Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating and somewhat flawed
Review: "The Boy who Followed Ripley" is a bit of a mixed bag. The premise of a compassionate, protective Ripley is certainly fascinating. Ripley attempts to protect an affluent young murderer by sheltering him from kidnappers, his family , but most importantly of all from his impulsive guilty conscience. True to her subtlety and skill, Highsmith does not portray Ripley in a sentimental or redemptive fashion. His motives, however benign, are still essentially self-centered and murky. The beauty of Patricia Highsmith's characterization, particularly in the Ripley series, is more the result of what she doesn't assume and what she doesn't tell you than what she does.Anyone taken by the action and the tension in "The Talented Mr. Ripley" may find this book a little maddening. There is very little action in this novel, and when it occurs it somehow seems less relevant than the remainder of the story. "The Boy Who Followed Ripley" more of a psychological exploration than a thriller. The interesting factor here is the contrast between the machinery of Ripley's untroubled soul and the agony of the boy's tormented one. As Ripley shields the boy from the police, kidnappers, and his family he also attempts to teach him how to cope with the weight of his crime. The tension in this novel doesn't come from wondering whether Ripley will get away with murder so much as wondering whether or not he can successfully impart his amoral aplomb to his young charge. It is a very subtle kind of tension which frankly won't appeal to everyone. While I enjoyed the premise and the slow pace of this book I did feel that Highsmith was a bit more careless than in her other ones. Somehow I don't think the boy's family or the private detective they hired would so easily allow Ripley to assist them when the boy is kidnapped. Parts of the novel failed to realize their enormous potential. For example, at one point, Ripley decides that he's simply going to challenge the kidnappers and settle the score with them if possible. It's a thrilling moment because you agree with the often disagreeable Ripley and you wonder how he'll pull it off. But in this scene the action is too quick, too easy and-well-not too believable. It's one of the few gripes I have with Highsmith but it hardly diminishes my appreciation of the book. One thing that I'm really curious about and which makes the Ripley series quite enjoyable is how the hell his wife copes with him. Even to the most naïve it is obvious that Ripley is either a criminal or a person who attracts crime. What kind of woman is his wife? Does she have an inkling about her husband? What attracts her to him? Highsmith provides us with delightful hints about this in some of the other novels, but not so much in this one. Perhaps more than any other Ripley novel, including the highly introspective "Ripley Underwater", this one takes us right into the man's very thoughts.
Rating:
Summary: Ripley As Family Man
Review: Book continues Highsmith's tradition of turning detective genres on their head. Ripley demonstrates that when his own nest is adequately feathered, he is able to extend frozenly towards other people. But in making his humanity more apparent, she doesn't violate his basic nature. Ripley extends himself for the young boy, but doesn't attach himself. He puts himself out, but doesn't become tragically flawed. Cool and breezy and slick. Continuing the fine Ripley tradition.
Rating: 
Summary: Fussy, sort of British
Review: Don't read this unless you loved the rest of the series and can't stop. You just aren't going to convince me that Ripley could turn in the ransom money, or that his friends wouldn't keep it for themselves, or that his wife wasn't fed up with his nefarious doings and occasional sex drive, or that servants love their jobs the way Ripley's does, or that there was any reason for him to stay with the boy going to city after city, or that no one accused him of orchestrating the kidnapping. It was far fetched enough that the boy was anyone in the newspapers and it wasn't convincing that the boy would travel to Europe to meet Ripley. The city descriptions didn't float my boat either. Life gets more interesting when you are held accountable, which doesn't happen here. I agree with the reviewer who says these books are a waste of time. The movie is better, much better, and quicker.
Rating:
Summary: Infinite bore!
Review: Highsmith's Ripley series is charming, intelligent and, most of the time, thrilling. However, this is a clearly dissonant note: "The Boy..." never reaches the surprising heights (or depths) of psychological insights of her earlier books. It lacks rhythm and consistency and its characters are not less than unbearable. In one word, this book is a terrible bore!
Rating:
Summary: Ripley, the Same "Talened" Tom Ripley???
