Customer Reviews

Ripley's Game

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In her book about plotting and writing thrillers, Patricia Highsmith said that European critics and publishers think of her books as novels, not merely as thrillers. After reading "Ripley's Game", one can certainly sympathize with the European point of view. "Ripley's Game" is an excellent thriller and an excellent novel.

I suspect that this book finds Tom Ripley in mid career. He's married and living on a French estate thanks to the generosity of a father-in-law who despises him. A series of chance events provide Ripley with the opportunity to simultaneously repay an insult and to help a friend commit a crime. The ensuing action comprises one of Patricia Highsmith's most interesting stories.

Ripley engineers events so that the man who insulted him ends up committing the crime for his friend. But a sense of guilt and an adventurous spirit compel Ripley to come to the man's assistance. Since crimes never succeed in the exact manner intended, Ripley and company soon find themselves in a desperate situation that requires a lot of maneuvering.

By the end of the story, at least two people with conventional mores wind up behaving in a manner that contradicts their ethics. While Ripley's point of view is a little more subdued than usual, he still displays a few humorous touches. In the scene where he decides that he must garrote a Mafia leader, for example, he becomes excited at the thought of "his first Mafia effort". Later when he must explain the presence of two dead Mafia hitmen to a frightened housewife, he becomes the country gentlemen informing her that these people are vermin whose death is regrettable but who deserved their fate.

Patricia Highsmith usually writes from the point of view of a single protagonist, and since all speech and action is conveyed through that person, we quickly see things from his or her point of view. In this novel, however, the action is disseminated through two points of view, Ripley's and that of his puppet/accomplice. The result is both interesting and unsettling. On the one hand, we really get a sense of what other people think of Tom Ripley, and how much of his criminal life is apparent to them. On the other hand, it's a strange change to observe Ripley from the outside instead of seeing the action from his point of view.

"Ripley's Game" examines the forces that motivate a normally law abiding citizen to commit a crime. In the process it causes us to question how circumstantial our own morality and legal obedience may actually be.

The best of the Ripley books. It starts off like the Eurostar train - that can only go at a slow speed on the English tracks; but once it hits France it takes off at 200 mph. Once again the charming sociopath starts a chain of events that keeps the reader glued to the page, turning them faster and faster to the explosive ending. The best of the best.

Tom Ripley after playing a foolish trick on a fellow townsman for slighting Ripley, unknowingly sends the mans life into a tailspin. In this novel of the series Tom is faced with trying to put back together the life of a good man whos life has been turned upside down by the unwitting events that Tom sets into play. The consequences and choices that are made by these two men are heart rending and leaves the reader feeling quite unsettled to the very last page. A dark and fascinating read.

Although every Ripley book is a great book (except for maybe The Boy Who Followed Ripley Home), this is
the best.
The usual twisted morality, plus a violent showdown with the mob.
A thrilling testament to modern individuality.
Try not to take his side.

I cannot urge people strongly enough to read this book. Tom continues his capers in style, and what a delight to follow along. Introduces many major elements in what would become a very entertaining series of books. Read with amazement as Tom Ripley begins an actual relationship with another human being(!) Highsmith writes with such flair that I feel like I've BEEN to 'Belle Ombre' after reading these books! Highest rating!

You might as well know you're reading a review by a bona fide Highsmith addict; her books have everything a good novel needs --solid plotting, convincing characters whose choices govern the storyline, deep truths, and a strong local flavor. "Ripley's Game" has plenty of this, and like most of her books it's next to impossible to put down -- esp. the last 100 pages.

I didn't like #2, "Ripley Under Ground"; it seemed amateurish and at times even improvised. "Game," on the other hand, is a masterpiece. Here Ripley takes a backseat to the alluring and amazing character of Jonathan Trevanny, who gets caught up in a plot to assassinate mafiosi in Eastern Europe. There's enough food for thought in this book to fuel about a dozen other novels, and the interrelations between the characters -- esp. Trevanny and his wife -- are fascinating and utterly convincing. Right now a film is planned, with Malkovich as Ripley and Dougray Scott as Trevanny; I hope they don't screw it up!

Incidentally, this "sequel" stands firmly on its own and doesn't require knowledge of the first two books; I can't wait to get on the Ripleys 4 and 5.

As the Washington Post said, this isn't for the weak-minded or impressionable -- but absolutely mesmerizing. There's no one like Patricia Highsmith.

