The Boy Who Followed Ripley

''Ripley is an unmistakable descendant of Gatsby, that 'penniless young man without a past' who will stop at nothing.''Frank RichNow 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 The Boy Who Followed Ripley (1980), Highsmith explores Ripley's bizarrely paternal relationship with a troubled young runaway, whose abduction draws them into Berlin's seamy underworld. More than any other American literary character, Ripley provides ''a lens to peer into the sinister machinations of human behavior'' (John Freeman, Pittsburgh Gazette).From Library JournalTo coincide with the premiere of the paperback publication of 1992's Ripley Under Water ( LJ 10/1/92), Vintage is releasing a brace of Highsmith's earlier adventures of Ripley, the cordial young man with the talent for murder. Dubbed ''especially brilliant'' by LJ 's reviewer, Ripley's Game ( LJ 5/1/74) finds the protagonist continually bungling a hit, while The Boy Who Followed Ripley ( LJ 5/1/80) finds him trying to protect a young man on the run after murdering his wealthy father.Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. ReviewIn this quietly terrifying exploration of trust and friendship, a troubled young runaway arrives in Villeperce. And when, on the boy's behalf, Tom Ripley is drawn from his lovely estate in the French countryside to Berlin's seamy underworld and into a kidnapping plot that requires the most bizarre methods - and sinister acumen - for intervention, the icily amoral Ripley is transformed into a generous and compassionate protector. With this psychologically intricate and hauntingly perverse masterwork, Patricia Highsmith warps all notions of friendship, gender, and morality as she explores the relationship of a young man with a guilty conscience and older one who has no conscience at all.