Nothing That Meets the Eye: The Uncollected Stories of Patricia Highsmith

by Patricia Highsmith

With the appearance of Nothing That Meets the Eye, Highsmith establishes herself as a permanent member of the American literary canon.

THE PATRICIA HIGHSMITH RENAISSANCE, which began after her death in 1995, continues with Nothing That Meets the Eye, a brilliant collection of 28 psychologically penetrating short stories, a great majority of which have never been seen before. Separated into two parts, Early Stories (1938-1949) and Middle and Later Stories (1952-1982), this volume of previously uncollected work spans almost fifty years of Highsmith's career and allows us to see how the author evolved from a struggling freelance writer in New York City in the early 1940s to an American expatriate in Switzerland.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Mystery, Noir, Crime, Thriller, Classics

456 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Patricia 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

Reviews

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esta es la segunda parte de la colección de relatos que salieron luego de la defunción de Patricia Highsmith y me ha gustado un poquito más que Pájaros a punto de volar, porque hay una cantidad de historias que se acercan más a lo que es ella como escritora; relatos de suspenso y con gente muy mal de la cabeza. Aunque también hay otros que tiran solamente al realismo y no por ello están mal. Sin duda alguna debo leer en algún momento una novela de esta autora.

Promedio general: 3.6
1. El problema de la señora Blynn, el problema del mundo 4/5★
Me ha encantado. En este relato se habla sobre la muerte, el egoísmo, el olvido, la indiferencia, el agradecimiento. Hay una manera de contarlo tan ameno y cercano que solo puedo admirar a Patricia Highsmith por nutrirlo de matices que pueden parecer que no están pero que brilla en momentos muy específicos.
2. Nada extraño a simple vista 2/5★
El foco está en las apariencias que proyectan los demás y lo que guardan en su interior. Y aunque no me gustó por la falta de naturalidad y verosimilitud en sus elementos para contar la historia, el mensaje estuvo interesante.
3. El retorno 3/5★
El título está muy bien implementado. Es un volver a aquello que te hacía verdaderamente feliz; regresar a tu independencia y la libertad de poder elegir. Me ha gustado porque muestra la dependencia y las roturas de esas misma cadenas que mantienen prisionera a la protagonista.
4. Un completo fracaso 4/5★
Para mí es un relato súper agridulce y bastante irónico. Para el protagonista y su mujer tal vez sea el despertar y la revelación de cosas importantes que siempre estuvieron frente a sus ojos.
5. El mejor amigo del hombre 3/5★
Con este sentí más que nunca que los cuentos son bastante predecibles en cuanto al final que pueden tener pero la verdad es que no me molesta; al contrario, me gustan mucho.
6. Pájaro en mano 4/5★
Este me ha fascinado por la difusa línea donde está pintado lo moralmente cuestionable; haciendo del temilla algo más complejo.
7. Una afición peligrosa 4/5★
No me decepcionó y es el que da título a la colección. Así que bien por esa, cumplió las expectativas.
8. El segundo cigarrillo 3/5★
No es sorprendente y también le sobran páginas.
9. Las cosas salieron mal 4/5 ★
Uno termina de leerlo y te das cuenta que no hay motivo alguno para lo que pasó y eso es genial, sentir que leíste buscando algo y te fuiste sin ello. Quizás porque la locura o que sé yo, no tiene explicación alguna.
10. Dos palomas muy desagradables 3/5★
¿Quién pensaría que la historia de dos animales sería entretenida? Al principio estaba reacio siquiera a sumergirme en las letras pero al final terminó gustándome.
11. Trato hecho 5/5★
Tuve que leer los últimos para confirmar que sí; que este es sin duda mi favorito de la antología.
12. Música que mata 4/5★
Otra historia más de alguien con impulsos asesinos que me ha gustado.
13. Variaciones sobre un juego 5/5★
Y este es mi segundo favorito. No podía ser de otra forma.
14. Una chica como Phyl 3/5★
Me ha gustado pero también es verdad que se me hizo repetitivo en cuanto al tema central en el que rueda la trama. Se parece muchísimo al quinto relato.