Review: I found The Boy Who Followed Tom Ripley to be a portrayal of a Tom Ripley far different than the original 24 year old "Talented Mr. Ripley" of Highsmith's first Ripley tale written in 1960. In The Talented Mr. Ripley, I believed that Ripley was really a disgusting individual; a basic sociopath, fooling many, but being too self-centered to maintain an honest emotion. At the heart of The Boy Who Followed Ripley is a young American runaway who makes it a point to meet up with Ripley since he has read a bit of background on his (Ripley's) adventures (and misadventures in the Art world.) Why the boy chooses Tom Ripley while on the run is never explained, yet there is a feeling that it makes sense and that the two will build a very positive friendship which indeed happens. Here I discovered in Tom Ripley a caring, listening, likable person who showed decency and appropriateness to others without taking advantage of them. Obviously written many years after The Talented Mr. Ripley, it is interesting to see how a character might naturally mature over those years. Yes, there is still a side of Ripley that allows him to maintain no full time work position, live quite comfortably and get involved in shady deals from time to time. The key difference is that there seems to be a more evolved person here. Although Tom's wife comes from money and they certainly seem to benefit by it in the way they live, Ripley seems to hold a genuine love and regard for his wife; something the young "Talented" Ripley would be unable to do -- love another. One of the biggest opportunities I was expecting Tom to take advantage of was a very lucrative amount of money I was sure he wouln't pass up, being that it seemed so easy -- yet indeed he did pass the chance to be a scam right by. I was kind of proud of him and liked Highsmith's work all the more for allowing her characters to mature and change over time. Highsmith's writing here is as engaging as it has been in all her other stories. She draws you into the mystery slowly, keeps you guessing and switches gears just when you think you're a step ahead of what you have learned so far. Highsmith is a woman who has carefully honed her storytelling abilities over the years. As this story ended in a manner I would have preferred to be different were I the author, my opinion of Highsmith didn't change. It was her story -- she just didn't do what I predicted would have happened. But, that's part of the critical elements of any story, especially a mysterious one. Overall, an excellent story; I'm not sure I would fully characterize it as a mystery. While mysterious and having some complicated and dangerous adventures wound within it, a part of me views it as a very beautiful story of the friendship of an older man, extended quite platonically and freely, at a time when this boy needed it. Unfortunately, it also is the story of the true limits of human kindness and even close friendship, illustrating our ultimate aloneness and the realities of life's guarantees of only the present -- probably some valuable reminders for all of us from time to time. Kudos to Highsmith once again!
Rating: 
Summary: Curiouser and curiouser
Review: I just finished this book tonight and was sad to reach the last words - I only have one more Ripley book to go that I have not read, and since the passing of Ms. Highsmith I know regrettably there shall be no more adventures for Tom Ripley after that. I actually paced myself so I could mull this fourth novel in the series over throughout the summer, picking up again where I left off on airplanes, at lunch, and on the bus to work or school. I am very easily drawn into the enticing world of Villeperce and Belle Ombre in the French countryside that Patricia Highsmith has lovingly created for the talented Mr. Ripley to exist in - I am highly disappointed these places are pure fantasy, as I would have enjoyed a pint at Marie and George's bar-tabac with relish. This book is a mixed bag, I think, but still a great read. There are all the wonderful little details that Ms. Highsmith includes that make Tom Ripley a real person for the reader. As referenced by another reviewer, his relationship with his wife Heloise is fascinating to me. Separate beds, stories he doesn't quite share, obviously illegal activities, yet a true sense of devotion that evidences itself in the little presents he loves to buy his wife while on his twisted, dangerous adventures throughout the European continent. Heloise is not stupid, so I am sure she knows exactly what her husband is up to, so she probably doesn't care. There are a lot of marriages like this - maybe she finds Tom's antics entertaining. She does also know of Tom's homosexual leanings...as evidenced by her strong reaction to the arrival of Frank Pierson into Belle Ombre. Heloise realizes that Frank is infatuated with Tom and that Tom is attracted to Frank, whether he admits it or not. Heloise must really love Tom, since a streak of jealousy appears here that is not typically present in her cool, French behavior. She does not like the idea of Tom palling around with an attractive, teenaged American boy. Of course, she does not stop him. Just like she's never stopped Tom from his murdering, art forging, or smuggling for Reeves Minot. That's Heloise for you. I said this book was a mixed bag because you have to suspend a great deal of disbelief to plow through the