This third crime novel using the character of Tom Ripley has mysterious intrigue written all over it. It's got a mix of Italian Mafia blended with Alfred Hitchcock-like suspense. I'd love to see this sequel made into a film like THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY. The subtle homosexual hints in the book made me realize that the female author had plenty of gay friendships. In any case, she had a great talent for writing that keeps you on the edge of your seat. A few lines in the book that I liked were: There's no such thing as a perfect murder. That's just a parlor game, trying to dream one up. Of course you could say there are a lot of unsolved murders. That's different... Gone was the excuse of paintings that Tom wanted framed. One didn't help Tom kill people, help him get rid of corpses, because one was going to frame a few pictures.

Ripley's Game is the third novel in the series by Patricia Highsmith, taking off where Ripley Under Ground left us since we learn the he got off scot-free once again. Ripley's thin skin shows in this novel when he is coldly received at a party given by Jonathan Trevanny that he takes as an insult. He repays Trevanny by suggesting to Reeves, for whom Ripley has done a few smuggling jobs for, that Trevanny could be approached to do a couple of Mafia hits.

Jonathan Trevanny is a sympathetic character; married with a young boy named Georges he has a framing business in Fontainebleau that allows him to just get by and he is also dying of leukemia. Ripley informs Reeves that Trevanny might be convinced to do the job because of his leukemia and the money that he would get from the jobs would leave his wife and son well off. Patricia Highsmith fleshes out Trevanny very well and spends a great deal of time over his feelings and motivation for accepting the Reeves' assignment. The step-by-step relating of events leading up to Trevanny's first murder I found riveting, and Tom Ripley disappeared into the background. Tom eventually rejoins the story and develops a bond with Trevanny but Reeves' plan to start a Maria family war does not go as planned. The ending, for me, was more satisfying than that of Ripley Under Ground and made me interested in the next installment.

A film was made from Ripley's Game which adapted the book with some substantial differences that would be expected. The film is notable for John Malkovich's performance as Tom Ripley who was far more successful than Matt Damon in conveying Ripley's charm and amoral attitude. I recommend the book as being a interesting development in the Ripley series, well-written and definitely something that will hold your interest.

Reeves Minot, an old acquaintance of Tom Ripley's, is dabbling in the illegal gambling world of Hamburg and he wants Tom to get rid of one or two Mafia people who bother him. But because Tom has been enjoying a peaceful and secure existence in his house in Villeperce since the Derwatt affair, he is not prepared to do the job himself. Instead he suggests - more as a practical joke than anything serious because the man had been nasty to him once at a party - a person called Jonathan Trevanny to do the two killings. Jonathan is a thirty-five year old, mild mannered picture framer in Fontainebleau suffering from leukaemia and he agrees to do the job because of the comfort the 90 000 Dollars will bring to his wife Simone and small boy George. But killing Salvatore Bianca and Vito Marcangelo is going to have consequences that not even a Tom Ripley could have foreseen. "The Mafia never forgets" indeed!...

A very entertaining Ripley mystery in Patricia Highsmith's famous style in which one can feel danger and menace lurking permanently in familiar surroundings.

For some reason Tom Ripley is back. One of the most famous anti-hero in the policial literature is back to kill and play his game one more time. But Tom Ripley doesn't like to kill. But we, readers, are always willing to read his next adventure.

Having his own moral and ghosts, Ripley is one of the most fascinating characters created in the 20 Century. He is so peculiar, and nuanced that many writers tried to copy him, or even invent someone similar, but none works. After all, there was only one Patricia Highsmith, a master of thrillers.

There was such a tie linking her to her creation that it is hard to tell where one finishes and the other begins. Both are very cultured, smart, with good taste. But I don't believe she's ever killed anyone --on the other hand, Ripley did. Not because he likes doing that, much the contrary. But it is like a snowball, and he ends up forced to take charge of the situation and someone gets brutally murdered. That's how his life is, since his debut in "The Talented Mr. Ripley".

Back again in "Ripley's Game" the character is forced to get involved in a crime. One more time he is forced to face all the moral and personal dilemmas of killing another human being. At this time, he's set in Italy leading an extravagant life, but not bothering people, until someone needs his help.

As one of the most complex and well-developed characters in the noir literature, Ripley does not disappoint his fans. He is ready to show all his knowledge and also his skills to eliminate someone. And with her talent, Patricia Highsmith, one more time, makes us fall for the `villain'. In the hands of a less talented author, Ripley would be a pretentious mad man, that we would love to see caught by the police. But with Highsmith's skills we love him, and can imagine him being caught.

"Ripley's Game" is the third book in the serie. And since the character was introduced in the first novel --The Talented Mr. Ripley-- Highsmith does not beat around the bush. The novel begins in the full swing introducing a new character that will be almost as important as Ripley, and this new man will force Ripley get back in action.

It is advisable to read "The Talented Mr. Ripley", before Ripley's game so that the reader will know who he is and what he's been through.