Ripley Underground

By: Patricia Highsmith

Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly

The Buckmaster Gallery is staging another Derwatt exhibition, but now an American collector claims that the expensive masterpiece he bought three years ago is a fake. It is, of course, and he wants to talk to Derwatt, but Derwatt, inconveniently, is dead. Ripley needs the perfect solution to keep his role in the fraud a secret and his reputation clean, but not everyone's nerves are as steady as his. Especially when it comes to murder.

©1970 Patricia Highsmith. 1993 by Diogenes Verlag AG, Zurich (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Dichotomous

I had opposing thoughts about almost all of the elements of this book.

Story line: I thought it dragged; yet, it had a mesmerizing pace that I wouldn't have wanted changed.

Characters: They were all in the range from full-on sociopath (only the lead character) to amoral to just completely uncaring about anyone but themselves; yet, I wanted to know what happened to them ... in someway I can't explain, I actually cared about how they fared.

Plot premise: It was about the forging of some only slightly noteworthy paintings, as in "why do I care about this?"; yet, I became interested in the nuances of forgery detection and actually was hoping the forger would get away with it.

The ending: In no sense of the word was there an ending, or any sense of closure on the story line; yet, it somehow poetically worked with all the rest of the book.

I kept wondering why I was continuing to listen to this book; yet, I did all the way to the end. And I'm glad I did.

My only non-dichotomous opinion was about Kevin Kenerly's narration: it was superb!

Strangely enough: I recommend this book ... but only if you are committed to this series. As a standalone book I'm pretty sure you would find your credit wasted.

The 2nd Great Ripley Novel

We really enjoyed it and now cannot wat for the next book. The details of getting around Europe are so interesting.

Tom Ripley is Addictive

I enjoyed The Talented Mr. Ripley so much that I decided to try Ripley Underground. I can see where the series might become more and more formula but there is something mesmerizing about Tom Ripley. I will probably purchase the next book eventually for another Ripley fix.
Love the narrator, Kevin Kenerly, he is definitely part of my fascination with listening to this series.

Excellent, excellent,excellent

This is one of those few books that I have read and listened to so many times over so many years that I don’t know how many. I highly recommend it.

Absolutely wonderful

Kevin Kenerly feels like the perfect performer for the magnificent Ripliad, He sees the comedy and explicates it for the listener.