The Talented Mr. Ripley
A young man becomes obsessed with the glamorous life of an acquaintance and resorts to murder and impersonation to claim it.
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What you might want to know about The Talented Mr. Ripley
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Tom Ripley is a small-time New York forger when shipbuilder Herbert Greenleaf hires him to travel to the Italian coast and bring his playboy son Dickie home. Tom finds Dickie sunbathing at the village of Mongibello with his friend Marge, and slowly decides he would rather be Dickie than fetch him.
Patricia Highsmith wrote five Ripley novels: The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955), Ripley Under Ground (1970), Ripley's Game (1974), The Boy Who Followed Ripley (1980), and Ripley Under Water (1991). The series is complete.
Yes, multiple times. Anthony Minghella's 1999 film starring Matt Damon, Jude Law, and Gwyneth Paltrow is the most famous adaptation. Netflix released a 2024 limited series Ripley starring Andrew Scott.
The Talented Mr. Ripley was written by Patricia Highsmith, published in 1955 by Penguin Random House.
The Talented Mr. Ripley is 288 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, The Talented Mr. Ripley takes most readers 4 to 6 hours to finish.
The Talented Mr. Ripley is a standalone novel by Patricia Highsmith, not part of a series.
The Talented Mr. Ripley is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
