Ripley's Game
Ripley's Game is the third of Patricia Highsmith's five Ripley novels, published in 1974. Tom Ripley, now married and comfortable at his French country house, takes mild offense at a snub from Jonathan Trevanny, an English framer in nearby Fontainebleau who is dying of leukemia. When a criminal acquaintance asks Ripley to suggest someone for a paid hit, Ripley offers Trevanny's name, and the novel becomes a study of how an ordinary man can be tipped into murder. Highsmith writes in cool, precise prose that lets the reader sit uncomfortably close to Ripley's logic. Many readers consider this book the peak of the series, and it has been filmed twice, most notably by Wim Wenders as The American Friend.
What you might want to know about Ripley's Game
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Tom Ripley draws a dying English picture framer in Germany into a contract killing, and slowly takes a personal interest in the man's fate.
Bourdain often named the Ripley series among his favorites and singled out the third book as the peak, calling Highsmith's portrait of amoral charm a model of dark, elegant fiction.
Yes. Highsmith brings you up to speed on Tom's situation, though readers who finish it often go back to The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Ripley's Game was written by Patricia Highsmith, published in 1974 by W. W. Norton.
Ripley's Game is 263 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Ripley's Game takes most readers 4 to 6 hours to finish.
Ripley's Game is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
