book review the talented mr ripley

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The Best Fiction Books » Crime Novels

The talented mr ripley, by patricia highsmith, recommendations from our site.

“It fascinates me that René Clément, the French film director, adapted this novel into a film called Plein Soleil (known as Purple Noon in the United States). In the story, Tom Ripley is sent from New York to Italy by the father of Dickie Greenleaf to bring Dickie back to the United States. As he ingratiates himself with his son, Tom Ripley adopts increasingly dangerous, amoral and murderous measures to reap the rewards of his lifestyle and finally, steal his inheritance. The novel starts in a gloomy Manhattan, where Ripley meets Dickie Greenleaf’s father. It’s not bright, it’s claustrophobic. And then we come to this Mediterranean world of plein soleil where in the movie everything is brightness—there’s a yacht, these lovely towns, and everybody is wearing lovely styles and costumes.” Read more...

The Best Book-to-Movie Adaptations

Peter Markham , Film Director

“It’s described as the godfather of the modern psychological thriller. Everyone who writes psychological thrillers must acknowledge Patricia Highsmith at some point…What appealed to me most about this book is that Tom Ripley is the ultimate sociopath, and yet we’re rooting for him.” Read more...

The Best Psychological Thrillers

J.S. Monroe , Thriller and Crime Writer

“It’s the first book I read where I was absolutely rooting for the villain, my entire emotional energy focused on willing him not to get caught. Even if you’ve seen the 1999 movie, the book is still worth reading. I love the rags-to-riches element, the settings: 1950s New York, the fictional Mongibello on the coast south of Naples, Venice. Highsmith wrote four more books featuring Tom Ripley, as well as other psychological thrillers.” Read more...

The Best Classic Crime Fiction

Sophie Roell , Journalist

“What I adore about the book is how brilliantly she explores the idea of moral grey areas and how the main character does things in a sort of neutral space—a psychopathic neutral space—and Highsmith writes this in a quite nonchalant way, while building this ongoing tension and horror. You sort of love Ripley, as the novel moves on, but you are also horrified by him. I just think that’s genius: when you can get me deeply caring about a character who I also find appalling and frightening.” Read more...

The Best Classic Thrillers

Lucy Atkins , Novelist

“I think Patricia Highsmith, at one stage, was much more appreciated in Europe than she was in America, even though she was American by birth. I think Ripley just set so many characters in motion because he was one of the first entirely amoral central figures, someone who commits appalling crimes and murders but you actually feel a kind of sympathy for. Well, if not a sympathy, you’re intrigued by the character. It’s also fascinating because he’s a kind of blank canvas. So in The Talented Mr Ripley – which was made into a movie not that long ago – he’s got this friend who he rather sucks up to called Dickie Greenleaf. When he murders Dickie and takes on his persona, it’s almost as if he becomes more real to himself as a person, because he’s being someone else. Which I think is fascinating – and goes back to actors and Charles Paris. This idea of the criminal who does it almost from lack of his own personality rather than the power of his personality. It’s a very interesting area, which has been explored a lot more since, but I think Patricia Highsmith was the first to do it.” Read more...

The Best Whodunnits

Simon Brett , Thriller and Crime Writer

Other books by Patricia Highsmith

Strangers on a train by patricia highsmith, our most recommended books, the hound of the baskervilles by arthur conan doyle, the talented mr ripley by patricia highsmith, the woman in white by wilkie collins, the moonstone by wilkie collins, magpie lane by lucy atkins, the long goodbye by raymond chandler.

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Read the earliest reviews of The Talented Mr. Ripley , which turns 65 today.

The Talented Mr. Ripley —Patricia Highsmith’s iconic 1955 novel in which a struggling small-time con-man evolves into a full-blown psychopath—is widely considered to be one of the greatest psychological thrillers of all time (its stylish 1999 film adaptation is also a stone cold classic of the genre). It’s been read as a coming-of-age tale , a forerunner of the era of imposture , and a tale of sociopathy for our Instagram age .

Today, on the sixty-fifth anniversary of its publication, we look back on three of the earliest reviews of Highsmith’s deliciously twisted opus.

“An exciting rat-race with the principal rat in the title role is Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley .

Tom Ripley’s talent is for crime, and crime with variations is the melody played by the author. A more objectionable young man than Mr. Ripley could hardly be imagined. You certainly wouldn’t want to met him; but he is perfectly fascinating to read about.

Engaged by Dickie Greenleaf’s father to bring Dickie home from Paris, the talented Mr. R. follows his own instincts to make of the errand a protracted European holiday. The wiles with which he handles Dickie—and Dickie’s attractive girl—eventually involve him in a wild web of evasions and impostures and few murders have been more starkly cold-blooded or more chillingly described than those which arise out of his adventure.”

–Lockhart American, The Pittsburgh Press , December 4, 1955

“Patricia Highsmith is one of the most talented suspense writers this reviewer has encountered in some time.

The Talented Mr. Ripley is a fine way to make her acquaintance if her previous Strangers on a Train and The Blunderer were missed.

In stories of this genre, the most frequently lacking quality is character delineation. Miss Highsmith can boast it as one of her strong points. Her protagonist is weakling Tom Ripley, a self-pitying, self-seeking individual who shows horrifying elements of strength when murder is involved—a murder to provide him with a life of ease and a second to cover up the first.

The setting is Italy, a country the author obviously knows well. Ripley attaches himself to rich Dickie Greenleaf and grows to love the good life too well to give it up. Murder is his solution and he takes on the dead Greenleaf’s identity.

This leads to all sorts of dramatic complications which for suspense’s sake are better left untold. This reviewer, after turning over the final page, is looking forward to Miss Highsmith’s next effort with anticipation.”

