I've read about a half dozen Highsmith novels recently (which
is just a smattering), and I'd say that the late books are
not as good. One late title,
"Found in the Street" is actually okay, strange and a little
different, but not as menacing as her other books. (It is
also reminiscent of "A Dog's Ransom," which is better than
"Found.") The only bad book that I've read by her was
"People Who Knock on Doors." It's about a midwest family,
written and set in the 1980s. Highsmith was perhaps too far
from her material -- symptomatic: she equates cocaine with
angel dust -- and it has a bit of the feel of a
juvenile
(the protagonist begins as a high school student). Highsmith
called one of her early novels dull, but I can't remember
which title it was. Titles from the 50s and 60s that I have
read have all been good: "Talented Mr. Ripley" (of course),
and also "Two Faces of January" and "Deep Water" (for some
readers, these books might be slow, but I found them pretty
powerful). Graham Greene called
"A Tremor of Forgery" her masterpiece (or something like
that) -- I liked it, but not as much as Greene. Some titles,
by the way, may be different in British
versions/translations. Highsmith isn't traditionally
hard-boiled (which works by me), but I'd say she's definitely
worth reading beyond Ripley and
"Strangers on a Train."
Occasional Doug
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