Thursday, January 14, 2021

Ripley Underground - Patricia Highsmith (Ripley #2)

 

I wondered where Highsmith would take Tom Ripley in this second installment.  Would Ripley find himself on the run?  Would he have to commit yet another murder to cover his tracks?  At the outset, we find Ripley living in France, somehow married to a wealthy woman.  He doesn't work a regular job and spends his days gardening and brushing up on new languages.  And of course, he's found himself caught up in fraudulent art scheme - passing off new paintings as those of a long dead artist.  As the walls start closing in on Ripley, he's go to any lengths to protect himself, under the guise of protecting others.  His wife, having been away on some sort of holiday in Greece returns home - and while Ripley repeatedly describes her as lacking in morals and someone to whom he could probably confess all his crimes, it's unclear what her actual background is and what questionable decisions she has made (other than to marry Tom Ripley).  Ripley is a strange unlikeable man, and yet, I keep on reading wondering what senseless danger he will manage to get himself into next.  As a stand alone novel, I'm not sure I would have found this too intriguing but as a continuation of The Talented Mr. Ripley, this is worth picking up just to see where Tom has landed.  Looking forward to the third book in the trilogy.



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