Recommendations based on The Talented Mr. Ripleyby Patricia Highsmith

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. Strangers on a Train

    by Patricia Highsmith
    Suspenseful tale of a young man's dangerous encounter with a mysterious stranger.

    Architect Guy Haines wants to divorce his unfaithful wife, Miriam, in order to marry the woman he loves, Anne Faulkner. While on a train to see his wife, he meets Charles Anthony Bruno, a ... (Wikipedia)

  2. The Secret History

    by Donna Tartt
    A small group of misfit college students uncover a sinister secret and their lives become entangled with dangerous consequences.

    Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the ... (Goodreads)

  3. The Price of Salt

    by Patricia Highsmith
    Two women build a relationship against all odds, navigating a taboo romance.

    Therese Belivet is a lonely young woman, just beginning her adult life in Manhattan and looking for her chance to launch her career as a theatre set designer . When she was a small girl, her widowed ... (Wikipedia)

  4. The Name of the Rose

    by Umberto Eco
    A Franciscan friar investigates a series of murders in a medieval monastery, uncovering a sinister plot.

    In 1327, Franciscan friar William of Baskerville and Adso of Melk , a Benedictine novice travelling under his protection, arrive at a Benedictine monastery in Northern Italy to attend a theological ... (Wikipedia)

  5. Stoner

    by John Williams
    An academic's life of quiet desperation, finding solace in literature.

    William Stoner is born on a small farm in 1891. After high school, the county agent advises he go to agriculture school. Stoner enrolls in the University of Missouri , where all agriculture students ... (Wikipedia)

  6. The Killer Inside Me

    by Jim Thompson
    A suspenseful psychological thriller about a small-town sheriff with a dark, violent side.

    The story is told through the eyes of its protagonist, Lou Ford, a 29-year-old deputy sheriff in a small Texas town. Ford appears to be a regular, small-town cop leading an unremarkable existence; ... (Wikipedia)

  7. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

    by Agatha Christie
    Amateur detective investigates the mysterious murder of a wealthy landowner.

    In King's Abbot, wealthy widow Mrs Ferrars unexpectedly commits suicide, which distresses her fiancé, widower Roger Ackroyd. At dinner that evening in Ackroyd's home of Fernly Park, his guests ... (Wikipedia)

  8. Ulysses

    by James Joyce
    Epic narrative following a day in the life of an Irishman living in Dublin.

    It is 8 a.m. Buck Mulligan , a boisterous medical student, calls Stephen Dedalus (a young writer encountered as the principal subject of, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, ) up to the roof of ... (Wikipedia)

  9. The Collector

    by John Fowles
    A man's obsession with a young woman leads to a deadly game of cat-and-mouse.

    The novel is about a lonely young man, Frederick Clegg, who works as a clerk in a city hall and collects butterflies in his spare time. The first part of the novel tells the story from his point of ... (Wikipedia)

  10. The Maltese Falcon

    by Dashiell Hammett
    Detective Sam Spade must solve a mysterious case involving a precious artifact and a deadly trio of criminals.

    ‘Sam’ Spade is a private detective in San Francisco , in partnership with Miles Archer. The beautiful "Miss Wonderley" hires them to follow Floyd Thursby, who has run off with her sister. Archer ... (Wikipedia)

  11. The Quiet American

    by Graham Greene
    A journalist's exploration of a conflict between a French colonial regime and Vietnamese nationalists.

    Thomas Fowler is a British journalist in his fifties who has covered the French war in Vietnam for more than two years. He meets a young American idealist named Alden Pyle, a CIA agent working ... (Wikipedia)

  12. Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories

    by Truman Capote
    Collection of stories, exploring the lives of eccentric individuals in New York City.

    In autumn 1943, the unnamed narrator befriends Holly Golightly. The two are tenants in a brownstone apartment in Manhattan 's Upper East Side . Holly (age 18–19) is a country girl turned New York ... (Wikipedia)

  13. Rosemary's Baby

    by Ira Levin
    A woman's descent into darkness as she is unknowingly forced to carry a child of the Devil.

    The book centers on Rosemary Woodhouse, a young married woman who has just moved into the Bramford, a historic Gothic Revival-style New York City apartment building, with her husband, Guy, a ... (Wikipedia)

  14. The Thin Man

    by Dashiell Hammett
    A retired detective called to investigate a mysterious murder.

    The story is set in New York City in December 1932, in the last days of Prohibition. The main characters are a former private detective , Nick Charles and Nora, his clever young wife. Nick, son of a ... (Wikipedia)

  15. Fingersmith

    by Sarah Waters
    A thrilling tale of two women who conspire to swindle a wealthy gentleman.

    Sue Trinder, an orphan raised in "a Fagin -like den of thieves" by her adoptive mother, Mrs Sucksby, is sent to help Richard "Gentleman" Rivers seduce a wealthy heiress. Posing as a maid, Sue is to ... (Wikipedia)

  16. Middlemarch

    by George Eliot
    A grand narrative of life in a small English town, exploring the lives of its inhabitants.

