The Glass Cell

Rating:
Summary: Dont overlook this one
Review: I'm surprised no one else has reviewed this book, so I am going to put up some comments. If you like Patricia Highsmith's work, you're bound to like this one. Though the mystery is a bit flawed--I don't see why she didn't do more with the thumb injury as a murder clue--the writing and the characterization make this well worth reading. Like all her books, it is much more than a simple mystery, but is also the story of a man who starts out believing in some kind of justice and who gradually becomes corrupted. The hero and his prison experience seem so real that I found my own thumbs aching when he was brutaly tortured by the guards. The book was carried off with a great deal of thought and research about prison life. I also found myself feeling for the hero's sense of injustice and found myself hoping it wouldn't ruin him. But with Highsmith that hope is usually in vain. If you liked The Tremor of Forgery or The Blunderer, I'd recommend this one.