The Glass Cell

I was dissapointed when I discovered that there were no more Ripley books after The Boy Who Followed Ripley and Ripley Underwater. The Glass Cell was my first try at P. Highsmiths other books and I was not dissapointed. Phillip Carter is unjustly accused of fraud and committed to prison for six years. This page turner puts you right in his shoes as he succumbs to drug abuse (in jail) and suffers through his unbearable time any way he can. Unfortunately prison is not rehabilitory but fragmenting even to Phil's secure psyche and the prison events are shocking and unfortunately all too close to experiences I've heard about. Upon release he does his own investigating and finds out his wife had been having an affair even before his arrest and uncovers other life shattering facts. The story is exciting with never a dull moment, many unexpected events. Ms. Highsmith does an excellent job of making this story believable right up to the ending which is as tragic and happy as the events of the story will allow.

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.