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Patricia Highsmith
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Strangers on a Train Kindle Edition

by Patricia Highsmith (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 2,993 ratings
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"For eliciting the menace that lurks in familiar surroundings, there's no one like Patricia Highsmith." —Time


The world of Patricia Highsmith has always been filled with ordinary people, all of whom are capable of very ordinary crimes. This theme was present from the beginning, when her debut, Strangers on a Train, galvanized the reading public. Here we encounter Guy Haines and Charles Anthony Bruno, passengers on the same train. But while Guy is a successful architect in the midst of a divorce, Bruno turns out to be a sadistic psychopath who manipulates Guy into swapping murders with him. "Some people are better off dead," Bruno remarks, "like your wife and my father, for instance." As Bruno carries out his twisted plan, Guy is trapped in Highsmith's perilous world, where, under the right circumstances, anybody is capable of murder.


The inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock's classic 1951 film, Strangers on a Train launched Highsmith on a prolific career of noir fiction, proving her a master at depicting the unsettling forces that tremble beneath the surface of everyday contemporary life.

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  1. Print length
    290 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    W. W. Norton & Company
  5. Publication date
    August 17, 2001
  6. File size
    691 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
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  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Highsmith's 1950 debut novel made her famous (and inspired a Hitchcock film) but, unlike some of her later titles, was never recorded. William Roberts does the reading honors.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

It is a truly gripping murder story. And yet, the psychological terror of the book is informed by the dual psychosis of its main characters.

-- "New York Times Book Review"

A moody and disturbing excavation of guilty paranoia.

-- "Wall Street Journal"

An incredible study of psychological torture and how fine the membrane is between normality and the underlying darkness.

-- "Tana French, New York Times bestselling author"

Strangers on a Train is filled with paranoia and anxiety, and through its twists and turns, we, like poor Guy Haines, are also drawn into psychopath Bruno's web.

-- "Sarah Pinborough, New York Times bestsellingauthor"

A book that still has the power to shock seventy years later. That power comes through in Bronson Pinchot's narration. His voice conveys the requisite pitch of menace and malice, at once impulsive and premeditated, as well as the sly humor that was a characteristic of so much of Highsmith's fiction.

-- "New York Times Book Review (audio review)"

For eliciting the menace that lurks in familiar surroundings, there's no one like Patricia Highsmith.

-- "Time"

Strangers on a Train is a moral-vertigo thriller: Crime and Punishment for a post-atomic age.

-- "Los Angeles Times"

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B007Q6XIVO
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (August 17, 2001)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 17, 2001
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 691 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 290 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1784876771
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 2,993 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Patricia Highsmith

    Patricia Highsmith

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    Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995) was the author of more than twenty novels, including Strangers on a Train, The Price of Salt and The Talented Mr. Ripley, as well as numerous short stories.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Craig Warner

    Craig Warner

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    Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

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Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
2,993 global ratings
Gruesome Daydreams, Wistful Realizations, Deadly Premonitions, and Dangerous Neuroses 🪦
5 Stars
Gruesome Daydreams, Wistful Realizations, Deadly Premonitions, and Dangerous Neuroses 🪦
This is a story of betrayal, manipulation, anxious paranoia, and revenge. A story about how mutual secrets often bring mutual peril. While Guy exhibits feelings of shame, guilt, embarrassment, loathing, love, regret, and disappointment, Bruno is impulsive, brash, unhinged, delusional, and alarmingly and deeply disturbed. Bruno is driven by a violent insanity — a violence manifested from the desperate boredom of the wealthy elite. He’s one of those depraved criminals who seeks to destroy lives, relationships, perceptions, and moments.When a spontaneous trip to Texas takes him on a detour through an amusement park, only a personality like Bruno could feel repulsion while embracing the rhythm of a merry-go-round. Strangulation, unknown assailants, stalking, denial, infatuation, and blackmail all give this story undeniable grit. I will say that this printing does have some scattered typos present, but Paula Hawkins provides an excellent introduction, and I’m so glad I finally got the chance to read this literary classic!
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Top reviews from the United States

