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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780393332124
ISBN number: 0393332128
Label: W. W. Norton
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 288
Printing Date: June 02, 2008
Publishing house: W. W. Norton
Sale Popularity Level: 955409
Studio: W. W. Norton
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Product Description:
With its sinister humour and genius plotting, Ripley's Game is an enduring portrait of a compulsive, sociopathic American antihero.
Living on his posh French estate with his elegant heiress wife, Tom Ripley, on the cusp of middle age, is no longer the striving comer of The Talented Mr. Ripley. Having accrued considerable wealth through a long career of crime—forgery, extortion, serial murder—Ripley still finds his appetite unquenched and longs to get back in the game. In Ripley's Game, very first published in 1974, Patricia Highsmith's classic chameleon relishes the opportunity to simultaneously repay an insult and help a friend commit a crime—and escape the doldrums of his idyllic retirement. This third novel in Highsmith's series is one of her most psychologically nuanced—particularly memorable for its dark, absurd humor—and was hailed by critics for its ability to manipulate the tropes of the genre. With the creation of Ripley, one of literature's most seductive sociopaths, Highsmith anticipated the likes of Norman Bates and Hannibal Lecter years before their appearance.
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Rated by buyers -
I'm exploring the world of Tom Ripley and enjoying it more and more. In Ripley's Game (1974), Highsmith does it again. Clean controlled language and that great skill of carefully building the plot and then just when you think you know where it is all going, she gives everything a twist that leaves you saying "What happened?"
Rated by buyers -
"Ripley's Game," a thriller initially published by American author Patricia Highsmith in 1974, was third in Highsmith's Ripley series, called by enthusiasts her Ripliad. In it, her charming, ever-so-civilized, murderous psychopath Ripley, now happily settled in a lovely French villa, as a result of his numerous evil deeds, is angered at being snubbed by a hapless Englishman. So our protagonist sets in motion a game that will not have very good consequences for that Englishman, Jonathan Trevanny.
The game, involving Mafiosi as murderous as Ripley, and pan-European train and plane rides, is one that most people - including me--, who know only as much as they read in the papers about the Mafia, would consider impossible ultimately for an individual to win. There are so many more of them, and they are so institutionalized. Trevanny, a man who previously had led a blameless life, is really not equipped for this game. But he is tempted into it by the money, and the fact that he has leukemia, then considered invariably fatal (great strides have been made in its treatment in the last few years, as, ironically, it somewhat resembles AIDS in its workings.) And he has a charming French wife Simone, and child Georges, to provide for when he is gone. The game will change Trevanny, his wife, and even, possibly, his child. And, even Ripley, a bit.
This book, as the other Ripleys, has been favored by European filmmakers, and it's easy to see why. The plot is exciting, and fast-moving; its settings whether cosmopolitan, or rural, are generally lovely. And it stands on its own as a quick, enjoyable read. Dialog is flavorful, narrative writing, muscular. In either case, book or movie, there's less actual gore and violence than you might find in more current similar enterprises: Highsmith was a thrifty writer who could do a lot with a little.
Rated by buyers 
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This book was my very first acquaintance with Patricia Highsmith's Ripley; so I cannot compare it to others in the series. I hope they are better. I found "Ripley's Game" long and boring.
I thought it took forever to get the story moving. Then there were a few good action scenes. Then back again to page after page of nothing happening. Then a few more good action scenes. Etc. etc. etc.
It is very rare that I do not finish a book once I start reading it. I did complete "Ripley's Game" but it was a near thing.
Rated by buyers 
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Ripley's Game is the third novel in the series by Patricia Highsmith, taking off where Ripley Under Ground left us since we learn the he got off scot-free once again. Ripley's thin skin shows in this novel when he is coldly received at a party given by Jonathan Trevanny that he takes as an insult. He repays Trevanny by suggesting to Reeves, for whom Ripley has done a few smuggling jobs for, that Trevanny could be approached to do a couple of Mafia hits.
Jonathan Trevanny is a sympathetic character; married with a young boy named Georges he has a framing business in Fontainebleau that allows him to just get by and he is also dying of leukemia. Ripley informs Reeves that Trevanny might be convinced to do the job because of his leukemia and the money that he would get from the jobs would leave his wife and son well off. Patricia Highsmith fleshes out Trevanny very well and spends a great deal of time over his feelings and motivation for accepting the Reeves' assignment. The step-by-step relating of events leading up to Trevanny's very first murder I found riveting, and Tom Ripley disappeared into the background. Tom eventually rejoins the story and develops a bond with Trevanny but Reeves' plan to start a Maria family war does not go as planned. The ending, for me, was more satisfying than that of Ripley Under Ground and made me interested in the subsequent installment.
A film was made from Ripley's Game which adapted the book with some substantial differences that would be expected. The film is notable for John Malkovich's performance as Tom Ripley who was far more successful than Matt Damon in conveying Ripley's charm and amoral attitude. I recommend the book as being a interesting development in the Ripley series, well-written and definitely something that will hold your interest.
Rated by buyers 
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Since I purchased a single volume which included the trilogy "The Talented Mr. Ripley," "Ripley Under Ground," and "Ripley's Game," I felt compelled to read the last installment, even though I probably would have stopped with the second one if purchased one at a time. Alas, "Ripley's Game" didn't thrill me. Sure, we still have the compelling main character who, like a toned down (non-cannabilistic) Hannibal Lechter, wonders whether his wine is properly chilled or how to play a Bach sonata on his newly purchased harpischord right before he bludgeons an enemy's head with a heavy stick. Here, his murderous choices aren't nearly so repugnant as in the two earlier Ripley novels, since those he kills are members of the Italian Mafia.
In fact, the central character of "Ripley's Game" is not Thomas Ripley at all, but Jonathan Trevanny, dying of a fatal blood disease, who sets aside his morals and agrees to murder members of the Mafia for money (paid by Reeves, a "colleague" of Ripley whom we've met before), so that a war might be started amongst the Mafia families. Honestly, as a fan of "The Sopranos," it seemed at times that Highsmith's portrayal of the mob was nothing short of naive and pedestrian. The fight/murder scenes have an odd flatness to them, and are certainly not one of Highsmith's stronger points.
One thing which kind of bothered me was that Ripley's comments to a character named Gauthier - that Trevanny had taken a turn for the worst -supposedly sets certain key events in motion. In fact (and I re-read this part to make sure), it was Gauthier who told Ripley about Trevanny's illness in the very first place.
In any event, the character of Thomas Ripley is certainly an intriguing one, and though I'm probably not going to read the two subsequent Ripley novels, someday I'll rent the two movies based on "Ripley's Game."
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