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The Blunderer
The Blunderer was written by Highsmith in between Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr Ripley. The novel follows the young, successful and handsome, Walter Stackhouse who seems to have it all, that is, until the day his wife's body is found at the bottom of a cliff. Under the intense scrutiny of the investigation he commits one mistake, then another, until - in true Highsmithian fashion - Walter finds his perfect life derailed. Now Walter is running from the obsessions of the murderer, and the suspicions of the lead cop, not to mention his own increasingly life-threatening blunders.
268 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 17, 1954
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3209 people want to read
About the author
Patricia Highsmith
487 books5,034 followersPatricia Highsmith was an American novelist who is known mainly for her psychological crime thrillers which have led to more than two dozen film adaptations over the years.
She lived with her grandmother, mother and later step-father (her mother divorced her natural father six months before 'Patsy' was born and married Stanley Highsmith) in Fort Worth before moving with her parents to New York in 1927 but returned to live with her grandmother for a year in 1933. Returning to her parents in New York, she attended public schools in New York City and later graduated from Barnard College in 1942.
Shortly after graduation her short story 'The Heroine' was published in the Harper's Bazaar magazine and it was selected as one of the 22 best stories that appeared in American magazines in 1945 and it won the O Henry award for short stories in 1946. She continued to write short stories, many of them comic book stories, and regularly earned herself a weekly $55 pay-check. During this period of her life she lived variously in New York and Mexico.
Her first suspense novel 'Strangers on a Train' published in 1950 was an immediate success with public and critics alike. The novel has been adapted for the screen three times, most notably by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951.
In 1955 her anti-hero Tom Ripley appeared in the splendid 'The Talented Mr Ripley', a book that was awarded the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere as the best foreign mystery novel translated into French in 1957. This book, too, has been the subject of a number of film versions. Ripley appeared again in 'Ripley Under Ground' in 1970, in 'Ripley's Game' in 1974, 'The boy who Followed Ripley' in 1980 and in 'Ripley Under Water' in 1991.
Along with her acclaimed series about Ripley, she wrote 22 novels and eight short story collections plus many other short stories, often macabre, satirical or tinged with black humour. She also wrote one novel, non-mystery, under the name Claire Morgan , plus a work of non-fiction 'Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction' and a co-written book of children's verse, 'Miranda the Panda Is on the Veranda'.
She latterly lived in England and France and was more popular in England than in her native United States. Her novel 'Deep Water', 1957, was called by the Sunday Times one of the "most brilliant analyses of psychosis in America" and Julian Symons once wrote of her "Miss Highsmith is the writer who fuses character and plot most successfully ... the most important crime novelist at present in practice." In addition, Michael Dirda observed "Europeans honoured her as a psychological novelist, part of an existentialist tradition represented by her own favorite writers, in particular Dostoevsky, Conrad, Kafka, Gide, and Camus."
She died of leukemia in Locarno, Switzerland on 4 February 1995 and her last novel, 'Small g: a Summer Idyll', was published posthumously a month later.
Gerry Wolstenholme
July 2010
She lived with her grandmother, mother and later step-father (her mother divorced her natural father six months before 'Patsy' was born and married Stanley Highsmith) in Fort Worth before moving with her parents to New York in 1927 but returned to live with her grandmother for a year in 1933. Returning to her parents in New York, she attended public schools in New York City and later graduated from Barnard College in 1942.
Shortly after graduation her short story 'The Heroine' was published in the Harper's Bazaar magazine and it was selected as one of the 22 best stories that appeared in American magazines in 1945 and it won the O Henry award for short stories in 1946. She continued to write short stories, many of them comic book stories, and regularly earned herself a weekly $55 pay-check. During this period of her life she lived variously in New York and Mexico.
Her first suspense novel 'Strangers on a Train' published in 1950 was an immediate success with public and critics alike. The novel has been adapted for the screen three times, most notably by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951.
In 1955 her anti-hero Tom Ripley appeared in the splendid 'The Talented Mr Ripley', a book that was awarded the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere as the best foreign mystery novel translated into French in 1957. This book, too, has been the subject of a number of film versions. Ripley appeared again in 'Ripley Under Ground' in 1970, in 'Ripley's Game' in 1974, 'The boy who Followed Ripley' in 1980 and in 'Ripley Under Water' in 1991.
Along with her acclaimed series about Ripley, she wrote 22 novels and eight short story collections plus many other short stories, often macabre, satirical or tinged with black humour. She also wrote one novel, non-mystery, under the name Claire Morgan , plus a work of non-fiction 'Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction' and a co-written book of children's verse, 'Miranda the Panda Is on the Veranda'.
She latterly lived in England and France and was more popular in England than in her native United States. Her novel 'Deep Water', 1957, was called by the Sunday Times one of the "most brilliant analyses of psychosis in America" and Julian Symons once wrote of her "Miss Highsmith is the writer who fuses character and plot most successfully ... the most important crime novelist at present in practice." In addition, Michael Dirda observed "Europeans honoured her as a psychological novelist, part of an existentialist tradition represented by her own favorite writers, in particular Dostoevsky, Conrad, Kafka, Gide, and Camus."
She died of leukemia in Locarno, Switzerland on 4 February 1995 and her last novel, 'Small g: a Summer Idyll', was published posthumously a month later.
Gerry Wolstenholme
July 2010
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March 20, 2021
Not long ago, I basked in the afterglow of the darkly brilliant Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith. Marvelling that that it's not one of her best-known and lauded works, I picked up another somewhat obscure title of hers, The Blunderer.
At first I thought, well, it's almost like I'm in the same novel again. That's not a bad thing, but the two seemed remarkably similar in that they are both domestic dramas in which a long-suffering husband is for all intents and purposes tortured by his intensely dislikable wife to the point where we know it isn't going to end well for her - and for god's sake, do it, already!
In Deep Water the wife is a shameless philanderer. In The Blunderer she is a controlling kill-joy. Both wives eventually get a comeuppance, but I'm happy to note that these stories are quite different, after all.
Walter Stackhouse, driven to despair by his wife, happens upon a news article about a woman who was found murdered at a bus stop. It seems obvious to Walter that the murderer must be the husband, Melchior J. Kimmel, bookshop owner, but so far police have found no proof. A bit of an obsession takes birth in otherwise mild mannered Walter, which eventually links the men inexorably.
This novel explores several concepts, but the main one that stood out for me is the idea of the guilt associated with simply thinking about a thing. Ideating murder, playing with it in one's head, perhaps even the intention of it, but not following through due to circumstance - is it as deserving of punishment as the real thing?
As always, Highsmith invites you to a 1950s world that does not include bubble gum or poodle skirts. She ramps up the tension, the claustrophobia, and also, against all odds, the reader's identification with characters who are lost in murky morality (to put it lightly). The flawed protagonist against the world is something she does so well. Her killers tend to be relatable, and quite literary to boot - a sneaky pattern indeed.