–Jack Owens, The Fort Lauderdale News , October 30, 1955

“….is a young man of no means, and expensive tastes, and his nerveless, conscienceless progression is traced from the time when Tom Ripley is sent to Italy to retrieve an expatriate son, Dickie Greenleaf. Ripley attaches himself to Dickie, is annoyed by the adhesive Marge who is in love with Dickie and wary of Tom, and finally when Dickie’s friendship cools he kills him and assumes his identity. For several months he lives comfortably on Dickie’s income, but a former friend jeopardizes his new security, and he is forced to kill again. This time not only the police, but Marge and Dickie’s father are alerted; Tom is forced to assume his old identity but his resilient resourcefulness keeps him immune. The virtuosity here—more than anything else—will pin you to the page.”

–Kirkus Reviews , November 1, 1955

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Books on the 7:47

Book review blog / author interviews / all things bookish, the talented mr. ripley by patricia highsmith – book review.

• by Jen | Books on the 7:47
• Posted on August 27, 2023 August 6, 2023

An icon of crime fiction, I’m so glad I’ve finally read The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith! It’s been on my TBR list for literally years at this point. First published in 1955, The Talented Mr. Ripley is a crime thriller that delves deep into psychological motivations: it’s the story of Tom Ripley and Dickie Greenleaf.

Opening sentence: Tom glanced behind him and saw the man coming out of the Green Cage, heading his way.

Welcome to Italy!

The Talented Mr. Ripley is set in the most idyllic of locations. It’s a beautiful tour of Europe that will infuse you with wanderlust when reading. The scene setting is so evocative, you can feel the sunshine and history rippling off the pages.

When we first meet Tom he’s in his native America. He is not actually great friends with Dickie Greenleaf, more acquaintances, but Dickie’s father thinks they have a close relationship, so enlists Tom to help bring Dickie back from essentially an extended holiday in Italy. His father wants him to step up and run the family business.

Tom is no stranger to deceit in order to advance his own cause, so agrees as he sees a free trip and some payment out of it. When he lands in the (fictional) seaside village of Mongibello, Italy he sets about developing a friendship with Dickie so that he can try and persuade him to return home.

Dickie, however, is living a charmed life. He is friends with Marge, a fellow American although not his girlfriend. Things are going well, Tom soon sees the delights of Dickie’s life and, well, fancies it for himself…

Who is Dickie Greenleaf?

It was impossible ever to be lonely or bored, he thought, so long as he was Dickie Greenleaf.

What follows is a fascinating tale of identity clash, murder, lies, deception and Tom slowly merging the boundaries between what’s real and what’s fantasy. What’s acceptable and what’s despicable. What he must do for survival and what thinks he must do to live the the life he always wanted. He effortlessly draws you into his world, shows you his warped take on things and if you just go along for the ride, you’ll have a thrilling time.

There is a terrific sense of tension that just thrums through the pages – you never know what Tom might do next and that’s the fun of this.

Anticipation! It occurred to him that his anticipation was more pleasant to him than his experiencing.

A crime classic

Overall, I really enjoyed The Talented Mr. Ripley – the way Patricia Highsmith writes is so considered yet full of flair and although I was aware of the plot as I have seen the 1999 Anthony Minghella film with Matt Damon, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow (and couldn’t help but picture those actors while reading), as any book lover will attest to, reading it really did add so much depth and detail.

There are five books featuring Tom Ripley in the series. The next one, Ripley Under Ground , is set six years after the events in this book, definitely adding it to my reading list!

• Get your copy of The Talented Mr. Ripley here;
• First published in 1955;

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The Library Ladies

Two librarians, one blog, zero SHH-ing

Ripley’s Reviews: “The Talented Mr. Ripley”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.   Read the full disclosure here .

“Ripley’s Reviews” is an ongoing series where I will review every book in Patricia Highsmith’s “Ripley” Series, as well as multiple screen adaptations of the novels. I will post my reviews on the first Thursday of the month, and delve into the twisted mind of one Tom Ripley and all the various interpretations that he has come to life within. Up first is the first book in the series, “The Talented Mr. Ripley” .

Book : “The Talented Mr. Ripley” by Patricia Highsmith

Publishing Info : Coward-McCann, January 1955

Where Did I Get This Book : I own it.

Where You Can Get This Book : WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description : It’s here, in the first volume of Patricia Highsmith’s five-book Ripley series, that we are introduced to the suave Tom Ripley, a young striver seeking to leave behind his past as an orphan bullied for being a “sissy.” Newly arrived in the heady world of Manhattan, Ripley meets a wealthy industrialist who hires him to bring his playboy son, Dickie Greenleaf, back from gallivanting in Italy. Soon Ripley’s fascination with Dickie’s debonair lifestyle turns obsessive as he finds himself enraged by Dickie’s ambivalent affections for Marge, a charming American dilettante, and Ripley begins a deadly game .

“Sinister and strangely alluring,” (Mark Harris, Entertainment Weekly) The Talented Mr. Ripley serves as an unforgettable introduction to this smooth confidence man, whose talent for self-invention is as unnerving—and unnervingly revealing of the American psyche—as ever .

Review: As mentioned in my intro to this new blog series, I first discovered Tom Ripley and “The Talented Mr. Ripley”, the first in Patricia Highsmith’s “Ripliad” when I was a teenager on Spring Break. It ended up being the perfect beach read, and I was totally immersed in the story of a con artist turned murderer usurping the life on an unsuspecting heir apparent on an Italian extended holiday. There has been a bit of a renaissance of creepy protagonists behaving badly all for the entertainment of a joyful audience, and clearly I picked this up all those years ago and it has followed me ever since. I was curious what revisiting it would be like as an adult with a healthy love of thrillers and despicable antiheroes, and baby, Tom Ripley still wows after all this time.

