Brilliant, unpredictable, charming, devoted, and murderous, the talented Mr. Tom Ripley fascinated his creator Patricia Highsmith for five books over the course of four decades in which he seduced cinéastes diverse as René Clément, Wim Wenders, and Anthony Minghella. Paul Pavlowitch now consecrates a fictional biography to the chameleonic trickster. From his unhappy childhood with his spiteful grandparents to his leisurely good life as an unassuming French citizen, Ripley is followed by his biogrpaher through impersonations, crimes, and social climbing.

This unique artifact is a must for any fan of noir, Highsmith’s Ripley novels, or metafictional skullduggery. In a tour de force of extrapolation reminiscent of film critic David Thomson’s Suspects, Tom is at once a study of social change, a literary history in historical context, and a delectably sinister account of an amoral enigma and his mercurial compassion. With a finely maintained tone, never letting down his mask nor admitting to the fiction of his enterprise, Pavlowitch stays true to the spirit of the consummate swindler and immortal character whose life he relates.