Readers of Highsmith will notice a distinct plot similarity to her debut novel Strangers on a Train, and you can tell she was still playing with the idea of a double murder scenario, perhaps less successfully here. The nihilistic conclusion she presents us with is both slightly overwrought but also a thing of noir beauty. What can I say about those literary murderers of hers - irresistible!
At first I thought, well, it's almost like I'm in the same novel again. That's not a bad thing, but the two seemed remarkably similar in that they are both domestic dramas in which a long-suffering husband is for all intents and purposes tortured by his intensely dislikable wife to the point where we know it isn't going to end well for her - and for god's sake, do it, already!
In Deep Water the wife is a shameless philanderer. In The Blunderer she is a controlling kill-joy. Both wives eventually get a comeuppance, but I'm happy to note that these stories are quite different, after all.
Walter Stackhouse, driven to despair by his wife, happens upon a news article about a woman who was found murdered at a bus stop. It seems obvious to Walter that the murderer must be the husband, Melchior J. Kimmel, bookshop owner, but so far police have found no proof. A bit of an obsession takes birth in otherwise mild mannered Walter, which eventually links the men inexorably.
This novel explores several concepts, but the main one that stood out for me is the idea of the guilt associated with simply thinking about a thing. Ideating murder, playing with it in one's head, perhaps even the intention of it, but not following through due to circumstance - is it as deserving of punishment as the real thing?
As always, Highsmith invites you to a 1950s world that does not include bubble gum or poodle skirts. She ramps up the tension, the claustrophobia, and also, against all odds, the reader's identification with characters who are lost in murky morality (to put it lightly). The flawed protagonist against the world is something she does so well. Her killers tend to be relatable, and quite literary to boot - a sneaky pattern indeed.
Readers of Highsmith will notice a distinct plot similarity to her debut novel Strangers on a Train, and you can tell she was still playing with the idea of a double murder scenario, perhaps less successfully here. The nihilistic conclusion she presents us with is both slightly overwrought but also a thing of noir beauty. What can I say about those literary murderers of hers - irresistible!
January 7, 2023
An underwhelming novella by Highsmith, The Blunderer is the story of two men who hate their wives and wish to be rid of them. The premise is as icky as the actual story. The two men are both revolting in their own ways. It is not so much the premise that I disliked or even the characters, but the conversations between the couples that I found ludicrous and unbelievable.
I read a biography of Highsmith a few years ago and in it, they revealed that she was unable to maintain a relationship with any of her girlfriends beyond a few days or weeks. She admitted that she hated women, while being a lesbian and only attracted to women. The women's characters show this misogyny very clearly. The wives are vapid, shallow and disloyal. The discourse between the married couples show her complete lack of knowledge of how people actually talk to each other.
The ending left me unsatisfied too, someone wrote about it that the men pretty much got what they deserved. I don't think so, but I wouldn't waste my time, Highsmith can be brilliant, as in the Ripley novels or Strangers on a Train, but this one is a bust.
I read a biography of Highsmith a few years ago and in it, they revealed that she was unable to maintain a relationship with any of her girlfriends beyond a few days or weeks. She admitted that she hated women, while being a lesbian and only attracted to women. The women's characters show this misogyny very clearly. The wives are vapid, shallow and disloyal. The discourse between the married couples show her complete lack of knowledge of how people actually talk to each other.
The ending left me unsatisfied too, someone wrote about it that the men pretty much got what they deserved. I don't think so, but I wouldn't waste my time, Highsmith can be brilliant, as in the Ripley novels or Strangers on a Train, but this one is a bust.
July 2, 2023
El hombre no solo tiene que ser inocente, también debe parecerlo, Walter Stackhouse no tenía esa suerte. Walter Stackhouse cometió muchas tonterías que terminarían pasándole una cruel factura, una de ellas fue ir a visitar a Melchior Kimmel, asesino impune de su esposa, con el único propósito de ver qué pinta tenía, quería ver en su cara la confirmación de su inocencia o su culpabilidad. Nadie mejor que él debería saber que cualquiera puede ser un asesino.
Patricia Highsmith es la gran señora de las novelas de suspense, incluso publicó un libro sobre cómo escribirlas. No necesita mucho para montar una historia que, como una boa, te atrapará en sus páginas iniciales con la sorpresa de su mera presencia, para rodearte después sin clemencia, apretando más y más hasta soltarte únicamente en el punto que pone fin a la novela. No necesita engancharte con enigmas por resolver ni asesinos que descubrir, los hechos cruciales no son un misterio. Será el desarrollo psicológico de los personajes los que centren la intriga. Sus protagonistas son personas normales con vidas normales, no más malvadas que usted o que yo, pero que tienen la mala suerte de su parte y, como en este caso, la estupidez del que cree que su inocencia le mantendrá a salvo de todo (el título en inglés es algo así como «El metepatas», mucho más apropiado que el título en castellano), la “debilidad” de una mala conciencia que no le dejará en paz y la obsesión de un ambicioso policía sin escrúpulos.
Una novela tan apasionante como «Extraños en un tren», con la que guarda un claro paralelismo.
May 25, 2019
Walter is an idiot. Kimmel is a psychopath. Corby is a delusional bastard. Clara is psychotic vindictive irksome woman. Ellie is just okay-ish. It's just that Patricia Highsmith can write and keep you reading.
February 6, 2022
The Blunderer is what might be seen as a “minor” and certainly neglected novel by Patricia Highsmith (The Talented Mr. Ripley, Strangers on a Train, Carol [The Price of Salt]) I am told was kind of “resurrected” by the Library of America, who published a volume, Four Suspense Novels by Women of the Fifties, that features this novel. And though I don’t really think the title is all that inviting, and I had no expectations, I was surprised by how much I liked it. I listened to it.
I have not yet read The Glass Cell, but I know that Highsmith is critical of the criminal justice system in that book and, I discovered, in this book. In The Blunderer (1954), Patricia Highsmith focuses on two men who are obsessed with each other’s alleged crimes, the murder of their wives, both taking place near bus stations. Both have failed marriages. We actually know which one of them definitely committed the murder of his wife at the opening of the novel, and we also know who did not, though both suffer at the hands of an ambitious and aggressive detective who is convinced both are guilty.
There's obviously a kind of "doubling" going here, though the two suspected killers look nothing like each other. One is a lawyer, and the other owns a bookstore. I am sure some readers may see these two as sort of dopplegangers, I'm not sure, but a second reading might prove fruitful on that score.
