RIPLEY UNDERGROUND

American-born Tom Ripley has lived in the suburbs of Paris for some fifteen years, supported by income from not-so-honestly-gotten gains. An impending scandal threatens his comfortable existence, and Tom must act carefully and quickly. Novelist Highsmith deftly develops the story to elicit our sympathy for the crook, and we oblige. Briton Nigel Lambert reads the story with mounting excitement, immediately catching the reader in the suspense. Accents of the American characters have an unnatural, Midwestern flatness, but aside from this shortcoming, the story is a good choice for recording, and the production is well-done. N.B.H. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: NOV 93]