    Middlemarch centres on the lives of residents of Middlemarch, a fictitious Midlands town, from 1829 onwards – the years up to the 1832 Reform Act . The narrative is variably considered to consist of ... (Wikipedia)

  17. The Big Sleep

    by Raymond Chandler
    Private eye investigates a complex case involving a wealthy family and blackmail.

    Private investigator Philip Marlowe is called to the home of the wealthy and elderly General Sternwood, in the month of October. He wants Marlowe to deal with an attempt by a bookseller named Arthur ... (Wikipedia)

  18. Norwegian Wood

    by Haruki Murakami
    A young man's journey of love and loss set against the backdrop of the 1960s.

    Toru, a quiet and preternaturally serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of ... (Goodreads)

  19. The Story of the Lost Child

    by Elena Ferrante
    An exploration of the complexities of motherhood and female friendship, spanning four decades.

    "Nothing quite like this has ever been published before," proclaimed The Guardian about the Neapolitan novels in 2014. Against the backdrop of a Naples that is as seductive as it is perilous and a ... (Goodreads)

  20. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

    by Patrick Süskind
    A murder mystery set in 18th century France, exploring the depths of human obsession.

    An acclaimed bestseller and international sensation, Patrick Suskind's classic novel provokes a terrifying examination of what happens when one man's indulgence in his greatest passion—his sense of ... (Goodreads)

  21. Enduring Love

    by Ian McEwan
    A story of obsession and its consequences, as two men clash over a woman's affections.

    Joe planned a postcard-perfect afternoon in the English countryside to celebrate his lover's return after 6 weeks in the States. The perfect day turns to nightmare however, when they are involved in ... (Goodreads)

  22. Heartburn

    by Nora Ephron
    A woman's journey of redemption after her husband's infidelity.

    The narrator of the novel is Rachel Samstat (based on Nora Ephron), a food writer who is married to Mark Feldman (based on Carl Bernstein), a political journalist. Rachel is a Jewish New Yorker who ... (Wikipedia)

  23. We Have Always Lived in the Castle

    by Shirley Jackson
    A family isolated from society, struggling to cope with prejudice and tragedy.

    My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two ... (Goodreads)

  24. Mrs. Dalloway

    by Virginia Woolf
    A day in the life of a high-society woman, delving into her inner thoughts and feelings.

    Clarissa Dalloway goes around London in the morning, getting ready to host a party that evening. The nice day reminds her of her youth spent in the countryside in Bourton and makes her wonder about ... (Wikipedia)

  25. Five Little Pigs

    by Agatha Christie
    A detective investigates a 15-year-old unsolved murder case, uncovering secrets and lies.

    Sixteen years after Caroline Crale is convicted for the murder of her husband Amyas, her daughter Carla Lemarchant approaches Hercule Poirot. In the meeting, Carla claims her mother was innocent, and ... (Wikipedia)

  26. The Vegetarian

    by Han Kang
    A woman's radical decision to pursue a vegetarian lifestyle, leading to unexpected and far-reaching consequences.

    The Vegetarian tells the story of Yeong-hye, a home-maker who, one day, suddenly decides to stop eating meat after a series of dreams involving images of animal slaughter. This abstention leads her ... (Wikipedia)

  27. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

    by Robert Louis Stevenson
    A man's internal struggle between good and evil forces, as he attempts to reconcile his dual personalities.

    Gabriel John Utterson and his cousin Richard Enfield reach the door of a large house on their weekly walk. Enfield tells Utterson that months ago, he saw a sinister-looking man named Edward Hyde ... (Wikipedia)

  28. Out of Sight

    by Elmore Leonard
    Jack Foley, a bank robber, escapes from prison and falls in love with a U.S. Marshal while planning his next heist.

    Jack Foley, a " gentleman bank robber " arranges a break-out from a Florida jail. The plan is interrupted by shotgun toting Federal Marshal Karen Sisco. The pair end up in the trunk of the getaway ... (Wikipedia)

  29. Cat's Cradle

    by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
    A satirical exploration of human folly, exposing the dangers of unchecked science and technology.

    Told with deadpan humour and bitter irony, Kurt Vonnegut's cult tale of global destruction preys on our deepest fears of witnessing Armageddon and, worse still, surviving it ... Dr Felix Hoenikker, ... (Goodreads)

  30. Regeneration

    by Pat Barker
    Story of WWI soldiers & their experiences of trauma, set amidst the backdrop of a psychiatric hospital.

    The novel begins as Dr W. H. R. Rivers , an army psychiatrist at Craiglockhart War Hospital , learns of poet Siegfried Sassoon 's declaration against the continuation of the war. A government board ... (Wikipedia)