So the police play a role in this story, and the media. And friends and family. Maybe that’s all I should say, though who will read this book, I am not sure. But I found it surprisingly engaging and sardonic. And with Carol there seems to be a Highsmith revival, and to my mind if is warranted. This woman can write! I was finally surprised by the ending, and the rich psychological portraits of guilt and shame and near-madness that are associated with accusations of murder. Let’s say: if you are accused of a crime you are punished and experience a dimension of horror and shame and even guilt whether you have committed the crime or not. The world conspires to torture you if they think you are guilty.
I have not yet read The Glass Cell, but I know that Highsmith is critical of the criminal justice system in that book and, I discovered, in this book. In The Blunderer (1954), Patricia Highsmith focuses on two men who are obsessed with each other’s alleged crimes, the murder of their wives, both taking place near bus stations. Both have failed marriages. We actually know which one of them definitely committed the murder of his wife at the opening of the novel, and we also know who did not, though both suffer at the hands of an ambitious and aggressive detective who is convinced both are guilty.
There's obviously a kind of "doubling" going here, though the two suspected killers look nothing like each other. One is a lawyer, and the other owns a bookstore. I am sure some readers may see these two as sort of dopplegangers, I'm not sure, but a second reading might prove fruitful on that score.
So the police play a role in this story, and the media. And friends and family. Maybe that’s all I should say, though who will read this book, I am not sure. But I found it surprisingly engaging and sardonic. And with Carol there seems to be a Highsmith revival, and to my mind if is warranted. This woman can write! I was finally surprised by the ending, and the rich psychological portraits of guilt and shame and near-madness that are associated with accusations of murder. Let’s say: if you are accused of a crime you are punished and experience a dimension of horror and shame and even guilt whether you have committed the crime or not. The world conspires to torture you if they think you are guilty.
November 20, 2021
Lo primero que me viene a la cabeza al pensar en esta novela es el calificativo de 'muy poco convencional', como la Highsmith herself. Es una novela negra y de intriga pero de entrada ya sabemos quién es el asesino, y aún así quieres seguir leyendo. Me ha recordado un poco al planteamiento de la serie 'Colombo', esa especie de juego del ratón y el gato en que el criminal es el protagonista.
La trama es enrevesada. Hay dos hombres, uno que ha asesinado a su mujer mediante un plan diabólico y otro que lo querría imitar. Y un policía, el ambicioso teniente Corby, que los relaciona y los intenta atrapar. Todo muy complicado, con muchos careos entre los tres en un intento de averiguar la verdad.
Es sobre todo una reflexión sobre la culpabilidad, sobre el crimen y el castigo, así como sobre los instintos asesinos que cualquiera puede albergar. Muy bien escrita, pero requiere un poco de paciencia, porque la Highsmith se toma su tiempo y da mil vueltas a lo mismo, creando un ambiente que describe con delectación. Me ha recordado a la atmósfera de los relatos de John Cheever, con esos prósperos matrimonios suburbanos de los años 50, que se reúnen a tomar cócteles.
Novela atmosférica, más que de acción, te puede gustar o parecerte un peñazo, todo es posible. Pero original, mucho.
3,5*
La trama es enrevesada. Hay dos hombres, uno que ha asesinado a su mujer mediante un plan diabólico y otro que lo querría imitar. Y un policía, el ambicioso teniente Corby, que los relaciona y los intenta atrapar. Todo muy complicado, con muchos careos entre los tres en un intento de averiguar la verdad.
Es sobre todo una reflexión sobre la culpabilidad, sobre el crimen y el castigo, así como sobre los instintos asesinos que cualquiera puede albergar. Muy bien escrita, pero requiere un poco de paciencia, porque la Highsmith se toma su tiempo y da mil vueltas a lo mismo, creando un ambiente que describe con delectación. Me ha recordado a la atmósfera de los relatos de John Cheever, con esos prósperos matrimonios suburbanos de los años 50, que se reúnen a tomar cócteles.
Novela atmosférica, más que de acción, te puede gustar o parecerte un peñazo, todo es posible. Pero original, mucho.
3,5*
August 24, 2018
3.5/5. Patricia Highsmith explores some really interesting questions concerning our conception of guilt, blame and justice in this book. It was fascinating to get into the protagonists' confused and twisted minds and there was an almost hypnotic, claustrophobic quality to the writing.
October 3, 2016
Nobody does psychological suspense better than Highsmith. People who overestimate their own intelligence are left twisting in a maze of stupid blunders, lies, half truths and both real and hypothetical crimes. For Walter Stackhouse, innocence is no protection when his life is unraveled by the actions of a jealous and vindictive murderer and a dogged detective. The narration by Robert Fass of the audiobook was very good.
July 19, 2015
As I posted in a status update yesterday afternoon on goodreads (at page 209),
and as things turned out, I was right. But that's Highsmith for you: things don't always go the way you think they should in her books. She often does a 180 in terms of reader expectations; in this case, she ended up leaving me a lot more unsettled at the end than I was throughout the story.
The Blunderer examines three different men in terms of two of Highsmith's favorite themes, guilt and justice. The first, Kimmel, is a bookstore owner who specializes in obtaining pornography. He's also a murderer [which is not a spoiler since you see the whole thing unravel right away upon opening the book and it's on the back-cover blurb] who believes he's gotten away with killing his wife and feels no remorse; the second is an attorney, Walter Stackhouse, whose neurotic ballbuster of a wife Clara is driving his friends away little by little because of her disapproving attitude and crazy imagination. Unlike Kimmel, Walter only thinks about getting rid of his wife, and on reading the story of Mrs. K's death, becomes obsessed with the way the job was done. At the same time, he also becomes more and more convinced of Kimmel's guilt, becoming fascinated with Kimmel himself, and trots off to his bookstore to take a look at him. When Clara turns up dead (also on the back-cover blurb) in much the same fashion as Kimmel's wife, enter the third party of this strange triangle, the overzealous, overreaching, and over-aggressive police detective investigating Mrs. Kimmel's death. While Kimmel sails along sure of himself as far as the law is concerned, Walter isn't so fortunate -- he is the titular "blunderer," whose stupid mistakes he's made along the way are enough to cause havoc for Walter in so very many ways.
While there are definite similarities between this novel and Strangers on a Train (as in an examination of guilt, the psychology of the individual, and the doppelganger-ish, growing obsession between two men), unlike SOAT, the ending of this one is a definite shocker. But before reaching that point, what I find most interesting about this book outside of the story itself is the way in which the reader is pretty much manipulated the entire way through.
As in the cases of both The Talented Mr. Ripley and Strangers on a Train, I found myself constantly being thrown off kilter while reading, but that's what makes Patricia Highsmith such a fine writer, and it's likely why her books are still quite popular half a century or more after they were first published. I don't want just crime, investigation and solution in my reading, and she more than satisfies my need for dark inroads into the psyche. The Blunderer is one I'd most certainly recommend to readers of darker fiction.
