The Talented Mr Ripley

"In The Talented Mr Ripley, Highsmith introduced an amoral, vacuous and shape shifting hero in Tom Ripley, a man in some ways reminiscent of Fitzgerald's Gatsby, who was destined to make return appearances in her later books. First published in 1955, it tells the tale of Ripley's all-expenses-paid escapade from a depressing New York where he is walking on the wrong side of the law, to a glamorous Italian Riviera, to persuade a rich ship-builder's son to return home. But instead of bringing Dickie back to his dying mother, Ripley turns schizophrenic murderer, and assumes Dickie's priveleged lifestyle for himself. A chilling account of a charming, coldblooded killer which has rightly become a classic. "
Kirkus UK