Ripley's Game

infobox Book |
name = Ripley's Game
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Recent paperback edition cover
author = Patricia Highsmith
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = Ripliad
genre = Mystery novel
publisher = Heinemann (UK) & Random House (USA)
release_date = 11 March 1974
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 288 pp (first edition, hardback)
isbn = ISBN 0-434-33514-2 (first edition, hardback)
preceded_by = Ripley Under Ground
followed_by = The Boy Who Followed Ripley

"Ripley's Game", written in 1974, is the third novel in Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley series (the Ripliad).

Plot summary

In the third Ripley novel, Tom Ripley is a wealthy man in his early thirties. He lives in Villeperce, France, with his French wife, Heloise. Tom spends his days living comfortably in his house, Belle Ombre, until an associate, an American criminal named Reeves Minot, asks him if he can commit a murder for him. Ripley — who "detest [s] murder, unless absolutely necessary" — turns down the offer of $96,000 for the two hits, and Reeves goes back to Hamburg, Germany.

The following day, Ripley goes to a party, where Jonathan Trevanny, a poor British picture framer suffering from leukemia, insults him. As revenge, he tells Minot to convince Trevanny to commit the two murders. To ensure that the plan will work, Ripley tells Minot to fabricate evidence that Trevanny's leukemia has worsened. Trevanny, who is desperate to support his wife and child, panics and accepts the offer.

After committing the first murder, Trevanny insists that he is through as a hired gun. Minot (with Ripley's help) fabricates another medical test that says Trevanny is dying, persuading him to murder a Mafia chieftain, this time on a train using a garotte, but also the option of a gun. At first he is horrified by the idea, but eventually gives in and finds himself on the train. On the train, he resolves to shoot the "mafiosi" and commit suicide before he can be caught. Before he can go through with it, however, Ripley shows up and helps him execute the Mob boss and his bodyguards.

While on the run from the Mob, Ripley and Trevanny form a strange sort of bond, as both share the burden of running from the same crime. Ripley confesses his role in Trevanny's plight, and promises to help him through the ordeal. (Minot, unsurprisingly, has washed his hands of the whole thing.) While on the run together, Ripley and Trevanny grow to appreciate each other's lives; Ripley learns what it is like to look after someone other than himself, while Trevanny abandons his conscience and does whatever it takes to survive.

Trevanny's wife soon becomes suspicious of her husband's relationship with Ripley, however, and asks Jonathon to tell her how, exactly, he has been making so much money. While he doesn't reveal anything, Jonathon begs her to go somewhere safe with their son Georges and then goes to Belle Ombre to hide with Ripley, who has similarly sent Heloise away. The two of them interrogate (and eventually kill) two Mob assassins and afterwards travel for two hours to a remote village to burn the corpses in their own car. Trevanny's wife then shows up at the house, demanding answers. They return to Trevanny's house, where a group of gunmen appear, shooting to kill. A shot is fired at Ripley, but Trevanny falls in front of him and is mortally wounded; he dies in his wife's arms.

Ripley, as an apology to Trevanny's wife, twists Minot's arm to make sure she and her son receive all of the money owed for Trevanny's service. He then returns to his normal life, as if nothing has happened.

Film adaptations

"Ripley's Game" was loosely adapted in 1977 by Wim Wenders as "Der Amerikanische Freund", starring Dennis Hopper as Ripley. It was also adapted under its original title in 2002 by director Liliana Cavani, with John Malkovich as Ripley. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265651/ Ripley's Game (2002) ] ]

References