Ripley Under Water

In "Ripley Under Water" Patricia Highsmith's fifth and final Tom Ripley novel, a dangerous, nasty, deranged couple, David and Janice Pritchard, have shown up in Tom's placid French village. They are up to no good, digging into Tom's past, the disappearance of Murchison whom Tom had murdered in the wine cellar of his Belle Ombre home. They have been looking into the forgeries of the Derwatt paintings and Ripley's association with the missing Dickie Greenleaf, the man who inadvertently provided Tom with his wealth and life of leisure. It isn't easy being Tom Ripley, a man with at least eight homicides in his past. Highsmith frequently jumps directly into her narrative and the hero's dilemma--no preambles or wasted time in her forceful, plot and character-driven style. As usual wife Heloise is away (in Morocco) or indifferent to what is transpiring. She knows her husband is a dicey piece of work, but he provides exactly what she needs, window dressing for her frivolous life style. Tom doesn't work for a living, but he certainly works hard to avoid detection. Pritchard, full of insinuations and threats, follows Tom and his wife to Morocco where Tom gives him a good thrashing. Throughout the book, readers, knowing Tom as a frequent murderer, realize that the Pritchards are skating on very thin ice by pursuing him. Often his solution to such problems has been homicidal rather than societal. He's not the kind of man one fools with. The creepy odd couple, like vultures, quarrel and fight, a couple straight out of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf." Pritchard, a persistent obsessed avenger, gets a boat and a helper and starts methodically dragging in the nearby rivers and canals for Murchison's missing body. Each day he goes out grappling for long hours while Tom is grappling with what to do with this meddler. When a headless corpse turns up, the plot thickens.This is a perfectly plotted book. Highsmith keeps you wondering how Tom is going to finally deal with the Pritchards, because you know he'll do whatever he has to do to survive.

I don't know that Patricia Highsmith intended this to be her final Ripley novel. It's entirely possible that she might have written another had she not died a few years after the publication of Ripley Under Water. But it's a so-so novel even before you factor in its place in the series. Once you realize that this is it, and there won't be any further adventures of Tom Ripley, it becomes necessary to remove a star.Mild spoilers follow.The major problem is the antagonists. Their motives for harassing Ripley are never explained. They don't have any apparent personal connection to him, or to his past victims. We never discover how they found out about him and his crimes in the first place. They just appear from thin air and suddenly know all about Ripley's past with Dickie Greenleaf ( The Talented Mr. Ripley ) and Mr. Murchison ( Ripley Under Ground ), though they never mention any of the people he killed in  Ripley's Game  or  The Boy Who Followed Ripley . Why not? Why focus on just the first two murders? (Well really the first and third; they never mention the death of Freddy Miles in the first book.) And why do they care? They don't appear to be vigilantes who hunt down evaders of justice; they appear to specifically be targeting Tom Ripley, and going to a great deal of trouble and expense to do it, too. WHY??? Not knowing is really frustrating.Second, the ending is well written but kind of a mess. It's just too quick and easy. Ripley doesn't actually commit any new crimes in this book; all his problems are just solved for him by happenstance and luck. It's like he's been de-clawed.Finally, Ripley himself is a little TOO erudite for his own good. He's upset about what's happening to him, but not too upset to drop everything and go trim his dahlias, or make a quick sketch of a friend for a painting. He doesn't take a lot of direct action to combat his tormenters. Again, no claws. Truly not the Ripley I've come to love. He's always been a bit passive, but when the time came to act, he acted with deadly results. There's nothing like that here.I wish there was another book on its way to redeem this one, because this was a sad goodbye. I always like a good series to end with a dignified bang, but this one went out with a tasteful little whimper.

I am a devoted fan of Highsmith in general, but LOVE the Tom Ripley series the best. The first book (The Talented Mr. Ripley) is wonderful, and has a bit of dark humor - although most people see the series as just dark, But Tom as an anti-hero is a marvelous character.Ripley is a small series - only five books. I have been hoping that some talented writer could continue the adventures via pastiche, but that hasn't happened. Of all the five, this one is my second favorite, after the initial book that introduces the character.Ripley Under Water shows us a moneyed prankster who is determined to harass Tom, as he has figured (as many have) that Tom's past is a bit shady. The dumb prankster doesn't realize that perhaps it is not a good thing to try and rattle a man like Tom. Yet, he persists - and it is almost comical. Of course, the reader is in Tom's corner. (I would suggest that this series should be read in order, or at least, the first book should be read as it gives details of Tom's background.)Can two people drowning be funny? Tom thinks so .... This is such a special series and Highsmith's writing and imagination are perfection. I only wish there was more Tom adventures.Five Stars Plus for Ripley Under Water.

This is the final book in the Ripley series. The past comes back to trouble Tom in the form of a sadistic American David Pritchard. Pritchard is clearly obsessed with Tom and starts raking about in his past. The book takes Tom to Morocco with the lovely Heloise and to meet his friends Ed and Jeff in London. The Tuft/Murchison/Derwatt saga is a central part of the novel. The question is, will Tom's shady dealings and past finally catch up with him? The book kept me gripped to the end.

This was really poor. I've read some of the other Ripley books and enjoyed the build-up of tension in the first in the series. This effort meanders all over the place for no particular reason to reach a ridiculous ending. Some of the writing is also not so good - reminded me a little of Jeffrey Archer in the middle, with pointless details that didn't carry the plot forward. What a shame! I think Highsmith is better than this. This one should not have been published, as far as I'm concerned.

You need to have read Ripley Under Ground to have any chance of making sense of this book and the whole Ripley sequence probably needs to be read in chronological order. I have to say, though, that the quality suffers as the sequence progresses and this last book is the weakest. Ripley is stalked by an American couple who know that he is a murderer but how they know and why they are stalking him remains a bit of a mystery. I was waiting for a twist in the plot at the end and it never arrived. Actually, the number of people who know that Ripley is a murderer must be in double figures by now. Ripley himself displays his usual sociopathic tendancies but without some of the charm of the earlier books.

I'm a big fan of Patricia Highsmith, but this book was weak and dragged and didn't make a lot of sense. The cops are too dumb not to catch Ripley, who leaves a trail of clues a kindergartner could follow. There was also something so very strange about the dialogue. The original Ripley book was published years and years before this, and although Ripley is in the 80s or 90s now, he appears not to have aged, yet his dialogue and behavior is like it was in the 60s. Nobody talks anymore the way he talks, so it's jarring and unreal. That said, the first book was terrific, as was Strangers on a Train, and my favorite, This Sweet Sickness, a story of obsession, which I highly recommend.

I definately think these five books should be read in order; certainly this one can only really make sense if you've read "Ripley Under Ground". I think these two would make for a good film, especially if it were set in France. I found i lost the image of Matt Damon as Tom as the books progressed!The ending of this book is pretty far-fetched and rather inconclusive though. Highsmith's style of writing is odd, almost childlike at times and small details of description seem included for no purpose - like what Heloise was wearing!This is not great literature or even a clever who-done-it, but as the final book in the set it's worth a try!