"I just love Patricia Highsmith's work. I'm sitting here reading this today, and my tension level has been ratcheted up more than a few times throughout this story. I so want to peek at the end to make sure everything comes out all right, but this is Highsmith, so I know it won't."
and as things turned out, I was right. But that's Highsmith for you: things don't always go the way you think they should in her books. She often does a 180 in terms of reader expectations; in this case, she ended up leaving me a lot more unsettled at the end than I was throughout the story.
The Blunderer examines three different men in terms of two of Highsmith's favorite themes, guilt and justice. The first, Kimmel, is a bookstore owner who specializes in obtaining pornography. He's also a murderer [which is not a spoiler since you see the whole thing unravel right away upon opening the book and it's on the back-cover blurb] who believes he's gotten away with killing his wife and feels no remorse; the second is an attorney, Walter Stackhouse, whose neurotic ballbuster of a wife Clara is driving his friends away little by little because of her disapproving attitude and crazy imagination. Unlike Kimmel, Walter only thinks about getting rid of his wife, and on reading the story of Mrs. K's death, becomes obsessed with the way the job was done. At the same time, he also becomes more and more convinced of Kimmel's guilt, becoming fascinated with Kimmel himself, and trots off to his bookstore to take a look at him. When Clara turns up dead (also on the back-cover blurb) in much the same fashion as Kimmel's wife, enter the third party of this strange triangle, the overzealous, overreaching, and over-aggressive police detective investigating Mrs. Kimmel's death. While Kimmel sails along sure of himself as far as the law is concerned, Walter isn't so fortunate -- he is the titular "blunderer," whose stupid mistakes he's made along the way are enough to cause havoc for Walter in so very many ways.
While there are definite similarities between this novel and Strangers on a Train (as in an examination of guilt, the psychology of the individual, and the doppelganger-ish, growing obsession between two men), unlike SOAT, the ending of this one is a definite shocker. But before reaching that point, what I find most interesting about this book outside of the story itself is the way in which the reader is pretty much manipulated the entire way through.
As in the cases of both The Talented Mr. Ripley and Strangers on a Train, I found myself constantly being thrown off kilter while reading, but that's what makes Patricia Highsmith such a fine writer, and it's likely why her books are still quite popular half a century or more after they were first published. I don't want just crime, investigation and solution in my reading, and she more than satisfies my need for dark inroads into the psyche. The Blunderer is one I'd most certainly recommend to readers of darker fiction.
July 5, 2025
I had somehow overlooked this early Highsmith gem - which follows 'Strangers on a Train' and 'The Price of Salt' but precedes 'The Talented Mr. Ripley'. It's quite a read: an edgy exercise in unrelenting anxiety.
The book has quite a bit to say about human perception, about how friendship / loyalty can be challenged, and about the possible cruelty of fate.
As I started reading, I went to Wikipedia to remind myself of the specifics of Highsmith's life. It's no secret that - as a person - many did not like her (though she was apparently also quite capable of being personable when it came to certain individuals). More fond of animals than she ever was of human beings, Highsmith had... issues and, as they say, 'demons'.
I wondered how all of that filtered into her work. Was her art a way of coping?, a way of resolving any of the things that needed working out? If so, Highsmith wasn't merely venting. From the beginning, she announced herself as an ultra-serious craftsman.
If the author didn't care much for people, she certainly cared about readers of her work and was very respectful of them. At her best (as she is here), her novels are marvels of construction and economy, filled with startlingly realistic dialogue.
To me, 'The Blunderer' has a slight echo of the play (and film) 'Craig's Wife' in it: A man is married to a woman he adores but he has soon noticed that a change has come over her - she has developed into a mouthy misanthrope. Yet she claims to still love her husband, even if she recoils from intimacy. The novel also precedes Hitchcock's 1956 film 'The Wrong Man' - in which an innocent man is pegged as guilty. But with Hitchcock, the mistaken identity only affects the protagonist's immediate family life; in Highsmith's novel, the calamity is complete and seeps into every area of the main character's existence.
This novel unnerved me throughout. Yet I also found it immensely instructive. Highsmith may have spent most of her life on the dark side - but, somewhere in her brain and her conscience, she understood quite a bit about the human condition.
The book has quite a bit to say about human perception, about how friendship / loyalty can be challenged, and about the possible cruelty of fate.
As I started reading, I went to Wikipedia to remind myself of the specifics of Highsmith's life. It's no secret that - as a person - many did not like her (though she was apparently also quite capable of being personable when it came to certain individuals). More fond of animals than she ever was of human beings, Highsmith had... issues and, as they say, 'demons'.
I wondered how all of that filtered into her work. Was her art a way of coping?, a way of resolving any of the things that needed working out? If so, Highsmith wasn't merely venting. From the beginning, she announced herself as an ultra-serious craftsman.
If the author didn't care much for people, she certainly cared about readers of her work and was very respectful of them. At her best (as she is here), her novels are marvels of construction and economy, filled with startlingly realistic dialogue.
To me, 'The Blunderer' has a slight echo of the play (and film) 'Craig's Wife' in it: A man is married to a woman he adores but he has soon noticed that a change has come over her - she has developed into a mouthy misanthrope. Yet she claims to still love her husband, even if she recoils from intimacy. The novel also precedes Hitchcock's 1956 film 'The Wrong Man' - in which an innocent man is pegged as guilty. But with Hitchcock, the mistaken identity only affects the protagonist's immediate family life; in Highsmith's novel, the calamity is complete and seeps into every area of the main character's existence.
This novel unnerved me throughout. Yet I also found it immensely instructive. Highsmith may have spent most of her life on the dark side - but, somewhere in her brain and her conscience, she understood quite a bit about the human condition.
September 20, 2012
Here is Highsmith with one of her very best. Walter Stackhouse is a sympathetic protagonist as is his girlfriend Elli. You like him, root for him, even feel compassion for Kimmell who really has killed his wife (Stackhouse is suspected in what looks to be a copycat murder). It's Corby, the young, ambitious police detective that you begin to hate...with his strong arm tactics and bulldog ways. Highsmith understands all too well the terrain of marriage gone bad, and the interplay between detective, murderer and innocent accused (who feels guilty regardless) is fascinating and believable. As in much of Highsmith territory, there is class warfare as well, but it's the terrain of guilt, innocence and complicity that she explores most fully here: who really is guilty, who among us is really blameless?
February 17, 2022
Just the other day I stated that I've decided to take a break from domestic thrillers for a while as I'm finding them increasingly tedious and frustrating...
But I should have said that doesn't include any books by Patricia Highsmith because THIS is exactly what I'm looking for in a domestic drama/thirller.
This is the taut, slow-burn, multi-layed complexity found in domestic situations I want.
The actual plot of the book is very understated, but the psychological explorations are excellent.