As a thriller it is taut and suspenseful and well paced, as we start off in New York and meet Tom Ripley, an aimless twenty something who finds himself asked by a wealthy patriarch to go and fetch his son Dickie Greenleaf, whom Ripley knew in passing and has been gallivanting in Italy on his father’s dime. Ripley and Dickie were barely acquaintances, but a free trip to Europe is too good to pass up, and once Tom arrives he is completely enamored with Dickie and his lifestyle. What starts as an awkward friendship between Tom and Dickie (and Dickie’s quasi-gal pal Marge) slowly turns into Ripley coveting everything Dickie has, which leads to murder, more murder, and identity theft and fraud. Highsmith approaches this with a very matter of fact tone that was in some ways a bit disturbing, but also knows how to eek out all of the tension as Tom does more nefarious things, and flirts more and more with danger as the authorities start to catch on that something is wrong. It’s cat and mouse and part of the suspense is not whether Ripley will get away with it, but whether he is going to be caught. And while that sounds like the same thing, it isn’t really. Because Highsmith lays this out in such a way that it is very likely that the reader will perhaps be more hopeful that he gets away with it.

How is this possible? Well, we of course have to talk about Tom Ripley and the way that Patricia Highsmith presents him to her readers and the audience. He was far more calculated and cold than I remembered him being, basically from the jump being portrayed as a con artist at best (as when he is approached by Dickie’s father to set forth to Italy he is running petty IRS scams on unsuspecting rubes) who sees an opportunity to live off the elite, and then revealing his sociopathic nature as the story goes on. I don’t particularly find Ripley charming or even likable, but Highsmith does write him in a way that managed to still make me kind of want to see how far he could go because she drew him out so well in her characterization. And having read it previously and knowing there are a few more books in the series, knowing he was going to get away with it was galling… but also a little satisfying. Come on, it’s not like the thriller genre doesn’t produce villainous protagonists all the time these days, and Ripley was certainly one of the first, and he still holds up. In this book it’s just a bit of a wicked thrill to see how he slowly takes over Dickie’s life and wealth, even if Dickie (and Ripley’s other victims) certainly don’t deserve it. Highsmith absolutely achieved what she set out to do with this character. I am more than happy to keep following him and see what terrible shenanigans he gets into going forward, because now I am wholly unaware. Bring it on, Tom.

“The Talented Mr. Ripley” was as enjoyable this time around as it was when I was a teenager, and it is a clear foundational work for the modern thriller. It gets under the skin but makes you want to know more. What a ride this ongoing series is going to be. Next up is Book 2 in the series, “Ripley Under Ground”.

Rating 8 : A game changer for the Thriller genre and a deep dive into a highly despicable (yet highly entertaining) psychopath and his thought processes, “The Talented Mr. Ripley” still stands tall after all this time.

Reader’s Advisory :

“The Talented Mr. Ripley” is included on the Goodreads lists “Thrillers You Must Read!”, and “I Like Serial Killers” .

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Books of Brilliance

The latest book reviews and book news, the talented mr ripley: book review.

The Talented Mr. Ripley book review

Today, we will be reviewing The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. First published in 1955, the novel saw four more books published in the series and have had multiple movie adaptions over the years. Keep reading for our book review and why you should read this classic psychological thriller  novel! 

The Talented Mr. Ripley Summary 

Tom Ripley is a young man in New York City that scams people to survive. He is down on his luck and fed up with his life. And on top of that, he Is afraid that the police are after him for his scams. But luckily for him, he is approached by shipping magnate Herbert Greenleaf who wants Ripley to convince his son to return home from Italy. 

Ripley slightly remembers his son Dickie and lets Herbert convince him to go to Italy. The trip to Italy is funded by Herbert and Tom tells himself that he will try to actually convince Dickie to come home. The problem is that Tom and Dickie aren’t as good friends as Herbert seems to think they are. 

Once Tom arrives to Italy, he meets up with Dickie and his friend Marge Sherwood. Tom tries to cries to convince Dickie to return home but gives up soon after realizing that Dickie is happy here. Instead, Tom befriends Dickie and tries to start a new life with Dickie in his new home.  

Things go well at first but Dickie’s relationship with marge complicates Tom’s relationship with Dickie. Out of fear of losing his new life, Tom takes drastic measures to ensure that he can live it up in Italy. He turns to his talents of lying and scamming people to live the rest of his life in leisure. But to do so, he must do things that even he cannot come back from. 

Accomplisnments and Commentary 

The novel was nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel in 1956 and in 1957, it won the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière as best international crime novel. It also made the BBC News 100 most aspiring novels in 2019.  

 When reading the novel, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The protagonist Tom Ripley was interesting and clever and I enjoyed the early exploration into his past. That is how he became to be who he is today and why he is good at scams. It also showcases the decisions he makes later on the novel. We are given all the reasoning and now watch as Tom does and why he does those things. 

As a New Yorker, I will say I was not pleased by the description of New York City and how it was compared to Italy. Even if it was true back then and even today, only other New Yorkers can bash New York City. All jokes aside, part of what makes this book a great read is Highsmith vivid and beautiful description of Italy. She makes a good case as to why Tom wants to travel and doesn’t want to give up his new lifestyle.  

Conclusion 

I really enjoyed this novel and can see why it made BBC’s News 100 mist aspiring novels list. Highsmith is as talented a writer there is and she easily makes you feel for Ripley even if his actions are questionable. Don’t pass up on this book because it was released in the 1950’s or else you will be missing out on an amazing book! Happy reading.  

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I read it a few years ago and was completely drawn in. It’s so unusual for a book like this to be written from the villain’s viewpoint. It’s a testament to Highsmith that she was able to do so in such an effective way.

I think we all wanted to know if Tom’s scheme would come back to bite him. Her writing style made this a great read and I don’t think many authors could have made this book as great as she did.

There are four more books about Tom Ripley if you haven’t read them and are interested in reading more!

