on Suzanne...." Read more

"Good easy read for when you want something light. Characters are developed well and you get the feeling you know them, although my only real..." Read more

4 customers mention "Page turner"4 positive0 negative

Customers describe the book as a page turner.

"...I agree with others who say it was indeed a page turner, even though you pretty much know where it is headed. Maynard's diagog is right-on, for sure...." Read more

"the book was okay. it kept me turning the pages. a different story about a female reporter getting mixed up with three misfit teens from ...." Read more

"...As written, it kept you turning the pages. A rather sleezy story." Read more

"it's a page turner......" Read more

3 customers mention "Difficulty to put down"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book hard to put down.

"...Murder lies in the center of the story and it was hard to put down...." Read more

"This is not literature, but it is a solid three star, hard-to-put-down book. It is much better than the movie." Read more

"I enjoyed this book. It was easy an quick to read. Great character development. Storyline a bit familiar but okay." Read more

3 customers mention "Pacing"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the pacing of the book.

"...t wasn't one of those "I can't put this down" books, i finished it fast and was completely satisfied." Read more

"...It was well written and fast paced. Highly recommended" Read more

"told from various points of view of the characters. fast-paced, fascinating premise." Read more

11 customers mention "Satire"6 positive5 negative

Customers have mixed reactions to the satire in the book, with some appreciating its sharp wit while others find it predictable.

"...treatment of this book several years ago, and enjoying both the sharp satire and the strong performances..." Read more

"...Interesting technique that kept me engaged, but story was too simple and not really worth the time." Read more

"I loved this darkly humorous story of narcissistic Suzanne Moretto who was obsessed with her own ambitions for television fame...." Read more

"pretty predictable, kept my interest as much as it aggravated me. it's almost identical to a plot used for a lifetime movie...." Read more

9 customers mention "Enjoyment"3 positive6 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book's entertainment value, with some finding it highly enjoyable while others say it's not worth the time.

"...Altogether it is a wonderfully good novel even though it is not enjoyable." Read more

"...Interesting technique that kept me engaged, but story was too simple and not really worth the time." Read more

"It was OK, but a little boring." Read more

"This was a very disappointing book. I had read Labor Day, and thought it was a wonderful piece of writing...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • GadgetChick
    5.0 out of 5 stars Of course, better than the movie
    Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2009
    Verified Purchase
    After being a fan of the movie 'To Die For' with Nicole Kidman for many years, I decided to finally read the book on which it was based. The book did not disappoint me. Although it turns out the movie is a pretty faithful adaptation of the book, there is a lot in the book that got left out of the movie (obviously, you can't put every little thing from a 300+ page book into a 2-hr movie). There's a lot of rich detail in the book and the voices are so clear and pitch-perfect for the characters. I really, really loved reading this and it's become one of my new favorite novels.
    14 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Math AD
    4.0 out of 5 stars Good story
    Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    This story immediately drew me in and kept me interested. A lot of characters areinvolved, but once you start the chapter it's easy to figure out who it is talking about. Interesting tale. It could be plausible.
    Helpful
     Report
  • Queen aleta
    3.0 out of 5 stars interesting storytelling technique but slow implausible story
    Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    I am a readers reader, which means I get enjoyment from the storyline and also from the way a story is written. In this case the way it is written is much more interesting than the implausible storyline. Basically a teacher seduces a boy and leads him to commit murder. But, the interesting part is that it is told in reverse. The murder occurs before the book starts and each chapter is a telling of the story from the perspective of different characters. Interesting technique that kept me engaged, but story was too simple and not really worth the time.
    11 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • warbler
    5.0 out of 5 stars Another Great Story from Ms Maynard
    Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Each chapter is the voice of a character. Most are fairly brief. This is an interesting way to tell a story. Ending was good but somewhat abrupt. I would have liked a bit more detail on what happens to the main character (Suzanne) at the end.

    Overall a great read. Ms Maynard is great at developing the character of her fictional figures, in this case, Suzanne in particular..
    3 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Gabby M
    4.0 out of 5 stars Chasing Fame Turns Sour
    Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Suzanne Maretto, the main character of Joyce Maynard's To Die For, desperately wants to be famous. She wants nothing more in life than to be a national news anchor, and she pursues that goal with relentless determination. Not even just like Jim Harbaugh levels of determination. Attacking each day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind isn't enough. She will do whatever it takes. If that means taking out her good-natured husband because he has the gall to want to start a family, well, that's what it means. She begins an affair with an underprivileged, not especially bright high school student and convinces him and his friends to carry out the hit.

    The story is told in a multiple-narrator format. We don't know at the beginning that this is the story of a murder, just that something big must have happened. Chapters are told from the viewpoints of Suzanne's parents, her teenage lover, his friends, her husband's parents and friends, and even Suzanne herself (among others). Slowly, the story emerges: the affair, the murder, the arrests, the aftermath. It's well-written, with several very different perspectives that each maintain their own voice (her parents both think she's the bee's knees, but the tone of each parent varies from the other) and so engaging that you keep thinking "just one more chapter" (they're all short) and before you know it you've gobbled through half the book.

    I remember seeing the movie treatment of this book several years ago, and enjoying both the sharp satire and the strong performances (Nicole Kidman as Suzanne and Joaquin Phoenix as her young boyfriend were both particularly good). Both the book and the movie depict that rare beast: the sociopathic female. It seems that career ambition is the new social climbing for ladies with anti-social personality disorder. While Scarlett O'Hara and Becky Sharp schemed to land themselves wealthy husbands, Suzanne Maretto and her obvious counterpart, Tracy Flick, maneuver to achieve professional goals. This makes me a little uncomfortable, honestly. I don't think you need to look further than the discourse that has surrounded Hillary Clinton during her time in public office to see that a woman who is too obviously interested in power is treated as some sort of freakish anomaly. I'm in my second traditionally male profession (the law, now lobbying) and the double standards at work are very real and very persistent.
    12 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Joan Speckin
    5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant! I literally consumed this book in two afternoons! fabulous story and plot!!
    Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    I would never have even ventured a guess about where this story was going when I began reading one afternoon. But…in a matter of a few chapters, I couldn’t put this book down! Brilliantly conceived and written!
    Helpful
     Report
  • Durann
    3.0 out of 5 stars easy read
    Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    pretty predictable, kept my interest as much as it aggravated me. it's almost identical to a plot used for a lifetime movie. so read, of you're into that kinda stuff.
    Helpful
     Report
  • georgewilson
    2.0 out of 5 stars Two Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    LONG AND DRAWEN OUT!
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • Mr.D.
    5.0 out of 5 stars As described, fast delivery.. thank you
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 28, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    Very nice book and great customer service. Thank you
    Report
  • Lisa Lahey
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great story and uniquely written
    Reviewed in Canada on May 26, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    This is a fiction based on the Pamela Smart murder case when she had her husband killed by 2 teenagers, one with whom she had a sexual relationship. The author chose to write it her way and it is excellent. I normally don't like fiction and I don't like non-fiction written as fiction but this one is great! Worth a read.
    Report
  • Jacinda
    5.0 out of 5 stars Best read
    Reviewed in Australia on January 1, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Loved it loosely based on the Pamela smart case and now a movie this is a well put together un put down able book now one of my favorites recommended 😃
    Report
  • Rosie
    2.0 out of 5 stars Flawed
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 19, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Strange story
    Report
  • Weezie From Dartmouth
    5.0 out of 5 stars Another Winner
    Reviewed in Canada on May 18, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    It's really hard to put into words just how much I enjoyed this book. Another one that is hard to put down. I highly recommend it.
    Report

Report an issue


Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report