Tuesday 29 January 2013

Patricia Highsmith's Ripley's Game


"Tom had started the Trevanny game out of curiosity, and because Trevanny had once sneered at him - and because Tom wanted to see if his own wild shot would find its mark, and make Jonathan Trevanny, who Tom sensed was priggish and self-righteous, uneasy for a time."

Most annoyingly I seem to have missed book number 2 of the Ripley novels and moved straight to novel 3. Perhaps something happened in book 2 to cause the calculating murderer of  The Talented Mr Ripley to morph into a much more mellow assassin - I can only guess.

One fact remains, it is best to not appear on Tom Ripley's radar. Not if you want to live a long, murder-free life, as the slighted and sickly Jonathan Trevanny discovers in Ripley's Game.

Murderous mafia capers in Fontainebleau ensue and Highsmith's writing is as compelling as ever. What lengths will the everyman figure of Trevanny go to provide for his poor family? What sinister antics will Tom get up to this time?

You will have to pick up a copy and find out for yourself - I'm not going to spoil the fun of it. I'd rate it a 4 out of 5 and it only lost one mark because I like my Ripley even more dastardly. Apparently there are 5 books in total, so who knows what the others will bring?

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