Rating: 
Summary: Highsmith was NOT a crime writer....
Review: ...and this novel is an example. Because her characters often engage in activities that are illegal or, at least, immoral, American publishers have classified her work as "crime fiction," or something similar. Highsmith's fiction was decidedly NOT crime fiction, and people who read Grafton, Cornwell, or Kellerman might be disappointed. There are no good guys, bad guys, hunky detectives, loyal girl Fridays, or love stories. Just people we normally meet, taking extraordinary chances or exploring weird indulgences. Who hasn't fantasized about killing one's spouse (or parent, child, friend, enemy, etc.)?Read any of Patricia Highsmith's work as if you were reading a classic novelist--Dostoevsky, perhaps. In Highsmith's vision, crime is a metaphor representing the oddly amoral choices we make out of our natural narcissism or neurosis. The discomfort you feel while reading a Highsmith novel? Be warned: that's your conscience scraping its fingernails across the blackboard of your soul. Pleasant? No. Dangerous, guilty, neurotic fun? You bet!
Rating:
Summary: Highsmith was NOT a crime writer....
Review: ...and this novel is an example. Because her characters often engage in activities that are illegal or, at least, immoral, American publishers have classified her work as "crime fiction," or something similar. Highsmith's fiction was decidedly NOT crime fiction, and people who read Grafton, Cornwell, or Kellerman might be disappointed. There are no good guys, bad guys, hunky detectives, loyal girl Fridays, or love stories. Just people we normally meet, taking extraordinary chances or exploring weird indulgences. Who hasn't fantasized about killing one's spouse (or parent, child, friend, enemy, etc.)? Read any of Patricia Highsmith's work as if you were reading a classic novelist--Dostoevsky, perhaps. In Highsmith's vision, crime is a metaphor representing the oddly amoral choices we make out of our natural narcissism or neurosis. The discomfort you feel while reading a Highsmith novel? Be warned: that's your conscience scraping its fingernails across the blackboard of your soul. Pleasant? No. Dangerous, guilty, neurotic fun? You bet!
Rating:
Summary: A Suspension of Mercy requires a suspension of disbelief
Review: Although its plot occasionally stretches credulity, this is nonetheless a fine novel by one of the masters of suspense fiction. There are rarely any "good guys" in a Highsmith novel, and this one is no exception. Even the kindly neighbor Mrs. Lilybanks is too snoopy for her own good. Likewise, the police employ tactics that border on harrassment (though the suspect exacerbates the problem by withholding evidence and behaving guilty on purpose). I'd like to have seen the author create more convincing motivations for some of the protagonist's more bizarre behavior, especially that behavior which threatened to needlessly sabotage the literary successes he is so hungry for. But this is just a minor quibble. If you like your crime fiction without any pat moral tacked on at the end, this is your kind of novel. The suspense will twist a knot in your stomach and the clever turns of the plot will keep you guessing until the final page -- literally.
Rating:
Summary: Heart-stopping suspense, depressing ending
Review: Another magnificent plot from the ever-brilliant Highsmith: a writer daydreams about killing his wife, even acts it out to the point of pretending to bury her wrapped up in an old carpet (and his neighbor sees him do it); then when the wife disappears, he becomes the prime suspect. A fine meditation on the effect of guilt -- and the guilt that comes from intention rather than action. Several great plot twists and a heart-stopping climax -- but I found the ending very disturbing, morally (naturally, I can't be too specific; don't want to spoil it). Like most of Highsmith's work, it's beautifully written, tough to put down, and extremely thought-provoking. Highsmith collectors beware: this book was also published as a Crime Club selection under the title "The Story-Teller."
Rating: 
Summary: A mystery story without a real murder
Review: During the whole book one of the main figures, Sydney, thinks about killing other people. Of course, he's a writer he has to imagine such things, other people in the story say. Nearly in every detail he imagines how he would kill for example his wife. And when she leaves him he plays as if she was really dead and it seems as if she was on the way to play this game with him. But his wife isn't dead. She's still alive but she doesn't want to see Sydney again and she doesn't want to come back to her parents because she's ashamed because she has been away for such a long time.
But didn't I buy a mystery story the reader asks himself. He can see that there's a lot of talking about murder but no-one gets killed by an other. Still the book takes an ending in a very special way, in a way no-one would expect it to happen.
So we may say that Patricia Highsmith keeps us on tenterhooks nearly until the end of the book - because we are all waiting for a murder and really don't know if it will happen. And we can also never be sure, that the murder (if it is going to happen) will happen in the way we could imagine it. We are always uncertain about the next thing that will happen. But exactly this is how Patricia Highsmith holds the tension inside of us high, very high.
I really enjoyed this book because it's full of tension from the first until the last page and you as the reader may never know what will happen next. The book is also full of special personalities who are worth to be known by us. The figures have thoughts which I can't imagine that they will cross my mind once but it's very interesting to see how other people may think or react if the situation becomes real or seems to become real.
The book really takes us in another world, a world full of incertitudes although the reader does always know what Sydney thinks. But there are all the other people who think differently about Sydney and this always produces a feeling of incertitude in us. The reader doesn't really know if he may trust Sydney or if Sydney will do a thing to change the image we have of him. This also holds the tension on a very high level. Your feelings will change through the lecture at the end of the book you will think differently about nearly everyone in the book than you did in the beginning! So, just read it and let you be taken through this change of feelings!