David L. Ralston
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic
Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2024
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The character Bruno may be one of the most vivid I’ve read. He sticks with and to you in a way that mimic his effect on Guy. It’s disgusting and fascinating at once. The beauty of this writing is the mundane descriptions of the macabre. It’s an amazing debut note from a native born Texan under 30 that should have catapulted her to more fame than it did, but the Eisenhower era had no idea what to do with a voice as brilliant as Ms Highsmith.
2 people found this helpful
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fra7299
4.0 out of 5 stars Criss Cross
Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2015
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A simple ride on a train and meeting with two strangers begins this tale. The scenario: a perfect murder. One man, Guy Haines, begins to discuss with another man, Charles Bruno, about topics as they ride to their destination. Bruno seems to have a way of sizing up Guy from the get go, and eventually he pushes the discussion to how much he hates his father and Guy, in turn, reveals too much about his own struggles with his wife. Bruno, laughing, comes up with the perfect plan, which he suggests to Guy: let’s bump off each other’s “problems”, murder for each other. Guy, not fully taking Bruno seriously, “agrees” with the plan, more to get away from him than anything else. However, Bruno follows through with his side of the plan, and now expects Guy to do the same…

Perhaps Strangers on a Train’s biggest strength is simply its deep psychological aspects. Once the “deed” is done, Guy’s world turns inside out and there is a sense that he, psychologically, is no match for Bruno. Charles Bruno is one of the most relentless and manipulative sociopaths one may encounter in crime fiction. While not physically imposing, Bruno emotionally breaks down the will of Guy at many points.
Another interesting angle explored is the nature of duality within the individual. There seems to be made a case from the author that duel aspects exist in individuals, as is suggested by the character of Guy Haines. Much of the novel focuses on his internally conflicted self: “The anxiety had always been within himself, a battle of himself against himself, so torturous…”

Highsmith lets you in to Guy’s mind and lets you stew around a bit, and see how the turn of events takes its toll on him. What is fascinating is that one side there is a seeming normalcy to events within Guy’s life, yet under the surface there is constant disarray and chaos.

Besides this, Strangers on the Train is just a cleverly plotted psychological thriller that builds with each chapter. As much a study in crime as it is the aftermath of a crime, Highsmith’s novel edges its way towards a tension-filled conclusion as Bruno pushes his way further and further into Guy’s life. Definitely a read for the fan of psychological thrillers.
8 people found this helpful
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R. Meckley
3.0 out of 5 stars Dated and slow-paced
Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2024
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This is a 1950 classic book on which Alfred Hitchcock based his movie. The premise is well-known. Two men meet on a train, strike up a conversation, and end up committing murders for each other. I had to keep telling myself that the book was written in 1950 and not today, as the investigation was very dated. The writing is a bit slow-paced. I read this book because it was featured in a recent cozy mystery that I read, FATAL FIRST EDITION. Reading it has not led me to other books by this author. I did watch the movie, which was vastly different from the book. Aren't they always?
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Andrew Ellington
5.0 out of 5 stars Subtly menacing, every sentence slowly picking at your sanity...
Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2007
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Patricia Highsmith was ahead of her time, constructing the perfect crime novel long before it would truly be appreciated. Sadly she was never as famously accepted as she could have been while still living, but thanks to reprints and reissues her novels are being given a new breath of life. Now I say all of this and I have only had the pleasure of reading one of her novels, but that novel was so articulately perfect that I have nothing but the utmost respect for the late author. `Strangers on a Train' is so brilliantly crafted that I'm racking my brain to find a flaw, a drawback of some sort and the only thing I can muster is that here and there there are some grammatical errors, but other than that...I'm coming up empty handed.

