A review by outsmartyourshelf
The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Tom Ripley is perturbed to realise he is being followed one evening but fear not, it is merely the father of one of Tom's peripheral acquaintances, Richard 'Dickie' Greenleaf. Greenleaf Senior asks Tom if he can exert some influence on Dickie to return home from Italy, & Tom spots a chance to get away from his humdrum existence. On Greenleaf's dime, Tom makes his way to Mongibello where he finds Dickie and close friend, Marge on the beach. Everything starts off well & Tom is soon asked to move into Dickie's villa, but Tom most definitely does not like Marge but can't seem to shake her from Dickie's life & things eventually go horribly wrong. Tom decides that he could live Dickie's life better than Dickie ever could, so he kills him & assumes his identity, but can he stay ahead of the police?

I remember watching the film starring Matt Damon, Jude Law, & Gwyneth Paltrow years ago, so being able to picture the actors as the characters helped bring them to life. Tom seems to be a sociopath, his inner monologues & disregard for anyone he feels he cannot use is well-documented here. There are brief homophobic remarks & Tom seems ill at ease with his sexuality, but bearing in mind that Hollywood's leading gay men were still marrying women at this point, it seems likely that Tom would perhaps have trouble reconciling his sexuality. He seems almost asexual at times. 

I thought it was a great read and I have every intention of reading the rest of the series. 
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