Rating: 
Summary: Ripley Out of Gas
Review: Like a tourist lost in Maine, Patricia Highsmith seems to have gone on a road trip with no sense of direction in this weak sequel to "The Talented Mr. Ripley". As a result it is a severe disappointment in comparison to its precursor. It supposedly features the same pathological liar who makes the original such a success, but here he lacks both nerve and verve. About a third of the way along, the story gets lost and begins driving around in circles, to finally run out of gas and splutter to a leaden halt in unpleasant and murky terrain. Believable plot and motivation are tossed out the window the deeper into the woods the story goes, and contradictions, non-sequiturs, and inconsequential characters abound. The particularly unbelievable and unsatisfying ending makes it clear that Ms. Highsmith never heard the sage local advice, "Yah cahn't git theya from heah", because she doesn't even come close. Instead she abandons us on a foggy road in the middle of nowhere. However, she must have been desperately poring over roadmaps near the end, because, like some hyperactive tour-guide, she nearly beats us to death with a boringly repetitive litany of Salzburg place names. Another reason why this book fails is that one wonders if this is even the same Tom Ripley, so dissimilar is he here to the captivatingly amoral character of the first novel. In the same way that Ripley impersonates the mythical Derwatt in this story, his own motivations and actions are so inverosimil and his personality so flat, that someone seems to be impersonating him as well. I find it curious that this novel about art forgeries gives such a distinct impression of being itself a forgery, so unlike is it to Ms. Highsmith's artistry in the first Ripley book.
Rating: 
Summary: Superb follow-up to The Talented Mr. Ripley
Review: Like the first novel, this sequel is replete with impersonation, murder, and edge-of-the-seat suspense. Recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Patricia Highsmith continues the Talent
Review: Mr. Ripley is indeed talented and so is Patricia Highsmith. Being in Thomas Ripleys world is a unique and exciting experience. I was actually rooting for him and sympathizing with his predicament. He has worked so hard to attain his life of leisure and does not bother anyone. So, when the meddlesome and uncouth Americans threaten to destroy his charmed lifestyle, death is certainly a convenient solution, even if he didn't have to do it himself. Well fleshed characters, great plot. If you enjoyed the first book, The Talented Mr. Ripley, you will certainly enjoy this continuation. Even if you didn't read any others, give this one a try, it's fun and entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: You won't want this one to end...
Review: My second experience with Mr. Ripley was even better than the first! I really enjoyed the plot twists and discovering how Tom gets himself out of those difficult situations. The end left a bit of a cliffhanger, so I am anxious to read the next installment. I strongly recommend Ripley Under Ground if you enjoyed The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Rating:
Summary: A great reading
Review: Nigel Lambert reading Patricia Highsmith's "Ripley Under Ground" is a masterpiece. All the humour and suspense is rendered splendidly by Mr Lambert's beautiful reading.
Rating: 
Summary: A Married Ripley Dabbles in Double Dealing
Review: Ripley Under Ground is the second book in the Ripley series. The book suffers in comparison with the astonishing first book in the series, The Talented Mr. Ripley. Perhaps no sequel could hope to have matched that fine book's character development and intricate, exciting plot. By comparison, Ripley Under Ground could be renamed Ripley in Slow Motion with a Yawn. Character development is much less in this book and the plot is much less intricate and exciting.
As the book opens, we find that the sexually neuter Ripley from The Talented Mr. Ripley has turned into a married Ripley who has a wealthy wife who's on vacation in Greece. A scam that he started before he married and after The Talented Mr. Ripley has come back to haunt him. Ripley had helped set up a ring to forge portraits by a dead artist and to pretend the artist is still alive. A collector is challenging the authenticity of a painting he bought which is a forgery. Ripley decides to come to London to impersonate the artist. But that doesn't work so Ripley has to find some new method to solve the problem. Otherwise, his wife's family will probably give him the old heave-ho. They would never have agreed to the marriage in the first place, but the pair eloped and presented the family with a fait accompli.
One of the weakest elements in this book is the heavy use of impersonations. It's just too much to be totally credible. That was the weakest part of The Talented Mr. Ripley, but here Ms. Highsmith goes off the deep end in that regard.
I did like the little character development that occurred. Ripley starts to develop some feelings for other people, even if they are not deep ones. He's not quite the amoral monster he was before, but he certainly looks out for number one first. It was interesting to see how he starts to trust others, which he did not do before.
