Reviews

Going into this, I was a little concerned that I would be constantly comparing it to the movie. I have seen the film version at least a half a dozen times, and I am a fan of Hitchcock's films. I did not have anything to worry about. The book is an almost entirely different thing than the film.

Highsmith is one of those authors who like to stop and luxuriate in all the messed up little details. Bruno is bad news in just about every way possible. We are with Guy for every step. I think it is very realistic that we see him make decisions and change his mind only a few pages later. The ending was a little rushed, which is the main reason that I took away one star.

antimony's review

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

ok most of this was wayyyyy too dragged out and slow but I did quite like the ending. i'm terribly disappointed that I didn't like this very much because I was so convinced that I would. when I was in high school I read these 2 ya books (you owe me a murder and dig two graves (links to come)) inspired by this book but it wasn't until recently that I found out this was a book (I knew abt the movie but hadn't gotten around to watching it yet). so I was absolutely delighted to get to read the original murder swapping situation which I thought was so fun and intriguing when I was 15. but this just didn't click for me. I didn't like being in the heads of either of our narrators — bruno was so viscerally unpleasant and guy was so boring —and everything was so dragged out that I stopped caring.

i also spent an unfortunate amount of time comparing it to those two ya books because I was bored. (dig two graves was worse but I kinda think you owe me a murder might have been better.) and I think there are two really interesting things that popped up that this book did that neither of those two retellings(?) did. 1. bruno's pov. it was unpleasant but I think it added a nice dimensionality to the story especially when guy was being all shaky and paranoid. and 2.

guy actually goes through with the murder. if my memory serves me right NEITHER ya protag actually went through with it. both discovered that the girl who tricked them into it was lying about the person she wanted killed. and I do think that was a really interesting thing to explore! how far did guy have to get pushed to kill someone? and he's very ordinary. it kind of impresses upon the reader that really anyone could be pushed to this point. it's more deeply psychological than the sillyfun ya clones I read.

well now im off to watch Hitchcock's adaptation I suppose!!!!

Content Warnings

anni3008's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

cate_with_a_c's review against another edition

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This is my second time reading it and it just didn’t hit the second time. Bruno is insufferable. I wish guy was fleshed out because he was just whining about Marion the entire time and I’m like okay, can we have more to his character.

patokoao's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

emmabc's review against another edition

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2.0

No one felt real or fleshed out.

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