Strangers on a Train, Patricia Highsmith, Harper & Brothers, 1950, 281 pp
I have been reading Highsmith for several years but just skipped around. I decided to go back and read the books I've missed. It turns out this was her debut novel. Most people know the movie, adapted by Alfred Hitchcock. Raymond Chandler was one of the screenwriters!
Two men meet on a train. Guy Haines, a successful architect with a new love is traveling to his small hometown in Texas, planning to meet with his first wife Miriam and convince her to get a divorce. There are complications and he is approaching complete hatred for the woman. Charles Anthony Bruno is the psychopath of the story, hates his stepfather, adores his mother, and drinks way too much.
The two men do not exactly hit it off but Bruno floats the idea that they could swap murders. He will kill Guy's wife, Guy will kill his stepfather. Of course Guy sees the insanity of it all and does not agree.
When Miriam does turn up dead a few weeks later, the reader knows Bruno did it, Guy suspects he did. Bruno shows up in Guy's life again, stalks him and finally manipulates him into enough madness to carry out his end of a bargain he never agreed to.
It is all there in her debut novel: the lurking menace, the psychological factors that push an ordinary person into crime, and the suspense that feature in every one of her books. No wonder Hitchcock wanted to make the movie, though the story was changed radically.
You know all those psychological thrillers that seem to come out daily lately? Yes, those. I am more convinced that ever that Patricia Highsmith birthed the genre. No one has done it better. In fact, now that I have read seven of her novels, I feel compelled to read the rest.
Patricia Highsmith novels I had read so far before this one:
The Talented Mr Ripley
Deep Water
A Game For the Living
The Price of Salt
The Cry of the Owl
The Glass Cell
Have you read any of these?
GREAT Classic film. MUST read the book!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad I did!
Deletei tried the first one a couple of times but i guess i didn't have enough patience to finish it... maybe sometime, in another few years...
ReplyDeleteIf by the first one you meant The Talented Mr Ripley, that is not one of my favorites. But she is rather an acquired taste.
DeleteNever read the book but, I enjoyed that movie for sure.
ReplyDeleteI did too and when I saw it was from her debut novel, I had to read it.
DeleteI've never read the book or seen the film. I may have to start adding these to my TBR...oi!
ReplyDeleteOi, indeed!
DeleteI've never read Highsmith. I have her on my want to read list but somehow I've just never gotten to her. I will one of these days and this book sounds like a good place to start. I loved the old Hitchcock movie.
ReplyDeleteIt is always so interesting to read the book behind a movie I saw so long ago. How it is different but because it was Hitchcock he got the essence of it.
DeleteThe Hitchcock movie is one of my favorite films. I admit that I forgot that it was based on a book. There are some writers who have created entire genres. I guess that Highsmith was one of those. I should give her work a try.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if you would like her books. She delves into the dark underside of human nature.
DeleteI haven't read anything by Patricia Highsmith but I would like to try one of her books. This sounds like a good one to start with. I'm glad you enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteI wonder what you will think of it!
DeleteI haven't read anything by Patricia Highsmith but your review makes me want to give her a shot!
ReplyDeleteI think you would appreciate the creep factor in her books.
DeleteOh my, swap murders -- that's quite a plot. I have not read Highsmith but I have seen 2 of the movies: Talented Mr. Ripley, and Carol which was adapted from The Price of Salt. Both unsettling for sure.
ReplyDeleteIt was a fantastic plot. I think Highsmith and Hitchcock were a good combo! He changed the stories some but did not ruin them. He didn't make Carol but Todd Haynes did a great job directing it.
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