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, removin...