Editors Reads Verdict
Ripley returns, older, settled, and no less dangerous — the art-forgery plot gives Highsmith a perfect vehicle for exploring how Ripley has learned to manage his particular talent.
What We Loved
- Ripley's domestic contentment at Belle Ombre is wickedly observed
- The art-world setting is perfectly chosen
- The escalating problem-management is darkly comic
Minor Drawbacks
- Slightly lower stakes than The Talented Mr Ripley — Ripley is more in control
- The Derwatt scheme requires patience to set up
Key Takeaways
- → Ripley as a man who has found his niche — comfortable crime in rural France
- → Art forgery as a metaphor for Ripley's own constructed identity
- → The second novel deepens rather than repeats the first
| Author | Patricia Highsmith |
|---|---|
| Publisher | W. W. Norton |
| Pages | 288 |
| Published | January 1, 1970 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Crime Fiction, Psychological Thriller |
| Difficulty | Beginner |
| Best For | Readers of The Talented Mr. Ripley; psychological thriller fans |
Tom Ripley has done well. He lives at Belle Ombre, a gracious house in the French village of Villeperce, with his wife Héloïse — whose family money supports them both without anyone needing to ask too carefully how Tom contributes. He grows mushrooms. He plays the harpsichord. He drinks good wine.
He is also involved, with a London gallery, in selling paintings attributed to Derwatt — a British abstract painter who disappeared in Greece years ago and whom Ripley has quietly arranged to keep ‘producing’ through a forger named Bernard. The scheme is elegant and profitable, and it is working perfectly until an American collector named Thomas Murchison arrives in London with inconvenient doubts.
Ripley Under Ground picks up Ripley’s story fifteen years after the events in Dickie Greenleaf’s apartment in Rome, and finds him embedded in a life that suits him precisely — comfortable, aesthetically refined, insulated by wealth, requiring occasional management of problems that would destroy ordinary men. The art-forgery plot is perfectly chosen: the whole enterprise of selling forged Derwatts is a version of what Ripley has always done — manufacturing identities and selling them to people who want to believe.
Reading Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "Ripley Under Ground" about?
Tom Ripley has settled into comfortable French country life at his villa Belle Ombre with his wealthy wife Héloïse. He is co-managing a scheme to sell forged paintings attributed to a dead artist named Derwatt. When an American collector arrives convinced the paintings are fraudulent, Ripley must manage the situation — which escalates, as Ripley situations always do. The second Ripley novel, fifteen years after The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Who should read "Ripley Under Ground"?
Readers of The Talented Mr. Ripley; psychological thriller fans
What are the key takeaways from "Ripley Under Ground"?
Ripley as a man who has found his niche — comfortable crime in rural France Art forgery as a metaphor for Ripley's own constructed identity The second novel deepens rather than repeats the first
Is "Ripley Under Ground" worth reading?
Ripley returns, older, settled, and no less dangerous — the art-forgery plot gives Highsmith a perfect vehicle for exploring how Ripley has learned to manage his particular talent.
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