But I should have said that doesn't include any books by Patricia Highsmith because THIS is exactly what I'm looking for in a domestic drama/thirller.
This is the taut, slow-burn, multi-layed complexity found in domestic situations I want.
The actual plot of the book is very understated, but the psychological explorations are excellent.
November 20, 2021
"The Blunderer" is a skillfully written dark story with increasing psychological tension. It involves two men whose estranged wives recently died in similar violent circumstances. A police detective is trying to prove that the second death was a copycat crime of the earlier murder, and plays one man off the other. There is no concrete proof that either man is guilty, but a series of lies and blunders gives the illusion of guilt. Patricia Highsmith was an expert at writing riveting psychological suspense.
October 1, 2021
[2021 reread] The first time I read this book, it put me off Highsmith for a year. As difficult as that is for me to imagine today, I can understand why it happened. It’s incredibly intense. It’s not merely the violence, though there is rather a lot of violence, and a particularly gruesome ending. It’s the tension. That’s where the entertainment lies in books like this one; one reads them for the frisson of suspense. But in The Blunderer it is almost too much, and it just doesn’t let up. I wrote four years ago (below) that I could only take the book about a half hour at a time. This time, the second time through, I tore through it, remembering every scene and knowing the anxiety that was to come. Is it a pleasant experience to read a book like this? I’m not entirely sure it is. But it is, as I wrote below, very sticky.
[2017 first review] There is something about my obsession with Patricia Highsmith that is itself downright Highsmithian, made up as it is of equal parts fascination and revulsion. The rational mind wants to turn away, to move on to other landscapes, but the lizard brain keeps coming back for more. This kind of obsession resides right in her wheelhouse: The sticky idea that clings against one’s will and better judgment, the toxic idea that damages the mind in which it dwells.
The Blunderer sounds that theme, as its protagonist, Walter Stackhouse, develops an obsession with a repulsive murderer. In idly - or not so idly - toying with the idea of copying the crime, Stackhouse unwittingly spins a thread that binds the two men together and undoes both of them. Like Strangers on a Train, The Blunderer asks what it takes to turn an ordinary man into a killer, and the answer is unpleasantly accessible.
Highsmith’s psychological insight and gift for creating tension in the most quotidian events made The Blunderer a halting read for me; I couldn’t stand more than about half an hour of it at a time. But in between, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The reward, such as it is, for sticking by Walter until the end of his story is a particularly gruesome climax. What lingers afterwards is the uncomfortable tenacity of thoughts one would rather not be thinking. Highsmith plants her seeds in her readers as effectively as she does in her characters.
[2017 first review] There is something about my obsession with Patricia Highsmith that is itself downright Highsmithian, made up as it is of equal parts fascination and revulsion. The rational mind wants to turn away, to move on to other landscapes, but the lizard brain keeps coming back for more. This kind of obsession resides right in her wheelhouse: The sticky idea that clings against one’s will and better judgment, the toxic idea that damages the mind in which it dwells.
The Blunderer sounds that theme, as its protagonist, Walter Stackhouse, develops an obsession with a repulsive murderer. In idly - or not so idly - toying with the idea of copying the crime, Stackhouse unwittingly spins a thread that binds the two men together and undoes both of them. Like Strangers on a Train, The Blunderer asks what it takes to turn an ordinary man into a killer, and the answer is unpleasantly accessible.
Highsmith’s psychological insight and gift for creating tension in the most quotidian events made The Blunderer a halting read for me; I couldn’t stand more than about half an hour of it at a time. But in between, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The reward, such as it is, for sticking by Walter until the end of his story is a particularly gruesome climax. What lingers afterwards is the uncomfortable tenacity of thoughts one would rather not be thinking. Highsmith plants her seeds in her readers as effectively as she does in her characters.
March 25, 2024
The Blunderer
Patricia Highsmith's 1954 novel, "The Blunderer" is the second of four novels included in a new Library of America volume, "Women Crime Writers: Four Suspense Novels of the 1950s." The LOA book in its turn is part of a two-volume box set edited by Sarah Weinman of Women Crime Writers of the 1940s and 1950s, which includes eight novels by eight women writers of suspense fiction. The LOA kindly has given me a review copy of the box set. I am enjoying working through the individual novels.
Of the eight writers in the LOA set, Highsmith (1921 -- 1995) is the best known. Her 1955 novel "The Talented Mr Ripley" is included in a Library of America volume of crime writing from the 1950s. Highsmith's many novels about the Ripley character have been much praised and filmed. Her first novel, "Strangers on a Train" became a celebrated Alfred Hitchcock film. But her third novel, "The Blunderer" was out of print for many years until its 2001 reissue. The novel's publication in the LOA will provide for its permanence and accessibility.
Highsmith's novel is set in Long Island and Newark in the early 1950s. The novel tells the story of two women taking separate lengthy bus trips who meet their deaths at rest stops along the way. Both women are in unhappy marriages. The book opens with the brutal murder of the first woman by her husband, Melchior, "Mel" Kimmel. (There is no suspense about the murder or the killer, as Highsmith makes both clear in her opening chapter.) The scene of the book soon shifts to the unhappy marriage between Walter and Clara Stackhouse. Walter, 30, is a successful but restless corporate lawyer. He lives a dull life socializing with other well to do people. His marriage has been deteriorating as Clara becomes increasingly demanding, nagging, and unresponsive sexually. Walter sees a news clipping about the Kimmel murder and the lives and fates of the two men gradually intertwine when Clara meets her death at a bus rest stop with Walter trailing her. A brutal detective, Corby, believes both men guilty of murdering their wives and pursues both of them remorselessly and violently. Walter's actions show him as guilty in act as in his mind. The book offers a portrayal of internal self-destruction.
The book is tensely and tightly written with its two primary male characters well portrayed. The novel also shows the shallow aimless side of suburban America in the post- WW II years and the consequences of living without purpose. Walter tries to find meaning to his life by contemplating leaving his law firm and opening his own practice to serve lower to middle class clients. His sexual and emotional feelings try to revive from his marriage when he becomes smitten with a young music teacher. But his dreams prove unavailing when he cannot handle his relationship with Clara or explain his actions following her suspicious death. In an early passage of the book, Highsmith describes Walter's unsuccessful search for purpose in life:
"Walter felt that perfect achievements were few. Men made laws, set goals, and then fell short of them. His marriage had fallen short of what he had hoped. Clara had fallen short, and perhaps he had not been what she expected, either. But he had tried and he was still trying. One of the few things he knew absolutely was that he loved Clara, and that pleasing her made him happy. And he had Clara, and he had pleased her by taking the job he had, and by living here among all the pleasant, dull people. And if Clara didn't seem to enjoy life as much as she should, she still did not want to move anywhere else or do anything but what she was doing. Walter had asked her. At thirty, Walter had concluded that dissatisfaction was normal. He supposed life for most people was falling slightly short of one ideal after another, salved if one was lucky by the presence of somebody one loved. But he could not put out of his mind the fact that Clara, if she kept on, could kill what was left of his hope for her."