Any fan of the Hitchcock film will immediately understand why the famed late director scooped up the film rights to this novel. The premise alone deserves the reader's utmost respect. Two strangers get wrapped up in the perfect crime that escalates into the most horrific journey into the human psyche.

Up and coming architect Guy Haines is traveling by train to meet his estranged wife Miriam to pursue a divorce. Miriam has given Guy nothing but heartache, nothing but trouble, and his nerves are getting the better of him. What if she refuses the divorce? He has a lot riding on this. He has a big job in the works that could finally make for him the name he's been waiting to make. He also has a wonderful supportive woman, Anne, waiting to give her his hand in marriage. He needs this divorce more now than ever.

Charles Bruno so happens to be traveling on the same train. Bruno is traveling to escape his father, a man he abhors with every fiber in his body. His father has denied him all that he feels he is entitled to, and he's come to loathe him in such a way that his death seems all Bruno can think of. If only his father were out of the picture, if only somehow, someway he could be rid of this horror of a man.

And with that the wheels begin to turn, as Guy meets Bruno and Bruno delves deeply into this man, winning over his trust and then devising a plan which involves a double homicide, the two of them trading off murders. It seems so perfect, Bruno, who has no relation to either Guy or Miriam, kills Miriam to free Guy of his ex and in return Guy murders Bruno's father. Guy immediately dismisses the idea as a sick joke and from that point on does all he can to avoid Bruno. Bruno on the other hand doesn't so easily forget Guy, and he decides to go ahead with the plan whether Guy wants to participate or not, but it's after he's snuffed the life out of Miriam that the trouble really begins.

In order for a plan like this to work the two parties would need to remain separate, distant and out of touch, but Bruno slowly becomes obsessed with Guy, falling in love with him in a way and begins to haunt, stalk and torture (mentally) Guy to the point to sheer insanity. The novel continues to weave Bruno's twisted web and we, the reader, are able to sit back and experience madness at its most effective. Patricia was able to paint this picture so clear that we are left with no feeling other than contentment and pure satisfaction. Yes, this novel plays out differently than the famed film, but that's no reason to disregard the novel altogether. It's worth every word penned!
28 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Helen Musson
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 31, 2023
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Brilliant!
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Amazon Kunde
5.0 out of 5 stars Better to go to the sources
Reviewed in Germany on January 24, 2023
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seen Hitchcock film & love it but there were disagreements between him & Highsmith. So curiosity kills the cat........Buy the book & enjoy it. Highsmith's prose is difficult to transport to the screen . And a tip get yourself a copy of " The Designated Victim" by Maurizio Lucidi, another film version of the book & then draw your own conclusions.
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lorenzo
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read
Reviewed in Spain on May 17, 2021
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This is more than a crime novel. The murders are just the excuse to study the personality of the characters, the crazy psycopath one and the supposedly normal one. A remarkable study of the power of the conscience, remorses and gilt.
One person found this helpful
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Mayra
5.0 out of 5 stars Patricia Highsmith es una maestra
Reviewed in Mexico on June 21, 2018
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Este libro te mantiene alerta todo el tiempo. Patricia Highsmith tiene una manera de escribir que a veces sientes mucha angustia. Es fascinante.
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Neill Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars The traded victims
Reviewed in Canada on October 18, 2017
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Guy Haines was an architect about to begin a prestigious contract that could establish his reputation, separated from a wife for three years who wanted a divorce but was delaying it while she arranged her next marriage, and planning to marry his new love as his circumstances permitted. On a train trip to Metcalf, Texas he meets Charles Bruno, a young man determined to befriend Guy despite Guy’s lack of interest. As Bruno pumps Guy for information, Guy learns that Bruno hates his father and Bruno learns of Guy’s problems with his estranged wife. Bruno suggests they form a pact to murder each other’s obstacle although Guy wants nothing to do with it. As time passes Guy is manipulated into a very difficult position that affects his personal and professional relationships. This is a well-written, well-plotted book.
One person found this helpful
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