Thrill (1977)
Barbara Petty
Dell Books
Spoiler Level (High)
Beautiful Katherine and slightly less-beautiful Sandra are roommates and co-workers at a big Manhattan ad firm. After Katherine bumps her head pretty hard on the glass ceiling at work one afternoon, Sandra talks her into hitting some east side bars in search of sexable men. But the pickings are slim. Just as they are about to give up for the night, however, they run into Ted. He's fairly handsome and decently dressed, so they decide to let him work his routine, which quickly turns to boastful talk about his prowess in "3-ways." The gals confer in the powder room and decide, eh, why not?
Back to Ted's bachelor pad. Things are going well (even if Sandra is slightly jealous that Katherine, as the more attractive of the pair, garners more of Ted's attentions). But Sandra is next (it's a pretty orderly 3-way as it turns out). After that, Ted suggests that Katherine and Sandra put on a "little show' for him. They may be BFF's, they say, but they ain't lesbians (I'm paraphrasing here). This causes Ted to freak out, and soon he's beating Sandra with a belt, cutting up her legs and raising nasty welts. Hysterical, Katherine grabs a letter-opener off Ted's desk and stabs him in the heart. Ted? He's dead.
What to do? What to do? Sandra decides they should wipe off all the fingerprints in the apartment and get the hell out of there. Katherine is still kind of dazed, but she goes along with it.
Come Monday, Sandra is ready to go back to work and act like nothing happened. But Katherine is still upset that she stabbed this guy to death--plus she's starting to have terrible nightmares. But the nightmares aren't about 3-wayer turned no-wayer Ted, they're about...her father!
For you see, Katherine is from a very, very rich family, but she is estranged from her father. Two reasons for this: 1). He forbid her to marry some hayseed from Iowa, even though he was the love of her life--said hayseed later killed himself by driving into a tree; 2). Daddy used to beat Katherine with... a belt!
Gradually it dawns on Sandra that SHE didn't actually kill anyone, and that she might have some leverage over oh-so pretty, oh-so rich Katherine--especially now that she knows Katherine goes insane whenever she sees someone getting whipped with belt. So she calls Katherine's millionaire father (who works on Wall St.) and they have lunch at the top of the World Trade Center. She tells Dad that Katherine is having a nervous breakdown. Dad is concerned, genuinely it seems, but he is also smitten by Sandra and sends flowers to her the next day.
Meanwhile, there's this guy named Stan at work that has been pestering Sandra for weeks to have a tryst. She finally agrees and they go out to dinner. But Stan starts drinking early and often and pretty soon Sandra realizes he's going to be next to useless in bed. Yet she goes back to Stan's secret city sex-pad anyway--where she gets an idea for a THRILL! She asks Stan if he might be interested in...a 3-way...with Katherine. Being drunk and a guy, Stan thinks that's a great idea. So Sandra calls Katherine. But she says nothing about the 3-Way, telling Katherine instead that Stan is drunk and "out of control" and she needs Katherine's help getting him home. Katherine's not happy about it, given that she's still mopey and crying and screaming at night because of her murdering, but she agrees to come over anyway. Sandra goes back to Stan and says, just for fun, why don't you take off your belt and pretend to whip me with it when Katherine gets here? She's into that, Sandra says, that'll really get the 3-way action going. Being drunk and a guy, Stan agrees. So Katherine comes over and the inevitable happens--she sees Stan "whipping" Sandra with the belt and stabs him with the letter-opener. But this time her aim isn't so good, so it's Sandra who picks up the weapon and keeps on stabbing Stan in the back until he's dead.
The next day at work, Stan is missing, Katherine pretends to be sick and stays home, and Sandra goes into the office as usual. When the gumshoes arrive later that day, having found Stan dead, they begin putting two and two together. Busted. At the very end, Sandra is looking in the mirror and thinks she's Katherine.
Very much of its moment, like Play Klutey for Me, Mr. Goodbar.
Dell Books
Spoiler Level (High)
Back to Ted's bachelor pad. Things are going well (even if Sandra is slightly jealous that Katherine, as the more attractive of the pair, garners more of Ted's attentions). But Sandra is next (it's a pretty orderly 3-way as it turns out). After that, Ted suggests that Katherine and Sandra put on a "little show' for him. They may be BFF's, they say, but they ain't lesbians (I'm paraphrasing here). This causes Ted to freak out, and soon he's beating Sandra with a belt, cutting up her legs and raising nasty welts. Hysterical, Katherine grabs a letter-opener off Ted's desk and stabs him in the heart. Ted? He's dead.
What to do? What to do? Sandra decides they should wipe off all the fingerprints in the apartment and get the hell out of there. Katherine is still kind of dazed, but she goes along with it.
Come Monday, Sandra is ready to go back to work and act like nothing happened. But Katherine is still upset that she stabbed this guy to death--plus she's starting to have terrible nightmares. But the nightmares aren't about 3-wayer turned no-wayer Ted, they're about...her father!
For you see, Katherine is from a very, very rich family, but she is estranged from her father. Two reasons for this: 1). He forbid her to marry some hayseed from Iowa, even though he was the love of her life--said hayseed later killed himself by driving into a tree; 2). Daddy used to beat Katherine with... a belt!
Gradually it dawns on Sandra that SHE didn't actually kill anyone, and that she might have some leverage over oh-so pretty, oh-so rich Katherine--especially now that she knows Katherine goes insane whenever she sees someone getting whipped with belt. So she calls Katherine's millionaire father (who works on Wall St.) and they have lunch at the top of the World Trade Center. She tells Dad that Katherine is having a nervous breakdown. Dad is concerned, genuinely it seems, but he is also smitten by Sandra and sends flowers to her the next day.
Meanwhile, there's this guy named Stan at work that has been pestering Sandra for weeks to have a tryst. She finally agrees and they go out to dinner. But Stan starts drinking early and often and pretty soon Sandra realizes he's going to be next to useless in bed. Yet she goes back to Stan's secret city sex-pad anyway--where she gets an idea for a THRILL! She asks Stan if he might be interested in...a 3-way...with Katherine. Being drunk and a guy, Stan thinks that's a great idea. So Sandra calls Katherine. But she says nothing about the 3-Way, telling Katherine instead that Stan is drunk and "out of control" and she needs Katherine's help getting him home. Katherine's not happy about it, given that she's still mopey and crying and screaming at night because of her murdering, but she agrees to come over anyway. Sandra goes back to Stan and says, just for fun, why don't you take off your belt and pretend to whip me with it when Katherine gets here? She's into that, Sandra says, that'll really get the 3-way action going. Being drunk and a guy, Stan agrees. So Katherine comes over and the inevitable happens--she sees Stan "whipping" Sandra with the belt and stabs him with the letter-opener. But this time her aim isn't so good, so it's Sandra who picks up the weapon and keeps on stabbing Stan in the back until he's dead.
The next day at work, Stan is missing, Katherine pretends to be sick and stays home, and Sandra goes into the office as usual. When the gumshoes arrive later that day, having found Stan dead, they begin putting two and two together. Busted. At the very end, Sandra is looking in the mirror and thinks she's Katherine.
Very much of its moment, like Play Klutey for Me, Mr. Goodbar.