kidnapping nonsense thrown in the middle. It seems like Ms. Highsmith wanted an excuse to preach about the evils of the Cold War, so she chose a kidnapping run in Berlin as a platform. It is ludicrous to believe that Tom Ripley would have been allowed to become such a guardian to Frank Pierson. If I had run away from home at the age of 16 to find myself in the company of a 30 something expatriate in France, I would think my parents would have made some sort of protest. Instead, the Pierson family seems delighted to meet Tom Ripley and thinks nothing when Frank says he "thought to look Tom up" after hearing his father mention Tom's name once regarding an art deal. In this way Ms. Highsmith intends to connect this book to her others, in which Tom Ripley was involved in a forgery scheme involving a painter named Derwatt. The Dickie Greenleaf affair from the first novel in the series is also referenced frequently, which comes to be a strength of this book. Frank Pierson is plagued by his crime, which Tom Ripley doesn't fathom. He admits to himself that the Greenleaf murder is the only one he feels guilty about, but that the other dozen or so corpses in his wake are as meaningless to him as so many pounds of meat in the Villeperce butcher's shop. And this from a man who can't stand the sounds of lobsters hissing as they are boiled in his French country kitchen. Tom is even more amazing than Heloise at what he chooses to see and not see about himself. What does he think of the fun he had wearing drag in Berlin? Why did he choose that hotel in Chelsea to stay at in New York City when the Waldorf=Astoria or the Pierre would have been the choice of a respected and well-to-do man in town? What exactly is the deal with the very separate bedrooms and the impression Tom gives of loving his marriage, but only for the creature comforts it affords his life? Perhaps Heloise and her friend Noelle are doing more on their adventure cruises together than charting ice flows in the Antarctic. This is what I love about Ms. Highsmith's novels...she leaves a lot of doors open for your own imaginings. Her books end without happy endings and definite answers...so rare today, in a world where Chrichton and Grisham sell the movie rights before their books are even published. She doesn't write with a cinematic eye. These were not screenplays, but actual books meant for people with imagination and intelligence of their own. I plan on re-reading the whole series years from now, since at 25 I don't think I will see the same things in them that I notice now. There is a great paragraph in The Boy Who Followed Ripley about generations, and how there really is no clear break for the 25 year periods that are supposed to define them. The things that define you are what you read, what you listen to, what world events affect you. Time really ceases to matter in the end for all of us.
Rating:
Summary: only pretty good
Review: I just read all the ripley books, and this was my least favorite. It starts off good, but as soon as Frank is safe from the kidnappers the books meanders and takes a really long time before its (to me) chilling ending. I'm sad there are no more ripley books, but I think I may enjoy reading them all over again, even though they won't be as suspenseful. Maybe I'll like this one better the next time around. I also think the author didn't need to make Ripley so apologetic about his past deeds.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining but not the best of the Ripley series....
Review: I suspect that author Highsmith was feeling more comfortable with expressing her own sexuality by the time she wrote this entertaining little mystery, as the homoeroticism is downright blatant! However, I think I preferred it more subtle for the charismatic Tom Ripley. I mean, having him revel in going in drag to a gay bar seemed extremely out of character, if not downright ridiculous. Otherwise, it's a fun chance for Ripley fans to spend more time with this fascinating felon.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining but not the best of the Ripley series....
Review: I suspect that author Highsmith was feeling more comfortable with expressing her own sexuality by the time she wrote this entertaining little mystery, as the homoeroticism is downright blatant! However, I think I preferred it more subtle for the charismatic Tom Ripley. I mean, having him revel in going in drag to a gay bar seemed extremely out of character, if not downright ridiculous. Otherwise, it's a fun chance for Ripley fans to spend more time with this fascinating felon.
Rating:
Summary: A More Mature Ripley
Review: I was enthralled with "The Talented Mr Ripley" and looked forward to reading this book and was not disappointed. It is not as good of book as Ms. Highsmiths original, however, that being said it has some gut wrenching moments. Tom Ripley becomes the fascination of a wealthy priviledged boy with a troubled past. He seeks out Tom for guidance with a life that much like Tom's, has turned suddenly sureal. Tom can connect with this boy on a level others cannot, however will the boy be able to carry the same kind of burdens Tom has grown accustomed to? That is where the basis of the story lies and shows the difference in how each individual acts under severe circumstances. This one is a good read with a fateful ending.
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