Strangers on a Train

by Patricia Highsmith

Ebook, 2001

Library's rating

Library's review

This is one of those books I thought I knew a lot about going in, only to find out that I really didn't. Somehow I had imagined that the actual "strangers on a train" part was a much more substantial part of the plot, and also that the agreement between Guy and Bruno was more explicit. I wasn't

disappointed to discover I was wrong in either case, but it's interesting the false impressions we form over the years.

I didn't much like either of the main characters, which is not a negative for me, and the psychological torment that Highsmith shows us in both men was quite interesting. I'm not sure the actual crimes were super plausible but they were never really the point; it was all about the ongoing mental breakdowns suffered by the characters when it came to holding my attention.

I'd like to see the movie someday.

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Genres

Mystery

All Topics

Fiction

Collections

Read in 2017, Read but unowned

Description

In Patricia Highsmith's debut novel, we encounter Guy Haines and Charles Anthony Bruno, passengers on the same train. But while Guy is a successful architect in the midst of a divorce, Bruno turns out to be a sadistic psychopath who manipulates Guy into swapping murders with him. As Bruno carries out his twisted plan, Guy is trapped in Highsmith's perilous world-where, under the right circumstances, anybody is capable of murder. The inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock's classic 1951 film, Strangers on a Train launched Highsmith on a prolific career of noir fiction, and proved her mastery of depicting the unsettling forces that tremble beneath the surface of everyday contemporary life.