Rating: 
Summary: good read
Review: "Stranger on a Train" is a really interesting book. It has a lot of crazy things in it and the main person is a real psychopath but I guess that's what makes the book so special. I like the idea that someone has an obsession and all he wants is to realize it. On the other hand I don't like the end of the novel too much since we don't know at all what will happen to Anne. But all in all it is a good novel and gives you some stuff to think about!
Rating:
Summary: You'll enjoy it
Review: "Strangers on a train" is not only a captivating, but also an interesting story. It is for once not the story of a detective finding a murderer or several murderers, but of two people, their characteristics, and how they commit a murder one for each other. The interesting thing about it is, that one of them, Bruno, really wants these murders done and doesn't know anything like remorse or so, and that the other one, Guy, almost gets crazy because his conscience tortures him after committing the murder, a deed done against his actual will. I found very interesting how the story was made up, how the influence of Bruno on Guy develops, gets bigger so that in the end Guy is in a conflict between fear/ fascination of Bruno and his own strong moral ideas and finally murders. The dynamic that comes up between those two people is a very interesting thing, and the story lives by that which makes it very captivating.
Rating: 
Summary: unpredictability, tension and apprehension
Review: "The train tore along with an angry irregular rhythm." The first sentence of Patricia Highsmith's 1951 first novel, Strangers on the Train, evokes emotion and mystery on so many levels, just like her stories and novels work on so many levels. Highsmith's catalog, laden with unpredictability, tension, apprehension, strangeness and irrational viewpoints are classics ripe for a celebrated re-emergence Norton has accepted the challenge with an announced 15-book initiative that should eventually bring nearly all of her work back into print. The initial release includes as the cornerstone a weighty volume of over 60 short stories written throughout her career, now collected together for the first time: The Selected Stories of Patricia Highsmith. Also re-released in trade paperback are novels Strangers on the Train and A Suspension of Mercy. True mystery takes the reader into an unpredictable, twisted and scary world. Highsmith writes true mystery. This is most certainly NOT the formula PI novel with a simpleton murder and nice and neat search for the culprit. Highsmith doesn't rely on simple cat and mouse tension. Instead, she's a master of an unpredictable world, a cold and dark place where even you, the reader, are capable of murder. These are not feel-good works. The good guy usually loses, (that is if you can find a good guy). But the reader wins big because the work is so utterly interesting. Highsmith can rightly be called a master. Strangers on a Train is a terrific introduction to Highsmith's work. Her first, and one of her finest novels, was the source for Alfred Hitchcock's classic 1953 film. From the opening sentence, the book works on many levels. Highsmith delights in surfacing the unsettled forces that lurk inside of the average person, in this case a passenger on a routine train journey. What are the triggers that cause a seemingly average man to murder? What is good and what is evil? What is normal? Highsmith paints a picture that stretches the imagination to answer these questions in ways we never thought possible. She disturbs you. And she does it in a totally entertaining way. David Meerman Scott
Author of Eyeball Wars: a novel of dot-com intrigue
Rating:
Summary: Far more disturbing...
Review: ...than the movie! As I recall it, the character of Bruno never develops in the movie beyond that of a randomly-met psychopath; the portrayal of Guy, for that matter, is rather limited as well. I suppose that the nature of cinema is responsible rather than any failing on the part of Hitchcock; in fact, I've always loved the movie, but the novel has a real gut-wrenching impact, particularly for any reader who has ever suffered from panic attacks. One gets much more of a sense why both major characters feel and act the way they do, and how anyone can find themselves closer to doing the unthinkable than they would ever have believed possible. An altogether harrowing vision of guilt and isolation!
