Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Kbh Danske Bogsamleres Klub 1965 270 s.
Description
Two men meet in the picturesque backstreets of Athens. Chester MacFarlane is a conman with multiple false identities, near the end of his rope and on the run with his young wife Colette. Rydal Keener is a young drifter looking for adventure. He finds it in one evening as the law catches up to Chester and Colette, and their fates become fatally entwined. Patricia Highsmith draws us deep into a cross-European game of cat and mouse in this masterpiece of suspense from the author of 'The talented Mr Ripley'. Now a major film starring Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst and Oscar Isaac. This special edition includes a foreword by director and screenwriter Hossein Amini.
User reviews
LibraryThing member KatherineGregg
Another good psychological thriller by Patricia Highsmith. American con-man, Chester MacFarland, is in Athens with his young wife Colette. A private detective tracks down MacFarland and confronts him about his business scams in the US. MacFarland shoves the detective who falls, hits his head, and
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dies. While MacFarland is trying to hide the body, Rydal Keener, a young American expat, catches him in the act. Keener helps hide the body then proceeds to help MacFarland and his wife get new passports so they can leave Athens. And so begins an unfortunate adventure which ends in another accidental death. This is one of the few Highsmith novels where the protagonist actually feels remorse about his ill deeds. Show Less
LibraryThing member ehines
Well-written and well-paced, but unlike a lot of other Highsmith characters who do strange things, I couldn't really grasp the motivations of the main characters here--they seem to make decisions based on the author's need for suspense rather than any motive internal to their character.
LibraryThing member devenish
This is a book by Highsmith previously unknown to me until,that is,I saw the film recently. I so enjoyed it,that I quickly obtained a copy of the novel Although the basic outline is the same in book and film,they vary in several essential ways.The ending in particular is,with regard to the two main
A fine book,as are most of Patricia Highsmith's and an excellent film which complements it.
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characters completely different.A fine book,as are most of Patricia Highsmith's and an excellent film which complements it.
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LibraryThing member scot2
I do enjoy Patricia Highsmith novels. This one was no exception. It is a tense drama and I was impatient to reach the end to find out what happened. However, I did not like any of the characters. Chester was an unlikeable con man. Colette had married for money. I could not understand Rydal at all
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although I realised that his relationship with his father affected his relationship with Chester. I felt that did not totally explain his behaviour. Show Less
LibraryThing member sturlington
I really like Patricia Highsmith's writing, really. She manages to spin a sense of suspense out of almost nothing. This one left me a little flat, though. It starts out well enough. A con man, Chester, and his young wife, Colette, are traveling in Greece--waiting for things to cool off at home. A
So Rydal, on impulse, helps Chester out with the body, and these three become entangled. Colette flirts with Rydal, Chester gets jealous--a nice, tense triangle is put in place. Then the main turning point of the story:Chester kills Colette while actually trying to kill Rydal. For me, this was where the story started to deflate. Without Colette, the suspense was gone, and as a character, I was much more interested in her than in either of the two men. Even though this is a short novel, the remainder seemed to drag on to what I felt was a fairly foregone conclusion.
Highsmith is a taut, compact writer. The exotic yet somewhat seedy setting is perfect for this type of story. It's too bad that it wasn't quite the story I wanted it to be.
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policeman confronts Chester in his hotel room and he accidentally-on-purpose kills him. While he is struggling to hide the body, he encounters a younger man, Rydal, in the hallway who has, in truth, been sort of tailing Chester because he reminds Rydal of his estranged and now deceased father. Rydal has a bit of a shady past too; he gradually becomes less sympathetic as the story winds on.So Rydal, on impulse, helps Chester out with the body, and these three become entangled. Colette flirts with Rydal, Chester gets jealous--a nice, tense triangle is put in place. Then the main turning point of the story:
Highsmith is a taut, compact writer. The exotic yet somewhat seedy setting is perfect for this type of story. It's too bad that it wasn't quite the story I wanted it to be.
