SYNOPSIS

Tom Ripley, a con man from New York, goes to a small town in Naples to convince Dickie, an acquaintance of his and the son of a rich industrialist, to come back home to take care of the family business. In Italy, Tom and Dickie spend a lot of time together while Marge, a friend of Dickie, feels antipathy and jealousy towards Tom, and often argues with Dickie. Despite this, Dickie goes on holiday with Tom to Sanremo but at that point their friendship seems to be about to end. Tom kills Dickie and decides to assume his identity to avoid being discovered. However, another murder complicates Tom’s life, and puts the police on Dickie’s trail…

REVIEW

An interesting but not very compelling thriller. Tom, the main character, often slows down the narration with his long thoughts, and the story develops almost without setbacks for him. It is the first of a series of five books in which Tom Ripley appears and, more than a novel, it seemed to me an introduction to the peculiar character of the protagonist. In any case, the author narrates the story very well, and the reading flows easily.
The narrator is in the third person with direct access to Tom Ripley’s thoughts. The descriptions of places and characters are clear and precise. The dialogues are fluent and the theme is well treated, it is hidden in the plot and emerges after some deep reflections. Finally, the most relevant aspect of the structure is the creation of the protagonist, which the writer has explored especially from a psychological point of view.