Rating: 
Summary: Tom Ripley versus the Mafia
Review: Ripley's Game is the third installment of Highsmith's Ripley series. I was not expecting too much after reading the second in the series (Ripley Under Ground). To my surprise, the book is actually a very good read.In Ripley's Game our favorite psychopath, Tom Ripley, is a bit bored. When his spy/crook buddy in Germany asks for suggestions for an assassin (for hire) Tom, most cruelly, chooses a fellow American in Paris who is terminally ill. The reader is then taken on a wild ride where both Tom and his reluctant killer inductee are chased by Mafia hit men. Ripley's Game is certainly the most violent of the first three Ripley books, and Tom Ripley has really transformed himself into a monster. The real power of this novel is Highsmith's analysis of a dying man choosing to kill for money to help his wife (soon to be widow) and child. It's a very strange and macabre situation, but totally plausible. Bottom line: a violent and depressing Ripley novel. Yet Highsmith's trademark deconstruction of (usually reluctant) killers is in excellent display. Don't let Ripley Under Ground dissuade you from continuing on the Ripley series. Ripley's Game is a very worthy read.
Rating: 
Summary: Explosive
Review: The best of the Ripley books. It starts off like the Eurostar train - that can only go at a slow speed on the English tracks; but once it hits France it takes off at 200 mph. Once again the charming sociopath starts a chain of events that keeps the reader glued to the page, turning them faster and faster to the explosive ending. The best of the best.
Rating: 
Summary: tom-too-late
Review: THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY is a masterpiece. Patricia Highsmith is a marvelous writer--especially in the matter-of-fact way she has of telling a story with only a few delectable embellishments that completely and mysteriously summon up the feeling of being in a particular place--Italy, France--wherever. Germany is evoked beautifully here. Yet in spite of its strengths, Tom Ripley seems like an afterthought, too absent in the first half of the book, although he's the catalyst for the plot. I missed his introspective sliminess combined with a bizarre appeal. Somehow his final derring-do against surprisingly (for this author) stereotypical mafiosi seemed out of character. But lesser Patricia Highsmith isn't bad. Not bad at all.
Rating:
Summary: "A Suspenseful Page-Turner"
Review: This third crime novel using the character of Tom Ripley has mysterious intrigue written all over it. It's got a mix of Italian Mafia blended with Alfred Hitchcock-like suspense. I'd love to see this sequel made into a film like THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY. The subtle homosexual hints in the book made me realize that the female author had plenty of gay friendships. In any case, she had a great talent for writing that keeps you on the edge of your seat. A few lines in the book that I liked were: There's no such thing as a perfect murder. That's just a parlor game, trying to dream one up. Of course you could say there are a lot of unsolved murders. That's different... Gone was the excuse of paintings that Tom wanted framed. One didn't help Tom kill people, help him get rid of corpses, because one was going to frame a few pictures.
Rating:
Summary: An interesting twist on Ripley's morality
Review: Those who only saw the movie "The Talented Mr. Ripley" will be quite surprised by the fact that Ripley is now married, living in a very nice mansion in France, working as an amateur artist and an active participant of the underground markets for stolen and forged paintings. Therefore, there must be other previous books that explain his change of sexual preferences and activities. (I do not know their titles) That situation, will not preclude you from enjoying this book since it have a good suspense and have characteristic not easily found in most "bestseller" type of novels. Here the good guys are not really that good, and the people from the mafia simple criminals, but the author does not give you specific reasons to feel aversion against them. As a result, you might find yourself wandering why you care at all if Tom Ripley and company can succeed in their endeavors. But you do!!! This made the novel particularly interesting for me.
Rating:
Summary: An interesting twist on Ripley's morality
Review: Those who only saw the movie "The Talented Mr. Ripley" will be quite surprised by the fact that Ripley is now married, living in a very nice mansion in France, working as an amateur artist and an active participant of the underground markets for stolen and forged paintings. Therefore, there must be other previous books that explain his change of sexual preferences and activities. (I do not know their titles) That situation, will not preclude you from enjoying this book since it have a good suspense and have characteristic not easily found in most "bestseller" type of novels. Here the good guys are not really that good, and the people from the mafia simple criminals, but the author does not give you specific reasons to feel aversion against them. As a result, you might find yourself wandering why you care at all if Tom Ripley and company can succeed in their endeavors. But you do!!! This made the novel particularly interesting for me.
Rating:
Summary: Great Character Development
Review: Tom Ripley after playing a foolish trick on a fellow townsman for slighting Ripley, unknowingly sends the mans life into a tailspin. In this novel of the series Tom is faced with trying to put back together the life of a good man whos life has been turned upside down by the unwitting events that Tom sets into play. The consequences and choices that are made by these two men are heart rending and leaves the reader feeling quite unsettled to the very last page. A dark and fascinating read.
Rating: 
Summary: Has Ripley gotten bored?
Review: Tom Ripley is always motivated by something. In The Talented Mr. Ripley it was greed, jealousy, and the realization that his European vacation might have to end. In this novel, the more obvious reason is, as stated on the cover, that he has been slighted at a posh gala event by the other protagonist, Jonathan. But does this warrant the subsequent murders, bombings, burnings that follow in his game? I don't think so. I think that Tom Ripley is, no matter what he might say to us, bored. This makes the title oh so illuminating. Since the first novel, he has married--though we learn very little important information about Heloise--and is living in France. The plot of this novel seems like an attempt to spice up what has become his provincial life. Ripley is cold-blooded, refined, exacting, the opposite of scrupulous. He is no psychopath, he merely commits horrid crimes, guiltlessly and thoroughly. He is easy to hate and hard not to like--one of those amicable vilians. What I like most about Highsmith's novels, and the first of this series in particular, is her ability to create a very dark, forboding, scenes that are so tense, they seem to squeeze you in between the lines. That is what was missing most in this novel. It is indeed a page-tuner, and worth an afternoon's read. But in the end, it does feels like a game. There are few moments where the reader is completely aghast that he is actually going to get away with it. By now, we expect at least that of Tom Ripley. But what happened to Jonathan, the novice assasin? I don't want to give anything away here, since this book is just as much about him as about Ripley himself; but, there comes a point in the novel where he seems to turn 180 and seems to forget exactly what made him get involved in Ripley's game in the first place. I couldn't follow the transformation. He gives up too easily. Overall, a worthy read, but if you are a Ripley tyro, or if you want to lose sight of humanity and wonder just how evil a single person can be, read the first one.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping and profound
Review: You might as well know you're reading a review by a bona fide Highsmith addict; her books have everything a good novel needs --solid plotting, convincing characters whose choices govern the storyline, deep truths, and a strong local flavor. "Ripley's Game" has plenty of this, and like most of her books it's next to impossible to put down -- esp. the last 100 pages. I didn't like #2, "Ripley Under Ground"; it seemed amateurish and at times even improvised. "Game," on the other hand, is a masterpiece. Here Ripley takes a backseat to the alluring and amazing character of Jonathan Trevanny, who gets caught up in a plot to assassinate mafiosi in Eastern Europe. There's enough food for thought in this book to fuel about a dozen other novels, and the interrelations between the characters -- esp. Trevanny and his wife -- are fascinating and utterly convincing. Right now a film is planned, with Malkovich as Ripley and Dougray Scott as Trevanny; I hope they don't screw it up! Incidentally, this "sequel" stands firmly on its own and doesn't require knowledge of the first two books; I can't wait to get on the Ripleys 4 and 5. As the Washington Post said, this isn't for the weak-minded or impressionable -- but absolutely mesmerizing. There's no one like Patricia Highsmith.
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