The Talented Mr Ripley
First published 1955 · English · 275 pages
- Novels
- Thriller and suspense
This novel introduces Tom Ripley, a young New Yorker living by his wits and small deceptions. A wealthy shipbuilder asks him to travel to Italy and persuade his son Dickie Greenleaf to come home. Tom finds Dickie living an easy life by the sea with his friend Marge, and he is dazzled by the money, the sunshine and the freedom.
What follows is a tense study of envy, identity and ambition, told closely from Tom's point of view so that readers are uncomfortably drawn to his side. Set in postwar Italy, it launched one of crime fiction's most famous and chilling anti-heroes.
Quotes
If I could just go back... if I could rub everything out... starting with myself.
I always thought it would be better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody.
You're the brother I never had. I'm the brother you never had. I would do anything for you, Dickie.
I really feel happy. As if I had been handed a whole new life.