Ripley's Game cover art

Ripley's Game

A Virago Modern Classic

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Ripley's Game

By: Patricia Highsmith
Narrated by: Peter Brooke
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About this listen

 BY THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY, CAROL AND STRANGERS ON A TRAIN

This is the third novel in Highsmith's hugely influential, groundbreaking Ripley series, which began with The Talented Mr Ripley.

'Highsmith constructs her plot with masterly finesse' DAILY TELEGRAPH

'Her books have stylistic texture, psychological depth, mesmeric readability' SUNDAY TIMES

'One of the greatest modernist writers' GORE VIDAL

'There's no such thing as a perfect murder . . . That's just a parlour game, trying to dream one up.'

Living on his French estate with his elegant heiress wife, Tom Ripley, on the cusp of middle age, is no longer the striving chancer of The Talented Mr. Ripley. Having accrued considerable wealth through a long career of crime, he tires of his idyllic retirement. Highsmith's chameleon longs to get back in the game, so when a friend needs a favour, he relishes the opportunity. Tom Ripley detests murder. Unless it is absolutely necessary. Wherever possible, he prefers someone else to do the dirty work. In this case, someone with no criminal record who can be manipulated to commit 'two simple murders' for a very generous fee.

Ripley's Game is followed by The Boy Who Followed Ripley and Ripley Under Water

'The No. 1 Greatest Crime Writer' THE TIMES ©2016 Patricia Highsmith (P)2016 Hachette Audio UK Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction

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All stars
Most relevant  
The reader is a monoglot American and does a shocking job with the French, Italian and German characters' accents and place names. Super annoying.

Shocking reading

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I really like Patricia Highsmith novels and enjoyed Ripley's Game, but didn't feel it is one of the better novels.
The story is a little too fantastical and the characters don't seem as richly developed as in others.
I really did not warm to the narrator they used, especially when he adopts different voices for female and adolescent characters which I found very pantomime and off-putting.

Reliable if unremarkable Highsmith

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As with all the Ripley books, the story is excellent. However, the narrator, while not bad, is also not excellent.

Adam Sims, who narrates Ripley Under Ground and Ripley Under Water is miles ahead of Peter Brooke.

Accents are muddled and don't expect correct pronunciation of foreign words.

Also, he sometimes sounds like he's reading the book and not really paying attention to the phrasing.

Overall, though, it's an enjoyable listen and I would recommend it.

The story is excellent, but...

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performer stumbled a lot (why weren't these re-recorded) and some odd pronunciation, but the story still shone

peerless writing from highsmith

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Once started couldn't stop... As in the prequel I didn't see that coming, brilliant and entertaining

couldn't stop

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terrible narration, female voices are terrible. voices in general are poor. Not a reflection on the author or the story.

naration terrible

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Great story, as always from Highsmith, but the narration was a bit off-putting. Admittedly there are a number of accents to grapple with and most were delivered reasonably (although he seems to think all English people are permanently half asleep) but the French accents were extraordinary. A cross between an evil witch and a mafia thug. Really weird.

French accents!

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Some of the French accents particularly the female ones are hilariously bad (and eventually very distracting)

the accents 😭

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I can't get enough of Ripley or indeed Highsmith. A master of suspense at play. the world she creates is so detailed and believable. The performance of the Narrator strikes just the right pace and tone. loved it from start to finish.

Classic, you won't be disappointed

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This is a harder edged thriller than the previous two installments and that makes sense. Ripley becomes more adept and confident in his criminality as his experience grows. As with Ripley Underground, Highsmith once again introduces a sensitive and vulnerable character for Ripley to manipulate, but unlike Underground's depressed and suicidal Bernard, Johnathan Trevanny is given a perspective along side Tom. He's terminally ill and gets pulled into Ripley's web by the desire to leave something behind for his wife and her child. So essentially Walter White. Instead of simply seeing him as one of Tom's marks or victims, we wind up rooting for Jonathan, caring for him, and maybe for the first time, Tom does too.
The homoeroticism and obsession from the first book in the series is gone, as is the pretentions of the art world from the second, what's left is pure criminality - assassinations, ambushes and the mafia. It's the most thrilling installment yet, but perhaps also the most empathetic.

The most thrilling installment yet

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