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How The Talented Mr. Ripley Differs From The Book

" The Talented Mr. Ripley ," the psychological thriller starring Matt Damon as the titular Tom Ripley and directed by Anthony Minghella, has maintained its popularity since being released in 1999. It also contains some of the most memorable performances that three of its most prominent actors — Damon, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow — have ever given. 

The film follows a young man named Tom Ripley, who, after being mistaken for a Princeton alum and an acquaintance of Dickie Greenleaf (Law), is hired by Dickie's father, shipping magnate Herbert (James Rebhorn), to seek out Dickie in Italy and persuade him to return to the United States. After meeting Dickie, along with Dickie's girlfriend Marge Sherwood (Paltrow), Tom quickly becomes enamored with Dickie's lavish lifestyle. Tom becomes obsessed not only with Dickie's life, but with Dickie himself, ultimately resulting in Tom murdering Dickie when Dickie tries to part ways with Tom. Tom then decides to take over Dickie's life, determined to do whatever it takes to keep up the false identity. Dickie's murder soon ends up leading Tom to commit more murders to cover his tracks and save himself, up until the film's ending , in which Tom is all alone, knowing that he'll always be outrunning his actions.

The film is based on the 1955 novel of the same name by acclaimed American writer Patricia Highsmith. "The Talented Mr. Ripley" is generally regarded as being a well-executed book-to-movie adaptation, but of course, some changes had to be made to fit the medium. So, in what ways does the film incarnation of "The Talented Mr. Ripley" differ from the book?

Tom of the book is already a criminal

In 2019, The Ringer dived deep into the world of "The Talented Mr. Ripley," analyzing both the novel and the film in a longform piece celebrating the 20th anniversary of the film's release. In the piece, writer Haley Mlotek points out that the Tom Ripley that readers meet in the novel is different from the Tom Ripley that viewers meet when he appears in the film. In the novel, Mlotek writes, Tom is "already a petty criminal" with a history of scamming and conning. Namely, he often poses as an Internal Revenue Services worker and calls freelancers to tell them that they underpaid their taxes, whereupon he has them send the owed "taxes" directly to him. 

Yet, in the film, Tom has not quite entered the world of crime and manipulation. As Mlotek wrote, "He's simply filling in as a piano accompanist for a friend, wearing a borrowed Princeton jacket before running to make his shift as a bathroom attendant at a lavish performance space. When the audience leaves and before the janitor catches him, he plays the piano on the stage, indulging his fantasy of being watched."

Tom has some evolving to do before he becomes the type of person who can take over the life of someone he has just murdered. Rather, he begins merely as the type of person who can pretend to be a different version of himself than he is — someone who went to Princeton and was friends with Dickie Greenleaf. This way, viewers get to watch as Tom becomes obsessed with Dickie, then with keeping up the charade of pretending to be Dickie.

Tom is more of a sociopath in the book

In the film, there is palpable sexual chemistry between Tom and Dickie, which Tom even points out to Dickie just before he murders him, claiming that Dickie is only trying to cut ties with Tom because he is afraid of the feelings they share for one another. One could make a case that Tom genuinely does love Dickie, and later, Peter (Jack Davenport) ... and that he only kills both of them because he ultimately loves himself — specifically, the new version of himself that exists in the midst of luxury — more. The same argument likely could not be made for the Tom that exists within Highsmith's novel.

In an analysis for Off the Shelf , Leslie Kendall Dye writes that if you've only seen the movie, then you "haven't met the Tom Ripley that Patricia Highsmith dreamed up." Highsmith's Ripley is a straightforward sociopath "who both lies and murders in cold blood." Dye continues, "When his resentment boils, he quietly rearranges reality." On the other hand, Dye explains, the film is about a man who desperately wants to belong, wants to love, and "murders — at least the first time — in a moment of passion."

It's pretty easy to imply why writer-director Anthony Minghella made this key change — it's much easier to watch Tom murder a string of characters when we, as viewers, have already sympathized with him. Many people can relate to the desire to find where you belong, but a far fewer number can relate to murdering in cold blood.

All in all, for those who find Tom Ripley to be an utterly compelling character, there are two versions of him to interpret: book Tom and movie Tom.

The Talented Mr. Ripley

Villains usually last through only one crime novel, while heroes are good for a whole series. That’s a great inconvenience for their authors, because villains are usually more colorful than heroes. Patricia Highsmith’s novels about Tom Ripley are the exception, a series of books about a man who is irredeemably bad, and yet charming, intelligent and thoughtful about the price he pays for his amoral lifestyle.

The Talented Mr. Ripley, her first Ripley novel, published in 1955, shows Ripley in the process of inventing himself and finding his life’s work. He was a poor man who wanted to be a rich man, an unknown man who wanted not to be famous but simply to be someone else. Some men are envious of other men’s cars, or wives, or fortunes. Ripley coveted their identities.

The novel shows him annexing the life and identity of a man named Greenleaf. It was filmed in 1960 by Rene Clement as “ Purple Noon ,” with Alain Delon as Ripley, and now it has been filmed again by Anthony Minghella (“ The English Patient “), with Matt Damon in the title role. One of the pleasures of the two adaptations is that the plots are sufficiently different that you can watch one without knowing how the other turns out–or even what happens along the way. That despite the fact that they both revolve around Ripley’s decision that he can be Greenleaf as well as, or better than, Greenleaf can be himself.

“Purple Noon” begins with the two men already friends. “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” adapted by Minghella, has a better idea: Ripley is an opportunist who stumbles onto an opening into Greenleaf’s life, and takes it. He borrows a Princeton blazer to play the piano at a rooftop party in Manhattan and a rich couple assume he must have known their son Dickie at Princeton. He agrees.

The Greenleafs are concerned about Dickie ( Jude Law ), who has decamped to the decadence of Europe and shows no sign of coming home. They offer Tom Ripley a deal: They’ll finance his own trip to Europe and pay him $1,000 if he returns with their son. Cut to a beach in Italy, where Dickie suns with Marge Sherwood ( Gwyneth Paltrow ), and the original deception turns evil.

