This is a tale of obsession, murder, mystery and betrayal. Oh, lies, also. Many, many lies. The protagonist (although. I’m not sure that’s the right word for him) is Tom Ripley, a sociopathic man who had a rough start in life and is now trying to figure out who he is. By becoming somebody else — Dickie Greenleaf. Of course, the only way to fully become somebody else is to murder them. Naturally.

I love how terrible, yet utterly compelling, Tom is. He is neurotic and spends all his time worrying about being caught. It hardly seems worth all the effort, to me. It’s like he only momentarily enjoys his ill-gotten gains.

Now, I have to be honest, it took me a while to really get into this book. I know a lot of people will have studied this text to within an inch of its life, and discovered a whole lot of clever practices that Highsmith employed. But I’m reviewing it purely on how much I enjoyed it. Once Tom became Dickie, and events became tense, I really enjoyed it. But it did take a while to get there.

I guess, the first third of the book. I would give 2.5 stars, and the latter two thirds: 4.5

Fans of psychological thrillers. This book definitely keeps your breath baited. Even though you know who has committed what crimes, and you feel sure he must be caught. And even though you know he is a terrible person, you kind of want him to get away with it. The thrill of this novel is not the committing of the crimes. Rather, it is the attempt to evade capture whilst putting yourself right in the middle of the crime.

Tom. Although, like isn’t the right word. He’s abominable. He must be sociopathic. He sneers at everyone else in the world, thinks he is superior, yet hard done by. He’s hideous. Yet, he is so utterly compelling. Highsmith is an incredible writer. She really draws you in.

The beginning, before Tom became Dickie, was a bit slow.

Read the next in the series.

Contented.

I haven’t read Patricia Highsmith before. But I now have to finish the series.

It’s clever. It’s funny. It’s exciting.

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Created Aug 23, 2022 at 4:45am • Submit your own review...