[Rodrigo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esperaba otro tipo de relatos la verdad, más relacionados con la intriga y policíacos, aunque hay de todo la verdad.
Como siempre me ocurre con un libro de relatos, no todos tienen la misma calidad, y sin más mis puntuaciones:
EL PROBLEMA DE LA SEÑORA BLYNN, EL PROBLEMA DEL MUNDO 2/5
NADA EXTRAÑO A SIMPLE VISTA 2/5
EL RETORNO 1/5
UN COMPLETO FRACASO 3/5
EL MEJOR AMIGO DEL HOMBRE 2/5
PAJARO EN MANO 3/5
UNA AFICION PELIGROSA 4/5
EL SEGUNDO CIGARRILLO 3/5
LAS COSAS SALIERON MAL 5/5
DOS PALOMAS MUY DESAGRADABLES 1/5
TRATO HECHO 4/5
MUSICA QUE MATA 3/5
VARIACIONES SOBRE EL JUEGO 4/5
UNA CHICA COMO PHYL 3/5
MEDIA: 3/5
# 6. El número 500 de tu lista de pendientes de goodreads. Reto literario pendientes 2021

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had mixed feelings while reading this book of mainly unpublished stories by the queen of the psychological thriller. I could understand why Highsmith, an author who focussed on her craft, would stow away some of these stories, particularly her earlier pieces, in a box, and never want them published. Many are either too long for what they deliver, or too contrived and drive only towards a tragic conclusion.

The book falls into two parts: The Early Stories (1938-1949) and The Middle and Later Stories (1952 – 1982) and I wondered why they had not been published as two different collections as they have distinct differences in style, pacing and theme. At over 400 pages it is a rather bulky tome of short stories. The early stories understandably have a dated style, are long on descriptions, take longer to develop, and emphasise women trying to find their footing in a world peopled by weak men – perhaps reminiscent of Highsmith’s own struggle to establish herself as a writer at the time. In this early phase, sinister elements such as pedophilia are only hinted to but not overtly expressed. Her later stories are better crafted but they take a darker tone and revolve around a predictable situation: the protagonist is almost certainly going to self-destruct.

I was engaged by the second section although the situations felt contrived, usually involving a confluence of events that place the protagonist in an untenable situation from which he, or she, must get out or perish in the attempt. Consider the following: a sci-fi writer and his male secretary (who is having an affair with the former’s wife) go into the woods alone; a man is stuck in a hotel room in Paris with the daughter of his former lover who wants to seduce him like her mother had done twenty years ago; a suicidal woman at an Austrian ski resort has men falling all over her and threatening to commit suicide themselves. Some situations were too contrived: I don’t think that planes landed on schedule at European airports at 3am! And do cops let off a man who has just admitted to giving his wife a black eye?

Highsmith’s preoccupation with death is obvious when reading these tales, and therefore I found no uplifting message, no hope. Some of her female characters like Hattie in “Quiet Night” are unapologetically cruel, and others are racist. Some of her men take the blame for crimes they did not commit as they see glory in the destruction of others and themselves. Although known as a writer who plumbs the minds of her characters, given that these are short stories, I found that Highsmith is more subservient to the exigencies of plot rather than character here, and some of her characters come across as caricatures. I did find one story that I liked very much however, “The Returnees,” which portrays the return of exiles to Germany after WWII and the conflicts that such a move entails; none of the contrivance here, just the heartache of re-establishing broken lives and discovering that home can never be home anymore.

Altogether, a broad canvas of human situations given that the stories span nearly 45 years of the writer’s life. Some are difficult to engage with, others are predictably tragic, and a few gems defy the stereotype and stick out occasionally. I am sure Highsmith’s loyal fans will enjoy this book, but it may be a skewed introduction for someone picking this book as the first to read in her oeuvre.

[haleykeg · Rating 3 out of 5]

this officially marks finishing all of my impulse book buys!