Remember that Ripley is already impersonating someone–Dickie’s old Princeton friend. That works with Dickie (“I’ve completely forgotten him,” he tells Marge), but eventually he wonders if anything Tom tells him is the truth. Ripley, at this point still developing the skills that will carry him through several more adventures, instinctively knows that the best way to lie is to admit to lying, and to tell the truth whenever convenient.

When Dickie asks him what his talents are, he replies, “Forging signatures, telling lies and impersonating almost anyone.” Quite true. And then he does a chilling impersonation of Mr. Greenleaf asking him to bring Dickie back to the United States. “I feel like he’s here,” Dickie says, as Tom does his father’s voice.

By confessing his mission, Tom disarms Dickie and is soon accepted into his circle, which also includes an epicurean friend named Freddie Miles ( Philip Seymour Hoffman ). Also moving through Europe at about the same time is a rich girl named Meredith Logue ( Cate Blanchett ), who believes things about Tom that Dickie must not be allowed to know. But I am growing vague, and must grow vaguer, because the whole point of the movie is to show Tom Ripley learning to use subterfuge, improvisation and lightning-fast thinking under pressure to become Dickie Greenleaf.

Highsmith wrote The Talented Mr. Ripley five years after writing “ Strangers on a Train ”  which Hitchcock made into a film he sometimes called his favorite. The two stories are similar. Strangers is about a man who meets another man and offers to trade crimes with him: I’ll kill the person you hate, and you kill the person I hate, and since neither one of us has any connection with our victim or any motive for killing him, we’ll never be caught. Talented has Dickie blamed for the drowning death of a local woman and Ripley “trading” that death as a cover-up for another.

Hitchcock’s film subtly suggested a homosexual feeling in the instigator, and Tom Ripley also seems to have feelings for Dickie Greenleaf–although narcissism and sexuality are so mixed up in his mind that Ripley almost seems to want to become Greenleaf so that he can love himself (both Ripley movies have a scene of Ripley dressed in Dickie’s clothes and posing in a mirror). This undercurrent is wisely never brought up to the level of conscious action because so many of Tom Ripley’s complicated needs and desires are deeply buried; he finds out what he wants to do by doing it.

Matt Damon is bland and ordinary as Ripley, and then takes on the vivid coloration of others–even a jazz singer. Jude Law makes Dickie almost deserving of his fate because of the way he adopts new friends and then discards them. Gwyneth Paltrow’s role is tricky: Yes, Dickie is her boyfriend, but he’s cold and treats her badly, and there are times when she would intuit the dread secret if she weren’t so distracted by the way she already resents Dickie.

The movie is an intelligent a thriller as you’ll see this year. It is also insidious in the way it leads us to identify with Tom Ripley. He is the protagonist, we see everything through his eyes, and Dickie is not especially lovable; that means we are a co-conspirator in situations where it seems inconceivable that Tom’s deception will not be discovered. He’s a monster, but we want him to get away with it. There is one sequence in the film involving an apartment, a landlady, the police and a friend who knows the real Dickie that depends on such meticulous timing and improvisation that if you made it speedier, you’d have the Marx Brothers.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

• Jack Davenport as Peter Smith-Kingsley
• Cate Blanchett as Meredith Logue
• Matt Damon as Tom Ripley
• Jude Law as Dickie Greenleaf
• Gwyneth Paltrow as Marge Sherwood
• Philip Seymour Hoffman as Freddie Miles

Written and Directed by

• Anthony Minghella

Based On The Novel by

• Patricia Highsmith

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Notes on the Culture

How ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ Foretold Our Era of Grifting

On the eve of yet another screen adaptation, Patricia Highsmith’s mordant 1955 tale of calculated self-invention feels as relevant as ever.

By Megan O’Grady

THERE’S AN ART to imposture. It’s the how they did it, I think, rather than the self-evident why, that keeps us fascinated by tales of con artists and “visionaries,” the gurus and hucksters, schemers and dreamers, the online dating scammers — all of our 21st-century buccaneers of society, politics and commerce. From the small-time grifters like Anna Sorokin , who adopted the last name Delvey to masquerade in downtown New York circles as a European heiress for four years before she was convicted of second-degree grand larceny in 2019, to the murderous faux WASP “ Clark Rockefeller, ” as the serial impostor Christian Gerhartsreiter was known until his clubby life was upended by kidnapping charges in 2008, all impostors come equipped with a tall tale and a look to match. In Sorokin’s case, it seemed to be largely about the chunky Celine glasses, code for jolie-laide cool; in Gerhartsreiter’s, it was the Lacoste shirts and East Coast lockjaw copied from the millionaire character on “Gilligan’s Island.” The nose ring and “street” argot of Jessica Krug , a.k.a., Jess La Bombalera — the white professor of history and Africana studies whose career until a few months ago had rested in good part upon a racial identity that was not, in fact, her own — the black turtlenecks and baritone of Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes , accused of defrauding investors of millions with shoddy blood-testing technology, even the normcore terry-cloth sweatband and neuroleptic philosophizing of Nxivm’s Keith Raniere , the volleyball enthusiast who ran a self-actualization scheme that preyed upon the bodies and wallets of women: All have become metonyms of the actual offenses, clues to self-delusions.

