Highsmith, Patricia - A Suspension of Mercy (Norton, 2001)

A major new reissue of the work of a classic noir novelist.

With the acclaim for The Talented Mr. Ripley , more film projects in production, and two biographies forthcoming, expatriate legend Patricia Highsmith would be shocked to see that she has finally arrived in her homeland. Throughout her career, Highsmith brought a keen literary eye and a genius for plumbing the psychopathic mind to more than thirty works of fiction, unparalleled in their placid deviousness and sardonic humor. With deadpan accuracy, she delighted in creating true sociopaths in the guise of the everyday man or woman. Now, one of her finest works is again in print: A Suspension of Mercy , a masterpiece of noir fantasy. With this novel, Highsmith revels in eliciting the unsettling psychological forces that lurk beneath the surface of everyday contemporary life. "For eliciting the menace that lurks in familiar surroundings, there's no one like Patricia Highsmith."— Time "Highsmith's novels are peerlessly disturbing ....bad dreams that keep us thrashing for the rest of the night."— The New Yorker