I love patricia but maybe some things are meant to be unpublished. these all have flavors of other short stories of hers but are like cookies which are not quite baked or mixed or with too much baking soda or something. theyre cookies, they're edible, but I wouldn't recommend them and I'm not better having eaten them. get the real thing and read ripley

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection spans 1938 to 1982. It's interesting to note that during Highsmith's lifetime, her work was very much appreciated in Europe, but not in America (she was born in Ft. Worth, Texas). I can think of one explanation: America is relatively a new country perhaps most attracted to the now, while the much older countries of Europe have seen it all, know it all, and have a special appreciation and understanding for characters that, to Americans, can't possibly exist, can't possibly feel and do what they do. But Highsmith never judges the weird, the homicidal, the suicidal, the outcasts, etc. She just tells their stories, and what stories these are! A number of these are five-star masterpieces of short fiction, my favorite being the title story, "Nothing That Meets the Eye" (Upon which, no doubt, the Queen Latifah movie vehicle, "Last Holiday" must have been based.) Most of these I'd give four-star ratings, and a few three-stars, but I liked them all. I've read a number of Highsmith's novels, and she's definitely one of my favorite fiction authors, and I'll read all of her work if I can find it.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of short stories, some of them previously unpublished, by Patricia Highsmith. Most of them are not mystery stories; only a few stories in the second part of the collection have an element of murder or death in them. Instead this is a collection of very accomplished psychological tales. Highsmith is really a master at portraying characters' sense of self and exploring a wide scale of human emotions, using a diversity of narrative techniques. You can also really see her craft evolve over the years since the collection organises the stories more or less chronologically. Reading this book feels like the writer's equivalent of peering into an artist's sketch book.

[David Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall an excellent collection of little known gems, many never published, by the queen of the psychological thriller (Strangers on a Train, the Ripley series). Many of these tales actually are not in that vein, but are, rather, character studies of various types. Highsmith is as much a master of the short story as she is of novels, finding elegant ways to construct detailed plots and fully-developed characters in a few pages. The Earlier Stories (1938-1349) are a bit hit-and-miss, but the Middle and Later Stories (1952-1982) are all pretty solid. There are some excellent animal-centered stories, something she did so well (I loved the collection The Animal Lovers Guide to Beastly Murder); "Two Disagreeable Pigeons" is especially delightful, though "A Bird in Hand" and "Man's Best Friend" are quite good too. However, I must admit that my favorites were the stories that employed the traditional crime drama and thriller elements, such as "A Dangerous Hobby", "Variations on a Game", "It's a Deal", and "Things Had Gone Badly." But especially chilling is "The Second Cigarette", in which a man's doppelganger appears to taunt him with the failures of his life. Some of these would have made great episodes for Alfred Hitchcock Presents or (in the case of "The Second Cigarette") The Twilight Zone. Highly recommended.

[Electra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best short stories written by a crime fiction writer ever....her insight into human psyche is highly notable

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

These short stories are the best I've read lately. Precise and pessimistic.

[Emiliano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miz Highsmith (la querida tía gruñona Patricia) es una de esas escritoras de producción afortunadamente amplia de las que voy leyendo poco a poco su caudal para poder encontrar siempre sorpresas nuevas. En esta segunda colección póstuma de relatos inéditos podemos encontrar un muy buen puñado de ellas.

Conocida sobre todo por sus historias"noir", Highsmith era una autora sobresaliente en cualquier género, y aquí tenemos ejemplos de narración psicológica, farsa, relatos de intriga, cuentos de fantasmas, de animales... El sólido dominio literario que los caracteriza, su motivación central puede sintetizarse en una sola palabra: fracaso.

La desgracia, el error de comprensión, la mala interpretación de la buena voluntad, la cerrazón del corazón, todo ello es la tónica mayor de la relaciones humanas vistas en estos cuentos.

Aparecen también sin embargo tres de las historias más tiernas y optimistas de todas las que he leído de la inolvidable Patricia: Pájaro en mano, El mejor amigo del hombre (te hará sentir mejor estés como estés: garantizado) y, sobre todo, la fábula de Nacido para el fracaso.

Me niego a resumir cualquiera de ellos (ni resumen ni propiamente reseña ofrezco jamás: sólo una muy subjetiva impresión): léelos ya; sin excusas.

"Pensó que, en realidad, todo en la vida era una ilusión —de progreso, de logro, un hecho oscurecido por un absurdo y constante movimiento—, acudiendo a citas y esforzándose por cumplir con fechas límite y plazos de entrega, toda aquella tontería que el género humano denominaba «trabajo».

Si había una situación capaz de inspirar un segundo asesinato, era sin duda aquélla. Pero él nunca se atrevería a matar por segunda vez. ¿O sí?