In the digital age, such dedication to voice and costume might seem oddly retro, not to mention a bit campy — more Mrs. Doubtfire than Jay Gatsby. But in American letters, it’s the antihero of Patricia Highsmith ’s 1955 novel, “ The Talented Mr. Ripley ,” who sets the bar for imposture: Tom Ripley’s real-life counterparts seem to never quite measure up, though they are inevitably compared to him in the press — the very character is shorthand for the more epicurean or erudite of charlatans. That it is a literary character who has come to embody the grifter archetype seems right; self-authorship is, of course, all about creating a convincing character within the narrative structure of one’s own aspirational thinking. In each case, it seemed to be somewhere in this dedication to the coding — Holmes’s Steve Jobs impersonation; the embarrassing minstrelsy of Krug’s attempt at a Nuyorican get-up — that things went awry, the performance of authenticity tipping over into caricature. It’s less fun, of course, to think of why we give narcissists so much credit. Some might find themselves inspired to question what they, too, might be capable of, were they less inhibited by things like principles or truth, while others — those of us who suffer from impostor syndrome — might wonder how easily we might find ourselves slipping into a thrown-on persona, trading our finely honed self-skepticism for the cheapest version of hope. Con artists have a way of milking the hypocrisies of an age: How easily friendship and belonging can be bought, in Sorokin’s case, or how the light-skinned (in the case of Krug) and the one-percenters (in the case of Gerhartsreiter) tend to be given the benefit of the doubt. Like a good novel, a skilled impostor can be the lie that tells the truth.

Do we live in a golden age of fraud ? The con artist or snake-oil salesman, cornerstone of American culture long before Ripley, was memorialized in Herman Melville’s 1857 classic, “ The Confidence-Man ,” on which a charming fraud takes a series of guises on a steamboat trip, and it has taken on bewildering new dimensions in the 21st century. We are, after all, the culture that made big business of wishful thinking, major industries of advertising and self-help. The United States is the birthplace of Scientology, Don Draper and Donald Trump, Bernie Madoff and Enron, subprime mortgages, QAnon, flat-Earthism, birtherism, the anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers. American self-conception, that wobbly construct, has long depended on a good amount of delusional entitlement: the necessity to dream , to just do it! Many people have always known that the American dream was a hoax, or at least accessible mostly to a select (white) few; for everyone else, it’s all coming to the surface: that behind our foundation myths resided another, less-told history — one that involved swindling the Indigenous population out of land, centuries of enslavement of Black people and the largely invisible, unpaid labor of women. If the creation of a stable private self depends upon a coherent external reality, or at least a consensus view of it, maybe it’s no wonder that we’ve become confused about where our self-fashioning begins and ends. Now that personality has become a branding opportunity, should we assume that all identities are largely assumed?

When “The Talented Mr. Ripley” was first published, a villain who never gets his comeuppance was still rare and transgressive in American literature. Ripley became the vanguard for an unsettlingly relatable kind of con man, one who ensnared us in his worldview, who was as secretly cutting in his observations as we were, who challenged the presumptions of how not just his but all narratives should unfold. And while there has been no decade since the sunlit, ice-blooded novel’s publication that it hasn’t found a devoted audience, as well as new interpretations — including, most memorably, two films, René Clément’s “ Purple Noon ” (1960) and Anthony Minghella’s 1999 adaptation (a favorite quarantine watch for many) under the original title starring Matt Damon — it seems especially resonant in our current one. Ripley’s sense of life as a rigged game, and his view of the fraudulence of American privilege, feel built for this moment, as do his combustible embodiments of self-absorption, self-invention and self-hatred (a new version for television featuring Andrew Scott, the “hot priest” from “Fleabag,” is forthcoming from Showtime). One might argue that technology has made it harder to deceive people given that we’re all but a Google away, but technology has also made the natural human temptation to self-flatter, to metaphorically Photoshop ourselves into or out of existence all the more tempting for the chronic exaggerator, the serial confabulator, the natural overcompensator. It’s also helped everyone else’s big dreams — you can be anything, if you have the right clothes, hair, trainer, therapist and so on — feel achievable. More than ever, being successful in America seems to be not just about seeing how far one might color outside the lines but dependent upon it. And while some delusions of the self are less opportunistic and others feel more ingenuous, the tilt of reality to suit ourselves is nonetheless slippery. In an era in which we can alter reality to flatter us, in which factual knowledge has become a political opinion or something to algorithmically filter, it has become all too easy to believe our own lies.

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THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY

by Patricia Highsmith ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 30, 1955

....is a young man of no means, and expensive tastes, and his nerveless, conscienceless progression is traced from the time when Tom Ripley is sent to Italy to retrieve an expatriate son, Dickie Greenleaf. Ripley attaches himself to Dickie, is annoyed by the adhesive Marge who is in love with Dickie and wary of Tom, and finally when Dickie's friendship cools he kills him and assumes his identity. For several months he lives comfortably on Dickie's income, but a former friend jeopardizes his new security, and he is forced to kill again. This time not only the police- but Marge and Dickie's father are alerted; Tom is forced to assume his old identity but his resilient resourcefulness keeps him immune. The virtuosity here- more than anything else-will pin you to the page.

Pub Date: Nov. 30, 1955

ISBN: 0393332144

Page Count: 292

Publisher: Coward-McCann

Review Posted Online: April 3, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1955

MYSTERY & DETECTIVE | GENERAL MYSTERY & DETECTIVE

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BOOK REVIEW

by Patricia Highsmith ; edited by Anna von Planta

by Patricia Highsmith

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Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

New York Times Bestseller

by J.A. Jance ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 2, 2019

Proficient but eminently predictable. Amid all the time shifts and embedded backstories, the most surprising feature is how...

A convicted killer’s list of five people he wants dead runs the gamut from the wife he’s already had murdered to franchise heroine Ali Reynolds.