If you have not yet read The Talented Mr. Ripley, please read that book instead. It's a much better book, and you will enjoy this one more if you read that one first. This book has several delicious ironies in it that you won't appreciate without the contrast of The Talented Mr. Ripley.
May your every day above ground be a great one!
Rating:
Summary: Middling
Review: The criticisms here are mostly spot-on. I was excited to read the second Ripley novel after masterful The Talented Mr. Ripley, and have to say it left me with mixed opinions. On the one hand, Highsmith continues her dazzlement of having us identify with a cold blooded killer and cheer him on his way to get scot free. On the other hand, there are significant parts of the novel that feel like the first or second draft of a finer novel. Problems include the preposterous impersonation scenes, where Ripley throws over investigators and highly interested parties by donning a beard and accent, before meeting the same people again as Ripley, and an overall sogginess to the second half of the book, which could stand a great deal of tightening. The first book had better pacing and urgency due in part to Ripley having to outwit opponents in tight quarters, where this one winds up limp. Not to say there aren't thrilling moments and great turns, but it seems Highsmith tosses a number of objects and devices in the air with their never really coming to much: the goodhearted housekeeper, the grave in the woods, a cellar never returned to, a distant friend hooked in with espionage for some reason, the unexplored fate of a stolen painting, the possibilities of problems with customs, or a rivered body being found... and on... the plot felt perfunctory after a while, not tight and energetic, and after a truly gristly solution found in Austria (not wholly believable as a soluation), Highsmith simply ends the novel with more questions to be asked, as if she were tired of it and just wanted to pass the manuscript on to the publishers. It's too bad; it could have been better. As it is, it's certainly not bad, certainly not great. It's convinced me to wait some time before moving on to the third in the series.
Rating:
Summary: I Did Not Sleep!
Review: The last two chapters of this book were riveting! The description of what Tom did while trying to cremate that body drew shudders: "Another try with the shovel at the head brought no results..nor would his foot if he stomped on it, Tom knew...he rolled the smoking form toward the grave he had dug..." And on and on! Jeesh! Is this man a monster or what? If you are squeamish this is not the book for you. This is the second book in the "series." I, too, didn't read in order. I finished "Ripley Under Water" before this one and I really enjoyed Tom's shenanigans in that one. But this one!! Fathuh! Fathuh! I thoroughly enjoyed gasping out loud at his insanity. His thought processes are outlandish. You can just hear Jeff and Ed thinking "the man must be demented." As for his wife, I understood her a lot better in this book than in "Under Water". I loved Tom's little idiosyncrasies regarding personal hygiene issues and his little disparaging comments about his fellow man. My guess as to why he is less self-effacing than in "Talented Mr. Ripley" is that now he has gotten what he wants: a life of luxury with no money worries. I am so sorry that there is no more to the series after "Under Water." Patricia Highsmith is unparalleled in her straight forward depictions of murder and the mind of a sociopath.
Rating:
Summary: Improbable Plot but Still a Good Read
Review: This book continues on about 6 years after "The Talanted Mr. Ripley" ends. The first part of this book takes place in the span of only a few days and is almost comical. He has people in and out of his house constantly (and they are all men, does this mean something?). The plot of the art forgery and the murder is very unbelievable. But if Tom Ripley could fool an Italian police officer into thinking he was two different people just by putting on some glasses and changing the part and color of his hair, as he did in "Talented", then I guess he could fool someone in this book by wearing a beard. However, the last part was very unbelievable and there is no way he wouldn't have been arrested. As if the police are going to find burning a man's body because he (supposedly) told him to before he committed suicide, and then crushing the skull, is not suspicious behaviour. But, I couldn't put the book down, and I'm reading Ripley's Game, so Patricia Highsmith must be a great writer, at least to me.
Rating:
Summary: Improbable Plot but Still a Good Read
Review: This book continues on about 6 years after "The Talanted Mr. Ripley" ends. The first part of this book takes place in the span of only a few days and is almost comical. He has people in and out of his house constantly (and they are all men, does this mean something?). The plot of the art forgery and the murder is very unbelievable. But if Tom Ripley could fool an Italian police officer into thinking he was two different people just by putting on some glasses and changing the part and color of his hair, as he did in "Talented", then I guess he could fool someone in this book by wearing a beard. However, the last part was very unbelievable and there is no way he wouldn't have been arrested. As if the police are going to find burning a man's body because he (supposedly) told him to before he committed suicide, and then crushing the skull, is not suspicious behaviour. But, I couldn't put the book down, and I'm reading Ripley's Game, so Patricia Highsmith must be a great writer, at least to me.
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