Editors Reads Verdict
A Venice novel saturated in grief and mutual fixation — two men who cannot separate from each other even as one wants to kill the other.
What We Loved
- Venice is rendered with unusual bleakness — winter, fog, the off-season
- The grief at the novel's core is genuinely felt
- The ambiguity about who is hunting whom is brilliantly maintained
Minor Drawbacks
- The plot is looser than her American novels
- Slower pacing than her best thrillers
Key Takeaways
- → Venice as a city of labyrinths perfectly suited to pursuit and evasion
- → Grief as something that creates rather than prevents violence
- → The bond between hunter and hunted as a form of intimacy
| Author | Patricia Highsmith |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Grove Press |
| Pages | 224 |
| Published | January 1, 1967 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Crime Fiction, Psychological Thriller |
| Difficulty | Intermediate |
| Best For | Highsmith fans; readers visiting Venice and Italy |
Ray Garrett’s wife Peggy killed herself, or maybe she didn’t — the ambiguity is part of what makes the novel uncomfortable. Her father, Ed Coleman, has decided that Ray is responsible and has tried to kill him in a hotel room in Rome. Ray survived. And then neither of them left.
Venice in winter: the canals, the fog, the off-season emptiness, the maze of calli that make pursuit and evasion equally effortless. Coleman hunts Ray through the city and its islands; Ray, who could leave, does not leave — is drawn back by something he cannot name, some need to remain close to the man who blames him, who loved Peggy, who is the last remaining connection to a loss that has not yet become real.
Those Who Walk Away is one of Highsmith’s most atmospheric novels, and the one in which Venice does the most work — the city is not backdrop but a participant, its winter light and waterways perfectly expressing the grief and mutual fixation at the novel’s core. It is less tightly plotted than her American novels, but that looseness is deliberate: this is a novel about people who cannot resolve what happened to them, in a city that offers no resolution.
Reading Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "Those Who Walk Away" about?
Ray Garrett's wife has died — a probable suicide — and her father, Ed Coleman, blames Ray and has tried to shoot him in Rome. The novel follows the two men as they circle each other through Venice and its islands — Coleman hunting Ray, Ray unable to leave, drawn back to a man who wants to kill him in a city that seems to conspire with grief.
Who should read "Those Who Walk Away"?
Highsmith fans; readers visiting Venice and Italy
What are the key takeaways from "Those Who Walk Away"?
Venice as a city of labyrinths perfectly suited to pursuit and evasion Grief as something that creates rather than prevents violence The bond between hunter and hunted as a form of intimacy
Is "Those Who Walk Away" worth reading?
A Venice novel saturated in grief and mutual fixation — two men who cannot separate from each other even as one wants to kill the other.
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