Back in the day, women came from all over to consult Santa Clarita fertility specialist Dr. Edward Gilchrist. Many of them left his care happily pregnant, never dreaming that the father of the babies they carried was none other than the physician himself, who donated his own sperm rather than that of the handsome, athletic, disease-free men pictured in his scrapbook. When Alexandra Munsey’s son, Evan, is laid low by the kidney disease he’s inherited from his biological father and she returns to Gilchrist in search of the donor’s medical records, the roof begins to fall in on him. By the time it’s done falling, he’s serving a life sentence in Folsom Prison for commissioning the death of his wife, Dawn, the former nurse and sometime egg donor who’d turned on him. With nothing left to lose, Gilchrist tattoos himself with the initials of five people he blames for his fall: Dawn; Leo Manuel Aurelio, the hit man he’d hired to dispose of her; Kaitlyn Todd, the nurse/receptionist who took Dawn’s place; Alex Munsey, whose search for records upset his apple cart; and Ali Reynolds, the TV reporter who’d helped put Alex in touch with the dozen other women who formed the Progeny Project because their children looked just like hers. No matter that Ali’s been out of both California and the news business for years; Gilchrist and his enablers know that revenge can’t possibly be served too cold. Wonder how far down that list they’ll get before Ali, aided once more by Frigg, the methodical but loose-cannon AI first introduced in Duel to the Death (2018), turns on them?

Pub Date: April 2, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-5011-5101-9

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019

GENERAL MYSTERY & DETECTIVE | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | MYSTERY & DETECTIVE | SUSPENSE | DETECTIVES & PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS | SUSPENSE

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by J.A. Jance

BLOOD TRAIL

by C.J. Box ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 20, 2008

More of a western than a mystery, like most of Joe’s adventures, and all the better for the open physical clashes that...

Wyoming Game and Fish Warden Joe Pickett ( Free Fire , 2007, etc.), once again at the governor’s behest, stalks the wraithlike figure who’s targeting elk hunters for death.

Frank Urman was taken down by a single rifle shot, field-dressed, beheaded and hung upside-down to bleed out. (You won’t believe where his head eventually turns up.) The poker chip found near his body confirms that he’s the third victim of the Wolverine, a killer whose animus against hunters is evidently being whipped up by anti-hunting activist Klamath Moore. The potential effects on the state’s hunting revenues are so calamitous that Governor Spencer Rulon pulls out all the stops, and Pickett is forced to work directly with Wyoming Game and Fish Director Randy Pope, the boss who fired him from his regular job in Saddlestring District. Three more victims will die in rapid succession before Joe is given a more congenial colleague: Nate Romanowski, the outlaw falconer who pledged to protect Joe’s family before he was taken into federal custody. As usual in this acclaimed series, the mystery is slight and its solution eminently guessable long before it’s confirmed by testimony from an unlikely source. But the people and scenes and enduring conflicts that lead up to that solution will stick with you for a long time.

Pub Date: May 20, 2008

ISBN: 978-0-399-15488-1

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2008

GENERAL MYSTERY & DETECTIVE | MYSTERY & DETECTIVE

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by C.J. Box

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Quarantine Book Club: Why The Talented Mr. Ripley novel and movie are the perfect escapist combination

The 1955 novel was adapted into a 1999 film with Jude Law and Matt Damon, and soon it'll be a Showtime series with Andrew Scott.

In this current climate, being an ally for inclusion is at its utmost importance. For me, that has meant evaluating how much of an ally for all groups I have been (and how I can improve). It's also Pride Month, so I've been delving into LGBTQ+ film history with documentaries like 1980's Paris Is Burning and 2014's T he Case Against 8 , both absolutely captivating looks at how far we've come in the last half-century, and how far we have to go. And recently on Twitter, I stumbled across a 25-second clip from The Talented Mr. Ripley — the movie borne out of the 1955 Patricia Highsmith novel, part of a canon that touched on LGBTQ+ themes (the author herself was openly gay).

In the clip, the late Philip Seymour Hoffman pulls off what can only be described as one of the greatest character introductions in history (see below), and it led me down a rabbit hole. Matt Damon , Hoffman, AND Jude Law at their peaks? I had to go straight to the source.

There's one scene in the film, especially, that stands out to me. It involves Ripley (Damon) playing chess with Dickie (Law), while Dickie is taking a bath. Naturally, Dickie is completely naked but doesn't hesitate to get out of the tub with Ripley right in front of him. The level of intimacy you need with someone to join them bath-side, especially without a clear sexual history, is enviable. Who wouldn't want to feel that free? Dickie feeds off Ripley's desire of him, while Ripley feeds off Dickie's radiant, wealthy, IDGAF status.

That led me to read the source material, Patricia Highsmith's now-classic novel. The sexual tension between Dickie and Ripley is less clear in the book, although there are hints swirling throughout their relationship that it's more than friendship. But Highsmith's novel focuses on Ripley nursing a different kind of lust: one for social and physical wealth. What struck me while reading the book was the craftsmanship of Ripley's constant forays into fantasy. Here's someone who we immediately recognize as a scammer: He's using the name of George McAlpin, parading as a member of the IRS, asking the rich and oblivious for tax money sent back to an office address that's actually Tom's bare-bones apartment. Tom is a chameleon who needs others to fill the emptiness inside him (oh, and his bank account).

The book made my heart pound, but also turned it ice cold whenever Tom took another defeat. Highsmith gives us pages upon pages of dramatic story lines, many of them made up entirely in Tom's own head. His daydreams intensify as he gets closer and closer to Dickie — there's a moment that sees him obsessing over a refrigerator that Dickie and his girlfriend Marge have recently purchased, when Highsmith writes, "The huge white form of the refrigerator sprang out of the corner at him. He had wanted a drink, with ice in it. Now he didn't want to touch the thing." She adds, "Tom realized suddenly why he hated the refrigerator so much. It meant that Dickie was staying put."

I found myself thinking that Ripley himself would make an excellent filmmaker — Tom is always fantasizing about the future. He fantasizes about his death. He fantasizes about traveling to Spain, France, Greece with first-class ease. Ripley builds a drama in his own head as if a movie of his life was playing right alongside him. I could physically see him yearning for that idealistic version of his life. The panoramic details of Mongibello, Italy, its cafes and nightlife, make the novel all the more escapist during a quarantine.

