A Dog's Ransom

A Dog's Ransom (1972) is a psychological thriller novel by Patricia Highsmith.

A Dog's Ransom

First edition
Author	Patricia Highsmith
Language	English
Genre	Psychological thriller
Published	1972 (Knopf)
Publication place	United States
Pages	271
ISBN	978-0-394-48069-5
OCLC	19866298
Dewey Decimal	813.54
LC Class	PS3558.I366

Synopsis

Publishing executive Ed Reynolds finds a disturbing ransom note in the Manhattan apartment he shares with his wife: "Dear sir: I have your dog, Lisa. She is well and happy... I gather she is important to you? We'll see." They pay the ransom and the criminal is apprehended. Only then do events swirl out of control, leading to the downfall of several innocent characters and the triumph of evil.

Reception

An anonymous reviewer in The New York Times wrote: "Evil, the author tells us, is a force against which ordinary people are all but helpless; its psychopathology lies outside their life styles." He praised Highsmith's writing: "Without overwriting, without belaboring a point, she skillfully probes deeper and deeper. She has a good ear for dialogue, and the ability to underline character with only a few words, or the briefest snatch of conversation."

Television adaptation

John Griffith Bowen dramatized the novel for Thames Television in 1978 for their anthology series Armchair Thriller, moving the action from New York to London.