Some aspects of the novel make it less than fully convincing. The detective, Corby, is intolerably brutal in his investigation which goes well beyond the scope of acceptable police practice in the 1950s. As a lawyer, Walter surely would have realized this at the outset and taken steps to protect himself, such as hiring a capable criminal defense attorney. I was less than fully convinced by his complete emotional and mental collapse and by his failure to take steps to protect himself. With that reservation, the novel is thoughtful and chilling in its portrayal of the evil and the foolish that lurks behind much everyday life.
"The Blunderer" is a relatively obscure Highsmith novel that rewards reading. It is worthy of being remembered and deserves its place in the LOA's excellent new anthology of Women Crime Writers.
Robin Friedman
Patricia Highsmith's 1954 novel, "The Blunderer" is the second of four novels included in a new Library of America volume, "Women Crime Writers: Four Suspense Novels of the 1950s." The LOA book in its turn is part of a two-volume box set edited by Sarah Weinman of Women Crime Writers of the 1940s and 1950s, which includes eight novels by eight women writers of suspense fiction. The LOA kindly has given me a review copy of the box set. I am enjoying working through the individual novels.
Of the eight writers in the LOA set, Highsmith (1921 -- 1995) is the best known. Her 1955 novel "The Talented Mr Ripley" is included in a Library of America volume of crime writing from the 1950s. Highsmith's many novels about the Ripley character have been much praised and filmed. Her first novel, "Strangers on a Train" became a celebrated Alfred Hitchcock film. But her third novel, "The Blunderer" was out of print for many years until its 2001 reissue. The novel's publication in the LOA will provide for its permanence and accessibility.
Highsmith's novel is set in Long Island and Newark in the early 1950s. The novel tells the story of two women taking separate lengthy bus trips who meet their deaths at rest stops along the way. Both women are in unhappy marriages. The book opens with the brutal murder of the first woman by her husband, Melchior, "Mel" Kimmel. (There is no suspense about the murder or the killer, as Highsmith makes both clear in her opening chapter.) The scene of the book soon shifts to the unhappy marriage between Walter and Clara Stackhouse. Walter, 30, is a successful but restless corporate lawyer. He lives a dull life socializing with other well to do people. His marriage has been deteriorating as Clara becomes increasingly demanding, nagging, and unresponsive sexually. Walter sees a news clipping about the Kimmel murder and the lives and fates of the two men gradually intertwine when Clara meets her death at a bus rest stop with Walter trailing her. A brutal detective, Corby, believes both men guilty of murdering their wives and pursues both of them remorselessly and violently. Walter's actions show him as guilty in act as in his mind. The book offers a portrayal of internal self-destruction.
The book is tensely and tightly written with its two primary male characters well portrayed. The novel also shows the shallow aimless side of suburban America in the post- WW II years and the consequences of living without purpose. Walter tries to find meaning to his life by contemplating leaving his law firm and opening his own practice to serve lower to middle class clients. His sexual and emotional feelings try to revive from his marriage when he becomes smitten with a young music teacher. But his dreams prove unavailing when he cannot handle his relationship with Clara or explain his actions following her suspicious death. In an early passage of the book, Highsmith describes Walter's unsuccessful search for purpose in life:
"Walter felt that perfect achievements were few. Men made laws, set goals, and then fell short of them. His marriage had fallen short of what he had hoped. Clara had fallen short, and perhaps he had not been what she expected, either. But he had tried and he was still trying. One of the few things he knew absolutely was that he loved Clara, and that pleasing her made him happy. And he had Clara, and he had pleased her by taking the job he had, and by living here among all the pleasant, dull people. And if Clara didn't seem to enjoy life as much as she should, she still did not want to move anywhere else or do anything but what she was doing. Walter had asked her. At thirty, Walter had concluded that dissatisfaction was normal. He supposed life for most people was falling slightly short of one ideal after another, salved if one was lucky by the presence of somebody one loved. But he could not put out of his mind the fact that Clara, if she kept on, could kill what was left of his hope for her."
Some aspects of the novel make it less than fully convincing. The detective, Corby, is intolerably brutal in his investigation which goes well beyond the scope of acceptable police practice in the 1950s. As a lawyer, Walter surely would have realized this at the outset and taken steps to protect himself, such as hiring a capable criminal defense attorney. I was less than fully convinced by his complete emotional and mental collapse and by his failure to take steps to protect himself. With that reservation, the novel is thoughtful and chilling in its portrayal of the evil and the foolish that lurks behind much everyday life.
"The Blunderer" is a relatively obscure Highsmith novel that rewards reading. It is worthy of being remembered and deserves its place in the LOA's excellent new anthology of Women Crime Writers.
Robin Friedman
August 20, 2019
COUNTDOWN: Mid-20th Century rNorth American Crime
BOOK 63 (of 250)
Hook=4: Within a few pages, Highsmith presents a brutal, shocking murder, pre-dating Hitchcock's shower scene in the film "Psycho" by 6 years, and 30 minutes reading/watching time.
Pace=3: Steady and solid build.
Plot=5: "Ingenious" says England's "Punch" magazine. I can't think of a better word so I'll leave it at that.
Characters=4: The dead seem to gloat power of the living, and the living (our "hero", Walter, and his counterpart in misery, "Kimmel" are beautiful done.) .
Place=3: Set in Long Island and New York, and nicely done but nothing special for this element.
SUMMARY: 3.8: There is no doubt writers read much of other author's works. And Highsmith gives Chandler an odd slap for his porn lending library in his "Big Sleep" novel. And she does is perfectly with a singular line having nothing to do with the plot: she simply writes of a book store owner who discretely gets whatever books his clients want, but he'll sell them only on par with the energy taken to track down, for example, a foreign porn buy/sale. When it comes to illegal activities, no one turns in evidence of their own crime intentionally. Highsmith knew this about crime, Chandler either did not or couldn't resist a confounding, irritating plot (the entire book, really, of "Big Sleep").
BOOK 63 (of 250)
Hook=4: Within a few pages, Highsmith presents a brutal, shocking murder, pre-dating Hitchcock's shower scene in the film "Psycho" by 6 years, and 30 minutes reading/watching time.
Pace=3: Steady and solid build.
Plot=5: "Ingenious" says England's "Punch" magazine. I can't think of a better word so I'll leave it at that.
Characters=4: The dead seem to gloat power of the living, and the living (our "hero", Walter, and his counterpart in misery, "Kimmel" are beautiful done.) .
