Eadie B. (eadieburke) - , reviewed on 7/1/2017 + 1613 more book reviews

Strangers on a Train was an excellent 1950's debut for 29 year old Patricia Highsmith. It is a tour de force of social satire and psychological drama. Charles Bruno and Guy Haines meet on a train and Bruno manipulates Guy into swapping murders with him. "Some people are better off dead," Bruno remarks, "like your wife and my father, for instance." Bruno's plan shows Guy that anyone can become a murderer. This novel was an inspiration for a classic Alfred Hitchcock film and provides a thorough examination of guilt and obsession of murder. The reader gets a good taste of Highsmith's remarkable range of psychological insight. It is a tangled web of murder, desperation and manipulation and should not be missed if you like psychological thrillers. I look forward to reading more of Patricia Highsmith's novels in the near future.

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