Ripliad

Our face to face book club is on summer hiatus. At the June meeting, several of us suggested we just meet showing our true reading addictions -- mystery novels. Blog buddy mentioned she'd like to read The Talented Mr. Ripley and maybe double header the group get together with the movie. No date was agreed to, but off I went into the wealth of Patricia Highsmith.

Finished TTMR over a week ago, and the movie, as I recall it, holds remarkably true to the novel. If anything, Ripley comes across as more swarmy, a very high functioning sociopath. What surprised me was that TTMR was the first of five Ripley-centered novels Highsmith wrote. Finished the second in the series published fifteen years later, Ripley Under Ground. These books are well-written page turners and I could hardly wait for Tom to kill his first victim and construct his rationalization and sit back for his alibis to successfully acquit him.

RUP has Tom involved in art forgeries. The theme of being something that is not appears everywhere in the plot line. As well as the artwork being faked, Tom and another character maintain disguises, both pretending to be the long-dead forged artist Derwatt. Now Tom has garnered a couple of slightly awry accomplices: the unexplained wife Heloise and Reeves who uses Tom to convey incriminating tapes.

Highsmith does not follow the standard murder mystery formula: Tom is not brought to justice. He is not a likeable rogue; she portrays him as a cold-blooded opportunist with a dandy's demeanor, hungry for the finest trappings life affords. Can't wait to finish the other three.