Patricia Highsmith: The Talented Mr Ripley (UK 2015)

From the Publisher:
The Talented Mr Ripley is one of the most influential, groundbreaking crime novels ever written. Tom Ripley travels to Italy with a commission to coax a prodigal young American back to his wealthy father. But Ripley finds himself very fond of Dickie Greenleaf. He wants to be like him - exactly like him. Suave, agreeable and utterly amoral, Ripley will stop at nothing - not even murder - to accomplish his goal.

The Talented Mr Ripley serves as an unforgettable introduction to this smooth confidence man, whose talent for murder and self-invention is chronicled in four further Ripley novels.

Patricia Highsmith: The Talented Mr Ripley. With an introduction by Professor John Sutherland. Virago Press, ISBN: 9780349006963 (June, 2015), 334 p., £12.99.

Patricia Highsmith: The Talented Mr Ripley (USA 2008)

From the Publisher:
AN AMERICAN CLASSIC AND THE INSPIRATION FOR THE MOTION PICTURE STARRING MATT DAMON AND GWYNETH PALTROW.
"Tom Ripley is one of the most interesting characters in world literature." - ANTHONY MINGHELLA, DIRECTOR OF The Talented Mr. Ripley

Since his debut in 1955, Tom Ripley has evolved into the ultimate bad boy sociopath. Here, in this first Ripley novel, we are introduced to suave Tom Ripley, a young striver, newly arrived in the heady world of Manhattan. A product of a broken home, branded a "sissy" by his dismissive Aunt Dottie, Tom 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. A dark reworking of Henry James's The Ambassadors, The Talented Mr. Ripley serves as an unforgettable introduction to this smooth confidence man, whose talent for murder and self-invention is chronicled in four subsequent Ripley novels.

"The brilliance of Highsmith's conception of Tom Ripley was her ability to keep the heroic and demonic American dreamer in balance in the same protagonist -- thus keeping us on his side well after his behavior becomes far more sociopathic than that of a con man like Gatsby." -FRANK RICH, New York Times Magazine

Patricia Highsmith: The Talented Mr Ripley. W. W. Norton, ISBN: 9780393332148 (June, 2008), 273 p., $13.95.

Patricia Highsmith: The Talented Mr Ripley (UK 1999)

From the Publisher:
Tom Ripley is struggling to stay one step ahead of his creditors, and the law, when an unexpected acquaintance offers him a free trip to Europe and a chance to start over.

Ripley wants money, success and the good life and he's willing to kill for it, when his new-found happiness is threatened, his response is as swift as it is shocking.

Patricia Highsmith: The Talented Mr Ripley. Vintage, ISBN: 0099282879 (August, 1999), 248 p., £6.99.

Patricia Highsmith: The Talented Mr Ripley (USA 1992)

From the Publisher:
In a chilling literary hall of mirrors, Patricia Highsmith introduces Tom Ripley. Like a hero in a latter-day Henry James novel, Ripley is sent to Italy with a commission to coax a prodigal young American back to his wealthy father. But Ripley finds himself very fond of Dickie Greenleaf. He wants to be like him, exactly like him. Suave, agreeable, and utterly amoral, Ripley stops at nothingcertainly not only one murderto accomplish his goal. Turning the mystery form inside out, Highsmith shows the terrifying abilities afforded to a man unhindered by the concept of evil.

Patricia Highsmith: The Talented Mr Ripley. Vintage Books / Black Lizard, ISBN: 0679742298 (September, 1992), 295 p., $13.00.

Patricia Highsmith: The Talented Mr Ripley (UK 1987)

From the Publisher:
Ripley wanted out. Wanted money, success - the good life.
Was willing to kill for it.

"As haunting and harowing a study of a schizophrenic murderer as paper will bear. A glittering addition to the meagre ranks of people who make books that you really can t put down" - Sunday Times

Arguably Patricia Highsmith's best book, The Talented Mr Ripley is certainly among the dozen best crime novels written since the war.

"The Ripley Books are marvellously, insanely readable" - H.R.F. Keating in The Times

Patricia Highsmith: The Talented Mr Ripley. London: Penguin, 1987, ISBN: 014004020X, 248 p., £1.99 (?).

Patricia Highsmith: The Talented Mr Ripley (UK 1980)

From the Publisher:
Ripley wanted out. Wanted money, success - the good life.
Was willing to kill for it.

"As haunting and harowing a study of a schizophrenic murderer as paper will bear. A glittering addition to the meagre ranks of people who make books that you really can t put down" - Sunday Times

Arguably Patricia Highsmith's best book, The Talented Mr Ripley is certainly among the dozen best crime novels written since the war.

Patricia Highsmith: The Talented Mr Ripley. London: Penguin, 1980, ISBN: 014004020X, 248 p., 95p.

Patricia Highsmith: The Talented Mr. Ripley (USA 1955)

From the Publisher:
In The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith has succeeded in stepping aside from the well-worn path of crime and suspense stories and has written a novel not only out of the ordinary pattern but one which shows much skill and intelligence in its fashioning. There are thrills in store as she unfolds the cunning schemes of young Tom Ripley, an American ne'er-do-well who travels to Italy on an unusual assignment. Against the colorful backgrounds of Mongibello, San Remo, Rome and Venice, larceny and murder hold sway as Mr. Ripley exhibits his most unusual talent -- a talent for evil. Unsuccessful by ordinary standards, he finds his forte in the operations that are outside the law, an area where he excels. A fascinating character and a chilling story await Miss Highsmith readers.

The Author
Patricia Highsmith, author also of The Blunderer and Strangers on a Train, is a Southerner on both sides and was born in Fort Worth, Texas. She went to Barnard College and has lived in New York and Europe. She likes stories and likes writing suspense novels because of the discipline and craftsmanship they demand. Her short stories have appeared in the Woman's Home Companion, Harper's Bazaar, Today's Woman, Cosmopolitan, etc. Strangers on a Train, in addition to being a highly successful book, also made its mark as a movie and The Blunderer received high praise for its ingenuity.

Patricia Highsmith: The Talented Mr. Ripley. A Novel of Suspense. New York: Coward-McCann, 1955, 248 p., $3.00.