Digital audiobook performed by Kevin Kenerly
3***

This is book two in the series, featuring psychopath Tom Ripley. It’s six years after Tom murdered Dickie Greenleaf and inherited his money. He’s since married a pharmaceutical heiress and they live in a villa in France. Everything seems to be going swimmingly, until Tom gets a call from London. An art forgery scheme he set up a few years ago is threatened by a nosy American asking questions.

Highsmith was a talented writer, and she could craft a chilling psychological thriller. In the first Ripley book we met a charming, somewhat socially inept, closeted gay young man with ambition. He was clever, quick-thinking, and determined to get rich. Lies came easily and murder even more so. If it served his purpose, he did it. But THIS Ripley is a drudge. The whole art forgery scheme is kinda amateurish, and I didn’t see it has having the “Ripley stamp.” Beyond having originally set up the con, why is he even still involved? He doesn’t paint the forgeries, and he’s not exactly making a fortune off the scheme. But it seems he just can’t help himself; he has to lie and cheat and steal and kill because he just doesn’t know how else to act. As the bodies pile up and investigators get closer to the truth, Ripley’s ability to charm his way out of things is taxed to the max. He seems to be completely unraveling, and yet …

The ending is a bit of a cliffhanger, which is one of my pet peeves. But I suspect Highsmith just ran out of steam and decided to stop.

Kevin Kenerly does a pretty good job of voicing the audiobook. He made the various characters sufficiently unique so I could easily tell who was speaking. Too bad he didn’t have better material to work with. ( )

Not the same Ripley as the first book. Well, I guess we all change as we get older. But--a psychopath?
And, the folks he tells about the murder just kind of shrug it off, as if to say, "Well, what are you gonna do?" The ending didn't leave much to be desired either. Still, it's a decent read. I'll go ahead and read the next one in the Ripley saga. ( )

I think she should have retired Ripley after the first novel. ( )

Another astonishingly twisted tale from Highsmith. Ripley's no simple character. What's the quote? What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive? Or something like that. Ripley's the epitome. He solves a problem by spontaneously killing someone wch leads to even more problems wch lead to even more desperate & complicated solutions. No, no simple character. Ripley's simultaneously sociopathic & full of feeling, of appreciation for culture, of love & sentiment. & yet he kills almost like it's no big deal to solve problems when he can't think of any other way out. Highsmith handles the psychology like someone who's known quite a few extreme people in her time - maybe all w/in herself. ( )

Even knowing that Ripley must be getting away with it all in order for there to be still three books in the series, the atmosphere remains tense and delicate, with every hastily-made murder plan on the verge of disintegrating at the lightest witness/police probing.

The plot was interesting enough and exquisitely done, with the focus more on the unexpected psychological character studies, as well as some really astute reimagining of events by Highsmith-Ripley to come up with a plausible alibi for Ripley. The most delightful character is Heloise whose temperamental and moral childishness made her a perfect fit for her sociopathic husband. Moreover, in the same way that it's soothing to watch opulent period dramas, it was very wonderful to read about Ripley going about his gentleman-of-the-manor hobbies and jetsetting to various of his malevolent designs with no working-life worries. In fact, I'd be happy to read a book of no-murder Ripley just doing some gardening and painting and buying English pyjamas for his wife and going to dinners with his neighbours.

Aside: It's indicated in the book that lots of the interactions were conducted in various levels of French, which makes me wonder how the translator has managed this for the French edition of this book. ( )