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A review by spygrl1
A Dog's Ransom by Patricia Highsmith
2.0
This hits the usual Highsmith themes: obsession, innocence, corruption, fate, yearning.
Ed Reynolds loves his dog, Lisa. When she disappears in the park, he's worried. When a ransom note arrives demanding $1,000 for her safe return, he's willing to pay the steep price. When the ransom is taken but the dog isn't returned, he reluctantly goes to the police for help. The police take little interest in the case, with the exception of an eager young patrolman. The patrolman manages to locate the dognapper, an odd man who likes to write insulting anonymous letters to the "high and mighty."
The dognapper persuades the cop that he will return the dog in exchange for another $1,000; actually, the dog is dead. He killed her in the park with a rock and took her body away with him. The ransom note was just a cruel hoax. The patrolman takes the new ransom demand to Reynolds, who agrees to pay up. In the meantime, though, the dognapper has been evicted from his apartment and has slipped away. He collects the second ransom but the dog is, of course, not returned. Then another officer manages to find the dognapper at a hotel; when he's hauled in for questioning, he accuses the young patrolman of having taken a bribe of $500 to let him go (he has burned $500 of the second ransom to substantiate the story). The young patrolman is angry at the accusation and that the other officers don't seem willing to unequivocally take his side.
Nothing much happens to the dog killer; he's judged not mentally ill enough to be committed, and apparently the crimes he's committed are deemed small potatoes. So he is released. He takes to harassing the girlfriend of the patrolman. The patrolman confronts him and pushes him around at his apartment. The patrolman obsesses over his inability to assist the Reynolds, his failure to recover their dog or to at least make the culprit pay. And his girlfriend has thrown him over. When the dognapper harasses her again, the patrolman follows the man and beats him to death. Then the cover-up begins. His ex-girlfriend lies to protect him; he tells Reynolds what he has done, and Reynolds conceals what he knows, although now the sight of the young man disgusts him. The police are sure the young patrolman beat the man to death, and they continue to question him and beat him, hoping for a confession. He doesn't crack. So finally another eager beat cop visits the young man at his apartment, ultimately shooting him.
With Highsmith, I generally feel that I haven't been left with very much. People are brought together by random circumstances; their weaknesses are their downfall, or the downfall of others; innocence is corrupted, either by encounters with evil or by a drive to do good that goes awry; right and wrong are blurred and muddled; and in the end, someone dies. Her stories, even the Ripley stories, leave me unsatisfied.
Ed Reynolds loves his dog, Lisa. When she disappears in the park, he's worried. When a ransom note arrives demanding $1,000 for her safe return, he's willing to pay the steep price. When the ransom is taken but the dog isn't returned, he reluctantly goes to the police for help. The police take little interest in the case, with the exception of an eager young patrolman. The patrolman manages to locate the dognapper, an odd man who likes to write insulting anonymous letters to the "high and mighty."
The dognapper persuades the cop that he will return the dog in exchange for another $1,000; actually, the dog is dead. He killed her in the park with a rock and took her body away with him. The ransom note was just a cruel hoax. The patrolman takes the new ransom demand to Reynolds, who agrees to pay up. In the meantime, though, the dognapper has been evicted from his apartment and has slipped away. He collects the second ransom but the dog is, of course, not returned. Then another officer manages to find the dognapper at a hotel; when he's hauled in for questioning, he accuses the young patrolman of having taken a bribe of $500 to let him go (he has burned $500 of the second ransom to substantiate the story). The young patrolman is angry at the accusation and that the other officers don't seem willing to unequivocally take his side.
Nothing much happens to the dog killer; he's judged not mentally ill enough to be committed, and apparently the crimes he's committed are deemed small potatoes. So he is released. He takes to harassing the girlfriend of the patrolman. The patrolman confronts him and pushes him around at his apartment. The patrolman obsesses over his inability to assist the Reynolds, his failure to recover their dog or to at least make the culprit pay. And his girlfriend has thrown him over. When the dognapper harasses her again, the patrolman follows the man and beats him to death. Then the cover-up begins. His ex-girlfriend lies to protect him; he tells Reynolds what he has done, and Reynolds conceals what he knows, although now the sight of the young man disgusts him. The police are sure the young patrolman beat the man to death, and they continue to question him and beat him, hoping for a confession. He doesn't crack. So finally another eager beat cop visits the young man at his apartment, ultimately shooting him.
With Highsmith, I generally feel that I haven't been left with very much. People are brought together by random circumstances; their weaknesses are their downfall, or the downfall of others; innocence is corrupted, either by encounters with evil or by a drive to do good that goes awry; right and wrong are blurred and muddled; and in the end, someone dies. Her stories, even the Ripley stories, leave me unsatisfied.