The Two Faces of January [Paperback]

Patricia Highsmith (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Arrow Books (1986)
• ISBN-10: 0099448408
• ISBN-13: 978-0099448402
• ASIN: B002WGCQ0C
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995) was the author of more than twenty novels, including Strangers on a Train, The Price of Salt and The Talented Mr. Ripley, as well as numerous short stories.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars one of the best by Highsmith, January 1, 2002

By 

Ann Ueda - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Two Faces of January (Highsmith, Patricia) (Paperback)

If you are already a Patricia Highsmith fan, I would highly recommend this book next.

While the book starts out somewhat slowly, I think this pacing helps set the overall mood of the book and allows the reader to settle into a Highsmith "high" in anticipation of another skillfully written book. At any rate, by chapter two, everything starts to wind/unwind as the book settles into typical Highsmith high-gear which, if you're like me, will soon leave you physicially and mentally breathless in an attempt to keep up!

The foreign setting of the book is also a delight, and the reader quickly becomes a part of the story, shadowing the 3 main characters in and out of the various cities, hotels, towns, and nefarious deeds that happen. There is also this undercurrent of very fine wit and humor throughout the book.

The ending is, of course, the best part. It's been many, many years since I was last compelled to rush to the last page, as I neared the end of the book, to find out what happened. The ending is also prime Highsmith and a bit of a surprise--not, perhaps, for the characters in the book or the storyline, but certainly for Highsmith during this particular period of her writing.

A great holiday/vacation read for anyone with a few days of peace to settle into the book--and to savor it from start to finish!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An absorbing suspense novel, July 20, 2004

By 

HORAK (Zug, Switzerland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Two Faces of January (Hardcover)

Chester Mc Farland, a clever swindler and defrauder, is travelling in Greece with his wife Colette. They are about to arrive in Athens and settle into The King's Palace.
Another American also present in Athens at the same time is Rydal Keener. He is spending several months in Europe on what money he inherited from his grandmother.
It is when Rydal sees Chester at the Benaki Museum for the first time that his resemblance to Rydal's father's twin brother strikes him. Rydal then decides to keep an eye on Chester. A few days later, Chester gets the unpleasant visit of a Greek police officer who informs him that he is working in co-operation with the American authorities. The latter are apparently more and more interested in Chester's shady past. Realising that he may well be arrested and extradited, Chester hits the policeman who then stumbles and falls, banging his head against the bathtub. A fatal blow. Chester immediately understands that he must hide the body in a small store-room down the corridor. It is at the precise moment when Chester is dragging the corps in the corridor that Rydal appears on the landing and witnesses Chester's act. Will Rydal help or blackmail Chester?
As good as "Strangers on a train" or the Ripley series by the same author.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It Cries Out for a Good Movie Director, September 24, 2007

By 

Stephanie DePue (Carolina Beach, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Two Faces of January (Highsmith, Patricia) (Paperback)

"The Two Faces of January" a psychological thriller by Patricia Highsmith, American author who was expert in that genre -- "Strangers On A Train,""The Talented Mr. Ripley --" was published in 1964. It's set largely in Greece, particularly Athens, also Crete, and does an excellent job of giving the reader the look and flavor of that country. It also drops into Paris, and gives the reader a good picture of that city at that time. In fact, as it is set among people we might once have known, who drink and smoke heavily without even thinking about it, it gives the reader a surprisingly accurate picture of its early 1960's era.

The plot concerns one Rydal Keener, young American hanging around Europe, collecting his mail at American Express, hoping something memorable will happen before his money runs out. He trips over it in a top Athens hotel, the King's Palace, where a rich, crooked American businessman, Chester MacFarland, has accidentally killed a Greek policeman come to call on him. Rydal, a graduate of Yale Law School, had issues with his recently-deceased father, a stuffy Harvard professor, and McFarland somehow reminds the young man of his father, whose funeral he had refused to attend, gone bad. The young man gets involved with the older one, and his pretty young wife Colette, helping them to hide the body, get new fake passports, and flee Athens. Rydal never entirely understands why he has chosen to get involved with Chester, though the author makes that pretty clear to us. However, the author leaves us on our own when it comes to figuring out Chester's relationship with Rydal.

"Two Faces" will be a bit dated and dusty for most readers. It really cries out for a good contemporary movie director to blow off the cobwebs and capture the clever plot at its heart.