joenicholl 's review for:

Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith

4.0

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Deep Water (1957) by Patricia Highsmith is an excellent read up until the last 20 pages or so. In the first half of the book not a lot happens but you really get sucked into the failing marriage of Vic and Malinda. Vic is orderly and wanting to save their relationship while Malinda, an alcoholic, wants out so she can live the party life. They live in suburbia where the get-togethers of their friends & neighbors are constant. This setting kind of reminded me of the film No Down Payment starring Tony Randall also released in 1957. Anyways, murder soon enters the story and the second half of the book is very exciting and suspenseful. I had a problem with the last 20 pages though. Without giving away any spoilers I can say the the story-line near the end got hazy and the prose turned into fancy writing. The ending of Deep Water was similar to the ending of Ride the Pink Horse by Dorothy B. Hughes where the prose entered fancy-writing-land. This seems to be a common trait of "serious" writers during this '50's era stemming I believe from William Faulkner. Why Highsmith couldn't finish off Deep Water with the same straight ahead prose as the rest of the book is beyond me but I found it (and other books like it) irritating. But, other than that Deep Water is a strong read with the story line keeping you fully engaged till the very end...I recommend it...3.5 outta 5.o....I'll bump it up to 4.0 outta 5.0....