Ripley's Game
A Virago Modern Classic
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
£0.00 for first 30 days
Ripley's Game
Buy Now for £12.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Peter Brooke
About this listen
This is the third novel in Highsmith's hugely influential, groundbreaking Ripley series, which began with The Talented Mr Ripley.
'Highsmith constructs her plot with masterly finesse' DAILY TELEGRAPH
'Her books have stylistic texture, psychological depth, mesmeric readability' SUNDAY TIMES
'One of the greatest modernist writers' GORE VIDAL
'There's no such thing as a perfect murder . . . That's just a parlour game, trying to dream one up.'
Living on his French estate with his elegant heiress wife, Tom Ripley, on the cusp of middle age, is no longer the striving chancer of The Talented Mr. Ripley. Having accrued considerable wealth through a long career of crime, he tires of his idyllic retirement. Highsmith's chameleon longs to get back in the game, so when a friend needs a favour, he relishes the opportunity. Tom Ripley detests murder. Unless it is absolutely necessary. Wherever possible, he prefers someone else to do the dirty work. In this case, someone with no criminal record who can be manipulated to commit 'two simple murders' for a very generous fee.
Ripley's Game is followed by The Boy Who Followed Ripley and Ripley Under Water
'The No. 1 Greatest Crime Writer' THE TIMES ©2016 Patricia Highsmith (P)2016 Hachette Audio UK
Listeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Ripley's Game
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance1 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Petropolis
- 03-08-24
Shocking reading
The reader is a monoglot American and does a shocking job with the French, Italian and German characters' accents and place names. Super annoying.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mr. W. Carter
- 06-03-19
The story is excellent, but...
As with all the Ripley books, the story is excellent. However, the narrator, while not bad, is also not excellent.
Adam Sims, who narrates Ripley Under Ground and Ripley Under Water is miles ahead of Peter Brooke.
Accents are muddled and don't expect correct pronunciation of foreign words.
Also, he sometimes sounds like he's reading the book and not really paying attention to the phrasing.
Overall, though, it's an enjoyable listen and I would recommend it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance2 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mark H
- 04-02-21
Reliable if unremarkable Highsmith
I really like Patricia Highsmith novels and enjoyed Ripley's Game, but didn't feel it is one of the better novels.
The story is a little too fantastical and the characters don't seem as richly developed as in others.
I really did not warm to the narrator they used, especially when he adopts different voices for female and adolescent characters which I found very pantomime and off-putting.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Colin j Grant
- 26-12-17
couldn't stop
Once started couldn't stop... As in the prequel I didn't see that coming, brilliant and entertaining
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance2 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Barbara Young
- 05-05-24
French accents!
Great story, as always from Highsmith, but the narration was a bit off-putting. Admittedly there are a number of accents to grapple with and most were delivered reasonably (although he seems to think all English people are permanently half asleep) but the French accents were extraordinary. A cross between an evil witch and a mafia thug. Really weird.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance2 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Eleanor C.
- 17-04-24
the accents 😭
Some of the French accents particularly the female ones are hilariously bad (and eventually very distracting)
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Paul
- 11-10-17
Classic, you won't be disappointed
I can't get enough of Ripley or indeed Highsmith. A master of suspense at play. the world she creates is so detailed and believable. The performance of the Narrator strikes just the right pace and tone. loved it from start to finish.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- I ain't givin' you no name
- 16-08-24
The most thrilling installment yet
This is a harder edged thriller than the previous two installments and that makes sense. Ripley becomes more adept and confident in his criminality as his experience grows. As with Ripley Underground, Highsmith once again introduces a sensitive and vulnerable character for Ripley to manipulate, but unlike Underground's depressed and suicidal Bernard, Johnathan Trevanny is given a perspective along side Tom. He's terminally ill and gets pulled into Ripley's web by the desire to leave something behind for his wife and her child. So essentially Walter White. Instead of simply seeing him as one of Tom's marks or victims, we wind up rooting for Jonathan, caring for him, and maybe for the first time, Tom does too.
The homoeroticism and obsession from the first book in the series is gone, as is the pretentions of the art world from the second, what's left is pure criminality - assassinations, ambushes and the mafia. It's the most thrilling installment yet, but perhaps also the most empathetic.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall1 out of 5 stars
-
Performance1 out of 5 stars
-
Story1 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 05-12-23
Avoid
The attempts at French accents by this actor are toe curlingly bad. I had to check that I hadn’t selected a Radio 4 comedy from the 70’s. Ruined the story - couldn’t get past the first chapter.
Why wasn’t the same actor used who narrated the previous book in the series?
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall2 out of 5 stars
-
Performance2 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- Carl
- 09-04-19
Poor performance
I can't comment on the story (though am confident that it's great) as I couldn't get past the first couple of chapters. Found the reading to be unlistenable.
Random emphasis of words and arbitrary mid-sentence pauses, etc, means constantly having to second-guess Highsmith's meaning - imagining the text written down and figuring out how it might sound if read sympathetically. On top of that, characters are given exaggerated, caricatured accents, which is similarly baffling and distracting. All very disappointing after enjoying the first two books in the series.
Will get a hard copy of the book and read it the old fashioned way.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!