Rating:
Summary: tense psychological thriller among Highsmith's better works.
Review: Having read most of Highsmith's novels I've become rather critical of her work in both good and bad ways. While undoubtedly gifted in generating suspense out of thin air, many of her stories are formulaic ... with the sense Highsmith is "manufacturing" the novel rather than it be a result of inspiration. However when Patricia Highsmith has a truly new and creative thought she produces great stuff (The Talented Mr Ripley, This Sweet Sickness, Strangers on a Train). How does Suspension of Mercy hold up?? Rather well, actually. Suspension of Mercy is a story about a crime novelist and screenwriter who imagines what it would be like to kill his wife ... nothing more than a morbid 'hobby'. However when his wife walks out and keeps her whereabouts unknown people begin to talk, the police get involved, and ... it gets interesting. Highsmith does a wonderful job on focusing on the nervous, neurotic behaviour of the characters. While the story isn't entirely believable I found the ending to be rather good. Bottom line: a very competent effort by Highsmith. Not among her very best, but certainly a polished piece of mystery writing.
Rating:
Summary: tense psychological thriller among Highsmith's better works.
Review: Having read most of Highsmith's novels I've become rather critical of her work in both good and bad ways. While undoubtedly gifted in generating suspense out of thin air, many of her stories are formulaic ... with the sense Highsmith is "manufacturing" the novel rather than it be a result of inspiration. However when Patricia Highsmith has a truly new and creative thought she produces great stuff (The Talented Mr Ripley, This Sweet Sickness, Strangers on a Train). How does Suspension of Mercy hold up?? Rather well, actually. Suspension of Mercy is a story about a crime novelist and screenwriter who imagines what it would be like to kill his wife ... nothing more than a morbid 'hobby'. However when his wife walks out and keeps her whereabouts unknown people begin to talk, the police get involved, and ... it gets interesting. Highsmith does a wonderful job on focusing on the nervous, neurotic behaviour of the characters. While the story isn't entirely believable I found the ending to be rather good. Bottom line: a very competent effort by Highsmith. Not among her very best, but certainly a polished piece of mystery writing.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable suspense novel
Review: I'm so glad that the works of Patricia Highsmith have been reissued (I particularly love her Ripley series). This book is similar in many ways to the Ripley books - male protagonist who is an amoral American living in the European countryside and married to a European. Sydney is an unsuccessful American mystery writer, who finds himself unhappy in his marriage. His wife, Alicia, is a bit critical of Sydney and he finds his imagination plotting her murder. The suspense comes from guessing whether he will end up killing her and whether he will get away with it. The plot twists are rather clever, although very little of what happens is particularly believable and the ending is a let-down. Despite these flaws, Highsmith's writing style is so smooth and enjoyable that I found myself liking this book a great deal. Highly recommmended for suspense book lovers and fans of the Ripley series.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable suspense novel
Review: I'm so glad that the works of Patricia Highsmith have been reissued (I particularly love her Ripley series). This book is similar in many ways to the Ripley books - male protagonist who is an amoral American living in the European countryside and married to a European. Sydney is an unsuccessful American mystery writer, who finds himself unhappy in his marriage. His wife, Alicia, is a bit critical of Sydney and he finds his imagination plotting her murder. The suspense comes from guessing whether he will end up killing her and whether he will get away with it. The plot twists are rather clever, although very little of what happens is particularly believable and the ending is a let-down. Despite these flaws, Highsmith's writing style is so smooth and enjoyable that I found myself liking this book a great deal. Highly recommmended for suspense book lovers and fans of the Ripley series.
Rating:
Summary: Ruth Rendell-like
Review: Someone once said that Patricia Highsmith's novels are like bad dreams that keep us thrashing during the night. This one is no exception. I can't really call it a mystery becuase there really is no "who done it" - at least who done it in the terms that we would normally associate it. Rather, Ms. Highsmith comes across like Ruth Rendell or maybe Elmore Leonard. Not so much of a mystery as a crime novel where the plot really isn't the driving force, it's the characters. She, like Rendell and Leonard, has created a few characters who bounce off of one another like billiard balls and move the story along. Sydney Bartleby, an aspiring author-to-be, imagines a plot to kill off his wife Alicia, a painter. Oh, he hasn't done it, mind you, but he has thought about it enough. So, when Alicia takes some time off away from ol' Syd because their marriage is reaching the straining point, Sydney begins a descent into the netherworld of his own imagination. Did he kill her and bury her in a carpet in the middle of the woods? The only person in the book who might even begin to resemble a "good guy", widowed Mrs. Lilybanks, their neighbor, isn't so sure. Sydney leads the police on in their investigation and when it appears that his own fictions will rock and destroy his own life - and he keeps going on - you just want to shake him. I found this to be just a little unbelieveable. The last couple of chapters will either surprise you or leave you asking, "Is that all there is?" Ms. Highsmith hasn't been that well publicized in the U.S. until one of her earlier novels, "The Talented Mr. Ripley", was made into a movie. Still, like here classic debut novel, "Strangers on a Train", this one shows us what forces might be perculating just below the skin of everyday life. Elmore and Ruth would be proud.
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