PATRICIA HIGHSMITH – Ripley Under Water. Tom Ripley #5, Alfred A. Knopf, hardcover, 1992. Vintage, trade paperback, 1993.

   Highsmith’s novels of Tom Ripley, the amiable sociopath, have gotten a good deal of critical acclaim. In the fifth and latest, Ripley and his wife Heloise are living happily in France with not a care in the world, until a couple of odd and unattractive Americans rent a house nearby. Soon it becomes apparent that they know, or at least suspect, a great deal more about Ripley’s past transgressions (which include art fraud and a few ad hoc murders) than they have any right to; and that they want him to know it.

   The questions are how much do they know and what do they intend to do with it? Ripley’s reactions will come as no surprise to readers of previous books in the series. I found this a distinctly lesser effort. I had liked earlier books well enough, but here the credibility of Ripley’s foes was lacking, their motivations murky, and just how they knew all they seemed to know was not well established.

   Highsmith is a good writer without question, but I didn’t think this was a good book.