3 Review(s)

Three classic crime novels by a master of the macabre - The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ripley Under Ground, and Ripley's Game - appear here together in hardcover for the first time. Suave, agreeable, and completely amoral, Patricia Highsmith's hero, the inimitable Tom Ripley, stops at nothing - not even murder - to accomplish his goals. In achieving the opulent life that he was denied as a child, Ripley shows himself to be a master of illusion and manipulation and a disturbingly sympathetic combination of genius and psychopath. Sent on a mission to Italy to coax an irresponsible young playboy back to his wealthy father in America, Ripley finds himself so fond of the young man that he sets out to be like him - exactly like him. The precarious charade that ensues is the first step to a life of elegance and ease - and perpetual danger. As she leads us through the mesmerizing tangle of Ripley's deadly and sinister games, Highsmith turns the mystery genre inside out and takes us into the mind of a man utterly indifferent to evil.