Architect Guy Haines has the
ability to achieve anything he wants in life – a successful career, a fantastic
home, and a beautiful new wife……. but all this changes on the day he catches a
train to Metcalf to talk to his estranged wife about a divorce.
On the train Haines is subjected
to a very uncomfortable conversation with the wealthy but bored Charles Bruno, though
when Haines reaches his destination he has pretty much dismissed Bruno as a
harmless crackpot. But Bruno sees this
fortuitous meeting as the start of a very beautiful friendship ~ one that
will come at great cost.
Bruno believes that he has the
idea for a perfect crime, one that attaches no motive to the perpetrators, and
which will secure each of their futures.
But Bruno’s careful planning doesn’t account for Haines having a
conscience and the fact that there will be others who are determined to get to
the truth.
Highsmith had me on tender hooks
throughout this novel. Her
characterisations were excellent, I detested the smarmy alcoholic Charles Bruno
and felt all of the emotions attributed to Haines. The nightmare world that she portrays is
unshakeable as is the persistent Bruno.
Living out his fantasies Bruno drags Guy, a once honest man, down into
hell without the strength of character to make it back in one piece.
I did this one as a ‘buddy read’
with a couple of readers who I have connected with on Twitter. All three of us felt the high anxiety of the
storyline, and once we had finished we agreed that we needed something calming
to read afterwards!
Hitchcock made a movie by the same name, but he detracted from the novel considerably and it is extremely
dated by today’s standards.
Maxine
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