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally a book I cannot put down. It is like watching Alfred Hitchcock or twilight zone episodes. Short stories by an author who wrote during the 40s-60s. A wonderful read.

[rey · Rating 5 out of 5]

such polite tension

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highsmith is such a great writer that even her uncollected stuff is better than most writers' work. Although if I were to put a finger on one uneven quality of the collection it would be that the stories range from so long a stretch of time and aren't concentrated in a certain time when a certain sensibility of the author would be obvious. So there's a feeling almost like it's a collection of stories by more than one author.

[Michael Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Subtitled The Uncollected Stories of Patricia Highsmith, the book comprises twenty-eight classic Highsmith tales. If you are familiar with The Talented Mr. Ripley, either the novel or the 1999 movie staring Matt Damon, then you know something about the talented Ms. Highsmith.

These stories span the writing career of the author from 1938 to 1982 and include many stories that were never previously published. The collection is divided into two parts in chronological order. Part I Early Stories consists of stories written from 1938 to 1949, the first three of which were published while she was an undergraduate at Barnard College, and Part II Middle and Later Stories covers the period from 1952 to 1982. The order allows the reader the opportunity to follow the author’s growth as a writer.

Most of these stories were found after her death in 1995. They were stored in a linen closet, like something you would expect to read in one of her stories. It is believed that she secreted these away because their disturbing psychological themes of loneliness and isolation, alcoholism, child molestation, spousal abuse and suicide would not find an acceptable audience in the America of the ‘40’s and ‘50’s.

Their loss, our gain.

It is almost scary considering Ms. Highsmith’s age when she wrote the first three stories. They offer remarkable insight to psychologically disturbed individuals. The shocking loneliness eliminates the need for violence in these opening tales.

Some of her stories are light, almost whimsical, but yet retain a look into the disturbing tone. Miss Juste and the Green Rompers as well as Two Disagreeable Pigeons are examples. The latter will strike a cord with any wife that reads it. The Trouble with Mrs. Blynn, the Trouble with the World is a tender story that pulls at your heart and at the same time reflects the flaws of people that we see every day. After reading Man’s Best Friend you will want to get your own dog, and Born Failure is the kind of story that reminds you of an old movie where you have tears of joy at the end.

Music to Die By is among the Middle and Later Stories but I’m don’t know when between 1952 and 1982 it was actually written. It may or may not have been a bit prescient. The story is about a postal worker and gives us a slightly different meaning to the term “going postal”. A Very Nice Man will creep out any parent, in more ways than one.

Selecting the collection’s title from the story Nothing That Meets The Eye is most appropriate for all of these stories offer little, and sometimes big, surprises. That is what you will find in the titled story. We meet an average looking middle-aged woman who has lead a relatively uneventful life that unexpected finds herself the center of attention of every man and many of the women when she visits an alpine ski resort.

If you’ve never read any of Ms. Highsmith’s work before, then let me offer this word of caution: if you start to read her stories you may not be able to stop.

[Yve]

writing as I go...

The Mightiest Mornings, written 1945-1946 (before Strangers on a Train, while she was writing comic books). Psychological study is nothing out of the ordinary in the Highsmith universe, but what’s weird about this story is that nothing concretely horrible happens to amp it up. It’s about a severely anxious man is his 30s who suddenly walks away from his soul-despairing life as a NYC taxi driver to find paradise in the first New Hampshire town where he steps off the train. His edenic bliss is interrupted by the cold reality that people will talk if a strange man comes into town, doesn’t find work, and instead starts hanging out with a little girl from a bad family.

Uncertain Treasure was published even earlier, in 1943. The subject matter is essential-Highsmith: two seedy guys playing chicken, trying to get a mysterious bag left on a subway platform that belongs to neither of them. It's a good example of her skill at making mundane things repulsive, like the description of one of the men eating at a diner: "The right arm working fast forking the eggs in, poking the triangular piece of buttered toast into the face behind the hat."

Magic Casements is a never-published story of the same era. It is about a middle-aged man's unluckiness in love, and, like its protagonist, middling.

Miss Juste and the Green Rompers (1941) is about a domineering gym teacher who takes her job way too seriously. It's the first Highsmith story I've read that is funny without being horrible at the same time. There is laughter at people's expense, of course, but nothing they won't recover from.

