The Talented Mr Ripley

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


There aren’t many books that I have shelved as “6 stars” but my first reading of The Talented Mr Ripley left me in no doubt where this one was going.

Not only was it my introduction to Patricia Highsmith’s own singular talent – that of writing suspense – but also to the experience of becoming entirely invested in the survival of the anti-hero, in this case the charming murderous psychopath, Tom Ripley.

I have watched all three screen versions of the novel, but none really comes close to capturing the fine balance, the knife edge that Tom Ripley walks between success and disaster, while all the time taking the reader with him on his journey towards riches and freedom.

In her book about writing, Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction, in answer to the question, “What is suspense?” she replies, “A story in which the possibility of violent action, even death, is close all the time.” What she adds in the first of the five Ripley novels is that the possibility of capture is also close all the time – and I think this, in tandem with the reader’s reluctant admiration for Tom, is what elevates this story above most.

I shan’t try to outline the plot, other than to say that at times it feels like protagonist and author are vying to outdo one another with their audacity!




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