In The Talented Mr. Ripley, Patricia Highsmith's most famous novel, her most fascinating character appears: the unsettling and amoral Tom Ripley, a prototypical figure of a genre that Highsmith invented, situated between the detective novel and the noir novel, between Graham Greene and Raymond Chandler, where the most thrilling suspense combines with a dizzying psychological analysis.
Mr. Greenleaf, an American millionaire, asks Tom Ripley to try to convince his son Dickie to return home. Tom accepts the task – while putting distance between himself and possible police troubles – and finds Dickie and his friend Marga, with whom he establishes a murky relationship that leads to crime and deception.
Under the title Purple Noon, the novel was adapted into a film in 1960 by René Clement, with Alain Delon playing Ripley. In 1999, a remake titled The Talented Mr. Ripley was released, directed by Anthony Minghella and starring Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jude Law.
