Reviews

A Suspension of Mercy by Patricia Highsmith

annelives's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was a rather frustrating read for me. I think it's because of the unreliable narration. I also hated the main characters. I only liked the neighbor and single mothers. It was really slow and I hated being in Sydney's and Alicia's heads. 

bb9159's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.75

ariel_tat's review

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

captaincymru's review against another edition

mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

shoba's review

3.0

All his explanations would be unsatisfactory, but the important thing was to tell her as soon as possible that there wasn’t anything in the carpet. (What? I don’t believe it, he’d say to the police. Somebody’s stolen my corpse? I won’t have it! Look again.)

suek's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

lisbethssalamander's review

mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Extremely dislikable characters. Thankfully this book is fairly short, and the story is engaging enough to make it worth reading despite its flaws, which are plentiful. 

sevensins's review

3.0

This was quite a random choice of a book to read in a moment of boredom and it was a very pleasant surprise. Nicely constructed, a bit misleading at times, but misleading the reader in a very controlled manner, beautifully tied with a bow at the end. All in all, a good read which constitutes further proof of Patricia Highsmith's talent.

ravenmount's review

dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

lailat's review against another edition

3.0

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Prior to reading A Suspension of Mercy, I had only read one other novel by Patricia Highsmith: Carol (which in fact I’ve read about 4 or 5 times). I was aware, of course, that Highsmith had other novels, but as they seemed to be a completely different genre to Carol, I’d not previously been bothered about checking them out.

Highsmith is known for her thriller writing, and while I enjoy the odd thriller, I found that A Suspension of Mercy didn’t quite have the suspense, urgency and twists that I usually enjoy in a thriller. I know comparisons to Gone Girl are overdone at this point, but this is like the original Gone Girl…but not as good. I didn’t ever feel like there was a chance that Sydney had anything to do with Alicia going missing, and as a result I wasn’t really gripped to the story.

It was an enjoyable enough read, but not a stand out for me.