The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

 The Talented Mr. Ripley

by Patricia Highsmith

Tom Ripley is a con artist, though this is not blatantly stated. While running away from an impending arrest, Tom is approached by Mr. Greenleaf who asks Tom to go to Italy and convince his son Dickie to come home. Mr. Greenleaf believes Tom and Dickie are good friends and that Tom would have some influence over him. Tom sees an opportunity for escape when Mr. Greenleaf offers to pay his way.

In Italy, Tom finds that he enjoys living the carefree life of the rich, even though he seems to despise them. And he feels the same about Dickie when they meet. Dickie lives the kind of life Tom wishes he had. When his attempts to persuade Dickie to return to the US fails, Tom decides to stay with Dickie, to become his best friend if he can, and continue to travel with Dickie at Dickie's expense. Things don't go to plan, however, and Tom realizes that in order to live this life, he needs to wholly become Dickie. And he does just that, removing Dickie himself from the equation.

Tom uses his talents and con artist skills to travel around on Dickie's money, living lavishly and seeing Italy and other nearby places. But Dickie's friends come calling and Tom has to commit further atrocities in order to keep himself in the clear. When the law starts to catch up with hi, Tom has to revert back to being himself, something he despises. It is a game of cat and mouse, in a way, and a mystery in reverse. Tom Ripley doesn't intend to give up so easily, and in the end it all seems to work out his way.

This was a great book, full of suspense and tension. Tom's character was full of paranoia, narcissism, and sociopathy which was fun to read. It was fun to be in his head as he worked out his devious plans. I liked the homoerotic undertones, though they never amount to anything. The plot was engaging, the characters believeable, the pacing perfect. Tom Ripley's mind was fascinating and this book made me interested to pick up the others in the series. I give The Talented Mr. Ripley 4.5 stars. The only thing missing for me was an emotional reaction on my part. Though I was fully into the story it didn't viscerally affect me.