Ripley Under Ground

Patricia Highsmith

Editions

Review

This is the next in the series of books featuring Patricia Highsmith's anti-hero, Tom Ripley.  Although first published over ten years after The Talented Mr Ripley pbk £6.99, fictional time has moved on by only five or six years, and Tom is now married to the daughter of a wealthy industrialist and living in France, partly on Dickie Greenleaf's money.  He is involved in some minor criminal activities, the most important of which has been to assist some dealers in London in passing off expert forgeries as the work of a now dead painter.  When an American collector declares himself suspicious, and announces he will consult an expert at The Tate, urgent action is called for, if the scam is to remain undiscovered, and profitable…

The writing is as spare as ever, and the whole pace of the story is marvellously assured.  Here Tom Ripley appears to be a more confident man, quite different in some ways from the youth who envied Dickie Greenleaf's riches, but it is a tribute to Highsmith's skill that she has allowed her character to develop in unexpected ways.  Daring and entertaining - a terrific read. - review by Dan Fenton