Place=3: Set in Long Island and New York, and nicely done but nothing special for this element.
SUMMARY: 3.8: There is no doubt writers read much of other author's works. And Highsmith gives Chandler an odd slap for his porn lending library in his "Big Sleep" novel. And she does is perfectly with a singular line having nothing to do with the plot: she simply writes of a book store owner who discretely gets whatever books his clients want, but he'll sell them only on par with the energy taken to track down, for example, a foreign porn buy/sale. When it comes to illegal activities, no one turns in evidence of their own crime intentionally. Highsmith knew this about crime, Chandler either did not or couldn't resist a confounding, irritating plot (the entire book, really, of "Big Sleep").
July 16, 2017
This novel is absolutely vintage Highsmith. It starts with a murder and ends with a murderous debacle. The atmosphere of the novel is claustrophobic throughout with the stage getting smaller and the options more limited as the action progresses. It is a novel of guilt and violence with some truly nasty moments.
November 19, 2022
The Blunderer is a dark psychological suspense about a man whose actions make him appear guilty of causing his wife’s suspected suicide. Her death is suspiciously like the death of another man’s wife, a man with whom Walter is acquainted. As Walter’s life is ruined by this scrutiny, he soon finds his own life threatened.
I listened to audiobook narrated by Robert Fass that made this book more interesting than had I read it myself. While this was an entertaining story, it doesn’t measure up to Hightower’s other books like The Talented Mr. Ripley or Strangers on a Train. Although The Blunderer had continual escalating suspense, I was expecting a shocking twist that never came. In reflection, this could have had a better ending. If you want an easy-to-follow story with excellent narration, give this a try.
I listened to audiobook narrated by Robert Fass that made this book more interesting than had I read it myself. While this was an entertaining story, it doesn’t measure up to Hightower’s other books like The Talented Mr. Ripley or Strangers on a Train. Although The Blunderer had continual escalating suspense, I was expecting a shocking twist that never came. In reflection, this could have had a better ending. If you want an easy-to-follow story with excellent narration, give this a try.
February 12, 2021
The author/dominatrix concocted this story to torture innocent readers like me. A man murders his wife. Another man, Walter, who is hitched to a harpy, becomes a little too fascinated with this murder. Walter gets into such hot water. It's agony.
February 9, 2022
I really struggled to keep my focus when reading this. It just went on and on with the same themes, moving so slow that I rather would watch a snail. Didn’t find the end satisfactory either, felt like I wasted my time on nothing.
September 4, 2016
I wrote a fabulous review and GR lost it. Boo!!! This happens a lot and always with what I think are my best reviews! :-( I've learned my lesson, but tonight decided to write on the site. Never again!
Just know I have fallen head over heels for Patricia Highsmith and am so glad she has a huge backlist. I just hope I don't read them too quickly!
Just know I have fallen head over heels for Patricia Highsmith and am so glad she has a huge backlist. I just hope I don't read them too quickly!
September 8, 2019
Este livro foi uma leitura agradável e interessante. Gostei.
Trata-se de um livro de mistério/suspense com um enredo bastante bem conseguido. Walter é um homem preso num casamento que se tornou para ele insuportável. Ao ler sobre uma mulher que apareceu morta (provavelmente assassinada pelo marido, mas contra o qual não há acusações), começa a ter pensamentos sobre a morte da sua própria mulher.
Estes pensamentos levam-no a percorrer um caminho sombrio e obscuro, pautado por erros crassos de graves consequências. The Blunderer (título em inglês), significa mesmo aquele que comete erros estupidos e grosseiros.
Um aspecto do qual gostei particularmente neste enredo foi a forma com a autora explorou os conceitos de "culpa" e de "inocência". Usualmente tratados enquanto conceitos dicotómicos e mutuamente exclusivos, assistimos aqui a uma certa promiscuidade e sobreposição destes conceitos num jogo psicológico que achei particularmente interessante.
Um bom livro, mas não marcante. Foi uma leitura leve, de entretenimento. Alguns aspectos deste livro estão na minha opinião muito bem conseguidos, mas não chegou para se tornar uma leitura que vos recomende.
Clique aqui para opinião em video.
Clique aqui para blog post completo sobre este livro (inclui opinião video).
Trata-se de um livro de mistério/suspense com um enredo bastante bem conseguido. Walter é um homem preso num casamento que se tornou para ele insuportável. Ao ler sobre uma mulher que apareceu morta (provavelmente assassinada pelo marido, mas contra o qual não há acusações), começa a ter pensamentos sobre a morte da sua própria mulher.
Estes pensamentos levam-no a percorrer um caminho sombrio e obscuro, pautado por erros crassos de graves consequências. The Blunderer (título em inglês), significa mesmo aquele que comete erros estupidos e grosseiros.
Um aspecto do qual gostei particularmente neste enredo foi a forma com a autora explorou os conceitos de "culpa" e de "inocência". Usualmente tratados enquanto conceitos dicotómicos e mutuamente exclusivos, assistimos aqui a uma certa promiscuidade e sobreposição destes conceitos num jogo psicológico que achei particularmente interessante.
Um bom livro, mas não marcante. Foi uma leitura leve, de entretenimento. Alguns aspectos deste livro estão na minha opinião muito bem conseguidos, mas não chegou para se tornar uma leitura que vos recomende.
Clique aqui para opinião em video.
Clique aqui para blog post completo sobre este livro (inclui opinião video).
December 31, 2013
Reading about an idiot has never been more infuriating, but in a good way. I kept turning the pages in the hopes the protagonist would acquire some common sense from somewhere. Anywhere. The book made me want to scream at the protagonist. I pulled out some of my hair in frustration. I think I had an arterial infarc in my brain, which I can't afford to let happen. The Blunderer is all that and more but not in a funny way; In an incendiary way to be sure. Not for those with heart conditions or high blood pressure.
July 28, 2022
Es entretenida, te invita a seguir leyendo.
El enfoque y el planteamiento de la trama son relativamente originales, aunque los personajes un poco estereotipados. No llega a la brillantez de otras de sus novelas, pero suficiente para entretener unos días de verano.
La forma en la que está trabajada la segunda muerte, y la participación (o no) de Walter en la misma roza lo increíble en algún momento, lo que le resta verosimilitud a la trama.
De cualquier forma la prosa es ágil y el interés por saber cómo sigue la cosa no se pierde nunca.
El enfoque y el planteamiento de la trama son relativamente originales, aunque los personajes un poco estereotipados. No llega a la brillantez de otras de sus novelas, pero suficiente para entretener unos días de verano.
La forma en la que está trabajada la segunda muerte, y la participación (o no) de Walter en la misma roza lo increíble en algún momento, lo que le resta verosimilitud a la trama.
De cualquier forma la prosa es ágil y el interés por saber cómo sigue la cosa no se pierde nunca.