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LibraryThing member BookConcierge
From the book jacket. Athens, 1962. Rydal Keener is an American expat working as a tour guide and running cons on the side. He is mostly killing time, searching for adventure. But in Cheter MacFarland, a charismatic American businessman, and his flirtatious and beautiful young wife, Colette, Rydal
My reactions
The only book by Patrician Highsmith that I’ve read previously was The Talented Mr Ripley. Once again, Highsmith manages to give us unlikeable characters that behave in ways that just keep this reader enthralled and interested, turning pages to find out what twists, turns and surprises the plot has in store.
As with Ripley, Keener is subject to “thinking” not with his head, but with his …. Well, he reacts based on lust and desire. Why he gets involved with these two to begin with is a mystery to me. And he gets entangled in their mess to a greater extent than he ever dreamed possible. But “in for a penny, in for a pound.”
Rydal and Chester try to outmaneuver one another, always thinking two or three steps ahead (or not). They are both facile liars, but hardly a match for Colette. Frankly you can’t trust a word any of them says. But that only adds to the suspense. The ending was a complete surprise to me, and I can’t say it was completely satisfying.
Still, this was a fast and entertaining read, though I did have to remind myself of the time and place and recall how much easier it was to change one’s identity in that era. Apparently, there was a movie made around 2014, but I never saw it nor even remember hearing much about it.
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finds more than he bargained for. After an incident at a hotel puts the wealthy couple in danger, Rydal ties his fate to theirs. My reactions
The only book by Patrician Highsmith that I’ve read previously was The Talented Mr Ripley. Once again, Highsmith manages to give us unlikeable characters that behave in ways that just keep this reader enthralled and interested, turning pages to find out what twists, turns and surprises the plot has in store.
As with Ripley, Keener is subject to “thinking” not with his head, but with his …. Well, he reacts based on lust and desire. Why he gets involved with these two to begin with is a mystery to me. And he gets entangled in their mess to a greater extent than he ever dreamed possible. But “in for a penny, in for a pound.”
Rydal and Chester try to outmaneuver one another, always thinking two or three steps ahead (or not). They are both facile liars, but hardly a match for Colette. Frankly you can’t trust a word any of them says. But that only adds to the suspense. The ending was a complete surprise to me, and I can’t say it was completely satisfying.
Still, this was a fast and entertaining read, though I did have to remind myself of the time and place and recall how much easier it was to change one’s identity in that era. Apparently, there was a movie made around 2014, but I never saw it nor even remember hearing much about it.
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LibraryThing member Faradaydon
Started well, but crawled to a disappointing climax.
LibraryThing member Tanya-dogearedcopy
Last night, Rydal Keener is an American living the life of a flaneur in Greece when he spots a man sho strongly resembles his father. And so begins the fatefulcat-and-mouse course of events for Rydal and an American couple on the lam in Athens. The narrative unfolds with with plot twists and the
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inner machinations of the two men in what I can only describe as a sort of mesmeric style not unlike watching a car wreck happen in slow motion: You know it's going to be bad, but you can't tear your eyes away! Inasmuch as I consider Shirley Jackson the master of horror in her ability to inject psychological suspense into her stories (cf 'The Haunting of Hill House'), so too I view Patricia Highsmith in regard to the thriller genre. Show Less
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1961
Physical description
270 p.; 20.5 cm
Local notes
Omslag: Dick Gale
Omslaget viser en mand med to kufferter. En skygge fra en anden mand falder på den ene kuffert. I baggrunden ses en kvindes silhouet.
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Oversat fra amerikansk "The two faces of January" af Grethe Rothenborg
Omslaget viser en mand med to kufferter. En skygge fra en anden mand falder på den ene kuffert. I baggrunden ses en kvindes silhouet.
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Oversat fra amerikansk "The two faces of January" af Grethe Rothenborg
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Pages
270
DDC/MDS
| 813.54 |