Next up in the Ripley pop culture universe is a Showtime series starring Andrew Scott — his taking on the role of Tom Ripley is a luxury for a TV fan, given his history as the sexy 'Hot Priest' in Phoebe Waller Bridge's Fleabag. Will Showtime do the story justice? It remains to be seen, but I'm optimistic. The Talented Mr. Ripley shines as a story alone, but with a little movie (and TV) magic, its all the more palpable and gripping.

Related content:

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• Quarantine Book Club: How Station Eleven helped me out of my reading slump
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The Talented Mr. Ripley Paperback – June 17, 2008

An American classic and the inspiration for the Emmy Award-winning Netflix series.

It’s here, in the first volume of Patricia Highsmith’s five-book Ripley series, that we are introduced to the suave Tom Ripley, a young striver seeking to leave behind his past as an orphan bullied for being a “sissy.” Newly arrived in the heady world of Manhattan, Ripley meets a wealthy industrialist who hires him to bring his playboy son, Dickie Greenleaf, back from gallivanting in Italy. Soon Ripley’s fascination with Dickie’s debonair lifestyle turns obsessive as he finds himself enraged by Dickie’s ambivalent affections for Marge, a charming American dilettante, and Ripley begins a deadly game. “Sinister and strangely alluring” (Mark Harris, Entertainment Weekly ) The Talented Mr. Ripley serves as an unforgettable introduction to this smooth confidence man, whose talent for self-invention is as unnerving―and unnervingly revealing of the American psyche―as ever.

• Book 1 of 5 Ripley
• Print length 288 pages
• Language English
• Publisher W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date June 17, 2008
• Dimensions 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.3 inches
• ISBN-10 0393332144
• ISBN-13 978-0393332148
• See all details

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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (June 17, 2008)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393332144
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393332148
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.3 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.3 inches
• #572 in Psychological Fiction (Books)
• #995 in Murder Thrillers
• #1,740 in Psychological Thrillers (Books)

About the author

Patricia highsmith.

Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995) was the author of more than twenty novels, including Strangers on a Train, The Price of Salt and The Talented Mr. Ripley, as well as numerous short stories.

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Customers find the book amazing, interesting, and fun. They say it's a great job by Patricia Highsmith and surprisingly likeable. Readers also appreciate the superb literary style and the pace of the story.

"...Whether he is the ultimate conman or just lucky, he is also surprisingly likeable ...." Read more

"...don't know if this is overall typical of her style but it is kind of an eccentric read - like reading a murder mystery totally from the POV of the..." Read more

"...another keeps the reader turning the pages, and Highsmith's superb literary style paints a detailed portrait of Southern Europe more appealing than..." Read more

"...Overall, this was a very enjoyable read . However, I don't know if it is the fact that I saw the movie first or just the book itself...." Read more

Customers find the plot interesting, suspenseful, and thrilling. They describe the story as an outstanding example of creepy crime fiction and a unique experience. Readers also mention that the book is intense and weaves a wonderful noir mystery.

"...Highsmith crafts one of the most convincing and sympathetic psychotics ever written in the character of young Tom Ripley...." Read more

" A classic already and a deep view into a heart of darkness." Read more

"I found this story an outstanding example of creepy crime fiction ...." Read more

"...would be rather the villain of the story, and it’s twists and turns are not expected ...." Read more

Customers find the characters wonderful, creepy, and likable. They also appreciate the fantastic acting and notably queer characters. Readers mention the psychology of Tom Ripley is fascinating.

"...The psychology of Tom Ripley is fascinating ...." Read more

"...This book has characters that are wonderfully different which I really enjoyed. Tom Ripley is a nut!..." Read more

"...In addition to this wonderful character , Patricia Highsmith's skills as a writer are to be highlighted...." Read more

"...Tom Ripley is a fascinating character , self-obsessed and utterly amoral...." Read more

Customers find the writing style well-written, engrossing, and masterfully told. They also appreciate the detailed descriptions of European travel and characters. Readers mention the book is far more complex and elaborate than the movie with miscast Matt.

"...The writing is deceptively simple and tells the story with a quickness in pace and clarity that is admirable...." Read more

"...The book was written nicely , flowed well, and at times I didn't want to put it down...." Read more

"...This book is good and I would recommened it to anyone. Easy and fast read because it's intresting." Read more

"...This lends a feeling of mystery to the writing ." Read more

Customers find the book stunning, well-done, and beautiful. They say it gives a man self-respect.

"...This 1955 book remains Highsmith's most stunning work , and it ranks high among classic noir literature and psychological studies...." Read more

"...They gave a man self-respect. Not ostentation but quality , and the love that cherished the quality...." Read more

"...Good book. A. Well-done " Read more

"...The character of Tom Ripley is certainly well-drawn . Outsider looking in, scheming to not just get in but get to the head of the table...." Read more

Customers find the book entertaining. They also say it's masterful and engaging.

"...This book was absorbing, creepy, and fun !" Read more

"Sleek easy to read an enjoyable way to pass time with a view into the distant past American expatriot life in post war Europe, Tom Ripley knocks off..." Read more

"...Enjoyed the excellent character development, the unknowing,and fun expecting ." Read more

"... Entertainment at its best ." Read more

Customers find the pacing of the book plodding, tedious, and boring. They also say the story becomes repetitive and hard to suspend disbelief by the end.

"...There were a few reservations: At times the book can seem a bit plodding with unnecessary characters and red herring occurrences...." Read more

"...The story became repetitive and boring about two-thirds of the way through, with the various identity "changes" and exploits of Tom Ripley...." Read more

"...regarding the plot twists, but I definitely found it really hard to suspend my disbelief by the end of the book...." Read more

" Everything was just too easy and unrealistic...." Read more

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