Where the Door Is Always Open and the Welcome Mat Is Out on the other hand is extremely depressing despite not being too horrible objectively. It follows Mildred, a middle-aged secretary from Cleveland living in Manhattan, who is frantically preparing for her sister's visit to her sordid and noisy Third Avenue apartment. It really digs deep into all of Mildred's insecurities and worries and makes one feel embarrassed for her.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you enjoy Highsmith, this is a delightful collection, although I found it difficult to read through a 400 page collection of short stories. At times Highsmith comes across as a very dark AR Gurney or John Cheever, chronicling the failures and struggles of the upper middle class. I found the final stories, the suicide group as I like to think of them, the most enjoyable, if that's the right word. Most of her characters are well drawn and even the seemingly small vignettes are trenchant portraits of human weakness, failure, malevolence, and sorrow. Not the most uplifting set of stories, but darkly honest and, although clearly not set in the 21st century, essentially timeless.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Posthumous publications can be a little worrying. Sometimes they are kept back by the author because they didn't think that they were up to scratch, sometimes they are 'lost', sometimes incomplete. Sometimes there is no explicable reason, and that is surely the case here. Admittedly several of the stories had been published, some in translation but not in English, others in journals, but never in a collection until now, and most not at all. Whatever the reason for each one, I am glad that they are now available in this satisfyingly large collection, and most easily compare with the best of Patricia Highsmith's previous short stories.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

No idea what came over me. Generally don't read short stories, but Patricia Highsmith and a few select others are the exception.
Highsmith writes elegant short stories with great economy, but her characters live on the page and her plots are complicated. Most are psychological and her characters are desperate in one way or another. If you have always disliked short stories because you found them thin and the characters dull, Highsmith would change your mind. She did mine.

[Julie Demboski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though it's easy to see why some of these stories (especially early ones) didn't initially make it into published form, the real treasure is in watching the writer's mind and viewpoint develop. The stories are presented chronologically, and that makes all the difference. Individual stories that could've been dismissed on their own as 'less than' take on building-block qualities, as the reader watches Highsmith explore what does and doesn't work for her. You can see her experimenting with the psyche that resorts to murder or that ends itself with suicide, and pushing for the boundaries of acceptable behavior and social judgment. If you're already a fan of Highsmith's work, you'll probably enjoy this.

[Jay French · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have not spent a lot of time reading short stories. I believe the reason is that I read fiction and want to get some emotional involvement in the stories, and I tend to feel short stories don’t always give me that level of involvement that I’m looking for, or they just don’t resonate with me. I found this collection enlightening, in that a majority of the stories were interesting in having an odd story or odd perspective. One instance, a short story about a fellow who replaces lost pet birds with ones he buys, making money on the rewards. Ends up being a nice take on good deeds. Highsmith tends to throw angst and danger into her stories, my surprising favorite being about a lady with a glow not because she’s pregnant, but because she’s about to kill herself! This is a good collection, and I suspect I’ll recall bits of these plots for years.

[Steve Shilstone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Patricia unfailingly (she loves adverbs of this sort!) presents many a character falling a tragic ingredient or two short of workable normality. Treasure.

[James Igoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nary an off note, an interesting collection of short stories, the first half earlier light pieces, the seconds half written later, and often a bit darker. A very rewarding read, and personally, the second half was worth the time it took to get to, as I found it more engaging than the first half.

[Jon Cohen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patricia Highsmith may be best known for her portrayal of full-blown psychopaths like "The Talented Mr. Ripley", but her talents spanned a much wider range. She had a genius for misdirection and the unreliable point of view, and created a host of unforgettable characters. These include mildly unhappy, repressed misfits (like the sisters in "Where the Door Is Always Open and the Welcome Mat Is Out"), as well as petty tyrants (like the gym teacher in "Miss Juste and the Green Rompers").

In the early 1960’s, she wrote the eerily prescient "Music to Die By", more than 20 years before American postal workers became lethally disgruntled and the phrase “going postal” was coined - yet it has one of those wonderfully unexpected twists she was rightly famous for.

She could also write more sweetly than some people know, as is the case with "A Bird in Hand" and "Born Failure".

This is a wonderful collection of stories from a great writer.

