Sliver (1991) is a novel by U.S author Ira Levin about the mysterious goings-on in a privately-owned New York highrise apartment building, especially after a new tenant -- an attractive young woman working in publishing -- has moved in. Phillip Noyce directed a film based on the book in 1993.
Synopsis
Warning: Wikipedia contains spoilersWhen she makes the acquaintance of a handsome and friendly young man who lives in the same "sliver" building she does not know at first that he is the owner. While keeping a low profile himself, he turns out to know an awful lot about the other inhabitants including many of their secrets. It then turns out that he is a modern-day Peeping Tom who, unknown to everyone, has had surveillance cameras and microphones installed in every single apartment of the house, with his own place in the building serving as his headquarters. The novel is also a murder mystery, and the beautiful heroine soon becomes a damsel in distress herself.
Film version
Phillip Noyce's film version (1993, screenplay by Joe Eszterhas, who also wrote Basic Instinct) deviates considerably from the plot of the book. The film starred Sharon Stone and William Baldwin. The movie takes rather a simplistic stance on voyeurism, suggesting that wanting to secretly observe people and thus invading their privacy is part of human nature. Levin's novel, on the other hand, tries to draw a line between man's innate curiosity and pathological and compulsive behaviour patterns.