Rating:
Summary: Good Characters+Good Plot= Excellent Book
Review: Brilliant. People swap murders on a train and oh you will have to read it but it certainly is an engaging read. Watch out for the way Bruno wrangles himself to get whats his name to murder his wife. Engaging as it Excellent. Long pages is the only criticism but thats English printing
Rating:
Summary: don't talk to strangers
Review: Bruno was not the ordinary stranger on a train by any means. -Strangers on a Train The world of Patricia Highsmith is one in which the nice young man you ask to help find your son may instead kill him and take his place, where the cop you ask to help find your missing dog may turn out to be just as disturbed as the dognapper, and where the stranger you meet on a train may be a complete sociopath. In this, her first novel, famously made into a movie by Alfred Hitchcock, Guy Haines wants to divorce his estranged wife, Miriam, and has finally been presented with the pretext for doing so, as she's pregnant by another man. This will enable him to marry Ann and enjoy his burgeoning success as an architect. But then he meets a talkative stranger named Bruno, Charles Bruno, on a train. Bruno, the ne'er do well son of wealthy parents, wants to get rid of his father, who refuses to indulge Bruno's lazy but expensive lifestyle. He shares his troubles with Guy who in turn makes the mistake of telling Bruno about Miriam. As fate would have it, Bruno has an idea for the perfect murder, actually a double murder : two strangers could "swap" murders, each killing the person that the other wishes done away with, which would make the crimes seem motiveless, and therefore nearly impossible to solve. Guy is quite naturally put off by the suggestion, though perhaps not as entirely as he should be. No matter how much he hates Miriam, the prospect of the divorce blunts his desire to see her dead. But when she finds out how important his pending commission is, and that his career is poised to take off, she decides not to let him go. Meanwhile, Bruno takes matters into his own hands, quite literally, and suddenly Guy is implicated in a murder whether he wants to be or not. The book is significantly different than the film, so even fans of the movie will be in for a new experience. For Highsmith fans there's all the expected creepiness, from the threatening possibilities of every day life to homosexual undertones to the plasticity of identity, as Guy has essentially become Bruno by novel's end. Whatever depths of depravity she contained within herself to draw upon, no one has ever written better about the criminally deranged mind than Patricia Highsmith. GRADE : A-
Rating:
Summary: A lesson in uneasiness & the nature of evil
Review: Charles Bruno is not the kind of man you want to confide in, but Guy Haines doesn't listen to his inner voice telling him just that. Under the influence of liquor and the lull of a moving train, he confides in Bruno, revealing his deep distaste for Miriam, his estranged, pregnant, wife.
Thus begins an unrelenting path of secrets, lies, obsession and murder. The fascination lies in Highsmith's ability to twist the everyday into nightmare. Strangers on a Train, is taut, well-crafted, and difficult to put down. It's a brilliant example of suspense done right, & a blueprint for legion's of mystery novels to come.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping Psychological Study!
Review: Highly entertaining and original, even though so many rip-offs have been produced since its debut. Highsmith does a titanic job of studying the cat-and-mouse psychology of Guy and Bruno. While I found the ending to be less than satisfying, it is a taut thrill read from the first chapter.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping Psychological Study!
Review: Highly entertaining and original, even though so many rip-offs have been produced since its debut. Highsmith does a titanic job of studying the cat-and-mouse psychology of Guy and Bruno. While I found the ending to be less than satisfying, it is a taut thrill read from the first chapter.
Rating:
Summary: Poor reproduction of a masterpiece
Review: I am quite fond of Patricia Highsmith's writing, having, like so many others, been introduced to her through her Ripley series. I am thrilled that Norton decided to republished most of her lesser-known novels and stories, many of which I have read already, the others of which top my reading to-do list. The greatest problem with this edition is the annoying presence of frequent typos and less frequent grammatical errors. I found myself having to go back to figure out the meaning of a sentence to discover one of the words was obviously incorrect. I understand that the publishers were probably rushing to get this edition on the market so that they could capitalize from The Talented Mr. Ripley's box-office sucess; nevertheless, the sloppiness distracts from the enjoyment experienced in reading Highsmith's other works. With that said, Strangers on a Train lives up to its reputation as a significant first effort by Highsmith. Those familiar with her work will recognize the beginnings of themes she continues to explore throughout her life. Primarily, this work presents a sympathetic murderer-- like Ripley-- a person who, the reader believes has to murder. Like Flannery O'Connor, Highsmith has an uncanny ability to place us in the minds of characters who face circumstances that seemingly force them to do unthinkable things. She follows with guilt-- or lack thereof-- that confronts characters based on the strength of their conscience. It reminds us that often the worst decisions are made at times when the choice seemed rational under the circumstances. I have yet to view Hitchcock's take on this novel. It is, undoubtedly, immensely difficult to portray a story that takes place mostly inside the characters minds on the big screen. For that reason alone, those who have seen the movie should consider reading this book.
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