by Patricia Highsmith

'Ripley is an unmistakable descendant of Gatsby, that 'penniless young man without a past' who will stop at nothing.'—Frank Rich

Now part of American film and literary lore, Tom Ripley, 'a bisexual psychopath and art forger who murders without remorse when his comforts are threatened' (New York Times Book Review), was Patricia Highsmith's favorite creation. In Ripley Under Ground (1970), an art forgery goes awry and Ripley is threatened with exposure. More than any other American literary character, Ripley provides 'a lens to peer into the sinister machinations of human behavior' (John Freeman, Pittsburgh Gazette).