July 3, 2021
In this book, 30-year-old lawyer Walter Stackhouse toys with the idea of killing his killjoy and ballbuster of a wife, Clara. When he catches up to her, though, he finds that she’s beaten him to the punch, committing suicide just minutes before he arrived. Still, his conscience eats at him. He had wanted to kill her, and there was also a recent suicide attempt when he didn’t exactly try to stop her … nor can he pretend to be sad that his neurotic, manipulative wife is finally out of the way.
His muse was a stranger, Melchior Kimmel, who he (rightly) figures to be the person who killed his own wife, Helen Kimmel, whose death and unsolved murder in a nearby town Walter reads about in the newspaper. He becomes fascinated with this imagined murder and even goes to Kimmel’s place of work to gawk at and briefly meet the man. When an overzealous police detective suspects that Walter killed his wife in a copycat crime of Kimmel’s (suspected) murder and pits the two men against each other, their fates become violently entwined.
Interestingly, there are some touches of Strangers on a Train (Highsmith’s first book). The men are doppelgangers of circumstance and moral culpability, but here it’s the innocent man who initiates the relationship with his evil twin. However, it’s Walter who acts and feels guiltier than the real murderer, whereas Kimmel’s conscience is unruffled. And there’s definitely a vague homoerotic energy between the two. No berserk carousels in this one, but both men’s lives come to unravel in a narrative that is increasingly claustrophobic, with no way out.
An odd book—I’m finding that to be a constant with Highsmith—but never cliched or predictable.
Title in Spanish: El cuchillo: The Knife (Last year I read a book called The Dollmaker, which was also translated in Spanish as El cuchillo, so now I have a joke with myself that “The Knife” is just the default Spanish translation for unwieldy titles.)
His muse was a stranger, Melchior Kimmel, who he (rightly) figures to be the person who killed his own wife, Helen Kimmel, whose death and unsolved murder in a nearby town Walter reads about in the newspaper. He becomes fascinated with this imagined murder and even goes to Kimmel’s place of work to gawk at and briefly meet the man. When an overzealous police detective suspects that Walter killed his wife in a copycat crime of Kimmel’s (suspected) murder and pits the two men against each other, their fates become violently entwined.
Interestingly, there are some touches of Strangers on a Train (Highsmith’s first book). The men are doppelgangers of circumstance and moral culpability, but here it’s the innocent man who initiates the relationship with his evil twin. However, it’s Walter who acts and feels guiltier than the real murderer, whereas Kimmel’s conscience is unruffled. And there’s definitely a vague homoerotic energy between the two. No berserk carousels in this one, but both men’s lives come to unravel in a narrative that is increasingly claustrophobic, with no way out.
An odd book—I’m finding that to be a constant with Highsmith—but never cliched or predictable.
Title in Spanish: El cuchillo: The Knife (Last year I read a book called The Dollmaker, which was also translated in Spanish as El cuchillo, so now I have a joke with myself that “The Knife” is just the default Spanish translation for unwieldy titles.)
October 17, 2021
For me, this was very dated. Lieutenant Corby was a policeman who could have easily fit in with the Gestapo or the KGB. He stalked his victims and tormented them psychologically when he wasn't physically torturing them. Further, he did so entirely outside of his own jurisdiction where he had zero authority. But in 1954, when this was published, Highsmith's readership was perhaps not so aware. Perhaps they were more accepting of Corby's sadistic behavior, given that the reader knows one of his victims is guilty of murder.
I have skimmed other reviews. Some seem to sympathize with the murderer due to Corby's behavior. Certainly I did not. On the other hand, the title The Blunderer certainly fit Walter Stackhouse to a tee. It is unlikely one person could make so many missteps in such a short timespan.
Unfortunately for me, this went on and on and I had not a single person I wanted "win". It isn't a long novel. I wanted it to be shorter. This is a grudging 3-stars for me and probably sits toward the bottom of that group.
I have skimmed other reviews. Some seem to sympathize with the murderer due to Corby's behavior. Certainly I did not. On the other hand, the title The Blunderer certainly fit Walter Stackhouse to a tee. It is unlikely one person could make so many missteps in such a short timespan.
Unfortunately for me, this went on and on and I had not a single person I wanted "win". It isn't a long novel. I wanted it to be shorter. This is a grudging 3-stars for me and probably sits toward the bottom of that group.
May 22, 2014
Ah, the mid-20th century. When you come down with the flu, your wife assembles around you everything you will "need:" Cigarettes, matches...
The doctor pays house calls and will pump your stomach in the comfort of your own bedroom.
Completely middle class people have servants who fix their dinner and lay out their clothes on the bed so they can pack for trips.
Suicide is a crime. If you survive your suicide attempt, you could be in trouble with the law!
As with most Highsmith, there's a big "ick" factor here. Her characters are largely unappealing, even the ones who aren't entirely terrible.
Read
May 17, 2022Ugh. A friend loaned this to me & I wish I’d know that Highsmith was an unrepentant racist & anti-Semite before I wasted my time on it.
July 8, 2019
This is my first Patricia Highsmith. Had heard a lot of good things about her but never chanced upon any of her books at the usual bookstores that I haunt. This novel had been mentioned as among her favourite novels by Scottish crime writer Denise Mina in a NY Times interview. That is how I picked this finally.
It comes under the murder mystery/psychological suspense category. The central core idea/conceit and the events tied around it are pure genius. I don't know if the author has done it better in other novels but this is super good. Her understanding of human psychology and her depiction of it through the characters is unlike anything I have read prior to this. Everytime the lead character commits a blunder ( so is the novel called The Blunderer), I went 'what an idiot!' and then a minute's thinking later I was like 'with a high probability, I would have done the same thing'. Only bad thing is I didn't like the way the novel ended.
Rating: 4.5 stars; 0.5 stars cut due to an emotionally dissatisfying ending.
It comes under the murder mystery/psychological suspense category. The central core idea/conceit and the events tied around it are pure genius. I don't know if the author has done it better in other novels but this is super good. Her understanding of human psychology and her depiction of it through the characters is unlike anything I have read prior to this. Everytime the lead character commits a blunder ( so is the novel called The Blunderer), I went 'what an idiot!' and then a minute's thinking later I was like 'with a high probability, I would have done the same thing'. Only bad thing is I didn't like the way the novel ended.
Rating: 4.5 stars; 0.5 stars cut due to an emotionally dissatisfying ending.
October 17, 2010
A pretty bad novel with a totally convoluted plot that can't even be explained becaue it doesn't even make sense. Not only that, but if you can believe a lawyer allowing a policeman to ransack his home without a search warrant, then this book is for you. Another suspected murderer is perpetually tortured without ever seeking legal protection. Implausible and impossible to digest, one of Highsmith's worst.
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