[Marcos Palacios · Rating 4 out of 5]

Como siempre, un placer leer a Patricia. Estos relatos no forman un conjunto homogéneo, sino que son relatos publicados en diferentes etapas. Algunos mejores que otros, en mi opinión, y con diferentes estilos, algunos más literarios que otros. El problema que he visto aquí, en pocos de ellos, es el remate de la historia, con una sola frase, contundente, que le quita toda la emoción y personalidad al resto de la narración. No por ello debe de ser malo, pero en ocasiones terminar una historia de forma tan brusca no es aconsejable. Habrá a quien le guste. No obstante, Patricia Highsmith es una de mis escritoras favoritas, y aquí sigue estando ella, sin duda alguna. Incluso hay un relato que acaba bien y de forma "feliz", algo raro en su producción. Pero oye, es una antología de relatos que, por su variedad, vale la pena. Bueno, para mí, vale la pena siempre leer a esta autora.

[Nancy Cook Lauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5. From the author of "Strangers on a Train," a psychological thriller adapted into the Hitchcock film noir classic by the same name, comes a series of short stories from 1938 to 1982, exposing and expanding on human relationships across the decades. Some of these stories are on-the-edge-of-your-seat scary, some are humdrum but all resonate with the dark, twisted presence of a skilled author trying to release the demons within. Spoiler alert: There are no happy endings. Some of the protagonists you want to hug and tell them to get away for their own good, others you want to take by the shoulders and shake for their pure naivety, but all of the characters will move you in some way. You might want to take these, as I did, in small doses over many months.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent collection of short stories that span a good part of Highsmith's writing life, exemplifying the noir style/genre. Many of them are more like character studies, short glimpses into a person's life at one point in time, an event, etc. My favorite authors have a succinctness to their prose, telling much in fewer words & she is no exception. Also she has a great knack for choosing a title for a story - best example: "It's A Deal."

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really glad I read this--one of the first in a lot of Patricia Highsmith moving forward! The Price of Salt was my first novel of hers a couple years ago and these stories have much the same glam NYC vibe (even though they're set all over, which is cool). I loved that some were more crime, others deeply macabre, others psychological profiles, etc. Great short story collection.

[Iblena · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Pero cuando se murió, la señora Blynn estaba más cerca, inclinándose sobre ella con su ancha cara lisa y aterciopelada y sus ojos verde grisáceo, tan inexpresivos como los de un fantástico reptil."

"La vida es un largo fracaso de comprensión, pensó la señora Palmer, una larga y falsa cerrazón del corazón."

"Nadie mira el mundo de una forma tan hermosa como alguien que va a abandonarlo."

[Manuel Carvajal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Está es una de las mejores antologías de cuentos que he leído en la vida. Fue mi primer acercamiento a la autora y es una grata sorpresa. La manera en la que crea personajes tan complejos en sólo unas páginas cautiva. Depresión, fracaso, desesperanza, encuentros, reflexiones, vida y por lo tanto muerte.

[Terry Clague · Rating 3 out of 5]

To my embarrassment, I didn't realise that the author of this collection (recommended to me by a friend), had also written the Ripley stories, and Strangers on a Train. That said, my preference is to know nothing of an author or their book before embarking into something they've written. This is a set of "uncollected" short stories, published posthumously. They start terribly well, the early stories living up to Graham Greene's endorsement of her ability to create worlds "claustrophobic and irrational which we enter each time with a sense of personal danger" (one beautiful example below).

My unhappiness with the book overall is my unhappiness with short stories in general. They set a scene but leave you wanting and the longer it goes on the more difficult it is to pick the book up again between stories. I am very much aware that this may be related to my own diminishing attention span and relative lack of intelligence of course. The Guardian's review of the paperback version was very warm but noted a "stinker" of a review in the TLS which apparently suggested that the work wouldn't pass muster on a creative writing course. Perhaps that says more about creative writing courses than intended, or more about the magazine, published as it is by News International, currently edited by a former editor of The S*n.

I am not lonely so much as terribly alone, he thought. For though he could honestly say he had so many friends, old friends and new friends, to a man and to a woman they bored him and served only to impress upon him that the rut he was in, lest he think it was only the sinecure of a job so comfortable he would never leave it, included the whole of what composed his life.

"Another brandy, sir?"

"If you please."