The Boy Who Followed Ripley

In "The Boy Who Followed Ripley," the fourth in Patricia Highsmith's five-novel series about Tom Ripley, her engaging hero continues life as a homicidal sociopath still walking free, contented, and dangerous. Frank Pierson, a sixteen-year-old boy from a wealthy family, has run away from the States, read about Tom (His shaky reputation is well-known.), and seeks him out at his villa in France. Frank's father died either by suicide, an accident, or by his son's hand. The two are drawn together by a common bond, rather dubious consciences. Later, Susie an old Pierson servant, intimates that Frank and Tom are cut from the same cloth of evil and malice. Tom later admits to Frank that he's killed men and had no qualms or despair over it. To him it's a fact of his life. He kills when he feels it's necessary. If I were Heloise, Ripley's wife, I'd be suspicious of the close relationship between the two males, but Heloise has always been self-absorbed, an enabler for Tom and uncritical of her husband's shady character. She even asks her husband if the boy is gay. She is so into herself that she doesn't seem to care what he's up to. Tom gets along well with Heloise. He's not that interested in heterosexual relations, and she is not sexually demanding. She's like his beard except he never seems to be involved in sex with males. Tom becomes Frank's idol, mentor and his doppelganger; he's the young Tom. They become too chummy. Young Frank stays at the Ripley house, travels all over with him. Readers know that Ripley has homosexual tendencies, and they may wonder about this intimate connection. There is always a gay undertone in Ripley's life, and more of it is seen in this book than in Books Two or Three. In Berlin the two visit a gay bar like lovers, Tom even gets in drag; supposedly as a disguise to rescue a kidnapped Frank, but he seems to love it. Tom in the kidnapping episode does foolish things with the ransom money, and he can put one more notch on his killing belt. (eight so far in the series) Tom has loyalties to his friends but no moral compass toward humankind in general. Tom is queasy about killing lobsters but not human beings. Tom had never felt guilt about his homicides. He always takes more risks than he should, flirts with danger and discovery. Tom is always doing a lot of traveling, The trip to Hamburg could have been dropped from the book. Tom goes back to the States with Frank to accompany him home, strange behavior for a married man of his age. Tom trips a noisy brat on the plane which brings out the meanness in his make-up. Tom wondered about Frank, "The boy adored him. Tom knew that. But love was strange too." This is not the best book of the series; the plot is diffuse and loose; still it's a very good, exciting book that increases our knowledge of Tom by giving us a mirror image to bring out features of his character. Never boring her readers, Highsmith always plunges right into the heart of her stories. She can create a feeling in

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

I'm working my way through the Ripley series (am currently into number five), and I think that *The Boy who Followed Ripley* is the best since *The Talented Mr. Ripley.* (Though the second and third in the series are well worth the read, and besides, I wouldn't recommend skipping them, since they provide background essential for fully appreciating the later novels.) What a great character Tom Ripley is! We've seen it in previous books, but here we see a lot of the tender side of Tom, who is really affected by his relationship with the boy Frank. I also find his relationships with his shady cronies interesting--they'll break the law regularly, but there is indeed some honor in their relations with one another. The action of the book is indeed slow, as another reviewer mentioned, but I was struck while reading it by how tense an atmosphere the author managed to create without so much action. Always a sense of foreboding. Again, as another reviewer mentioned, the action that does occur is perhaps not as well described as it might be. I at least was confused about precisely what went on in the apartment, the big action scene: the bad guys were going this way and that, and seemed to give up without a fight, but I didn't quite understand everything. Didn't detract from my enjoyment of the novel, however. And before I log off I'll be ordering some non-Ripley Highsmith novels. Reviewed by Debra Hamel, author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece

This was definitely a favorite book of mine out of the Ripley books. Highsmith created a character that you can't help but love - and hate - at the same time. If you loved The Talented Mr. Ripley- read all of them, it is definitely worth the ride.

No one writes like Patricia Highsmith. She takes the reader inside the mind of a minor villain and one can't help rooting for him. Tom Ripley leads a charmed life in a French villa with his beautiful wife Helene -- even if he does have to commit murder every now and then to keep the charm going. When a young American seeking a role model shows up on Tom's doorstep, Tom takes him in -- and a worse role model than Tom is hard to imagine. Part of what makes the Ripley series so much fun to read is that Highsmith keeps the relative moral compass in balance while the absolute moral compass is totally out of whack.