Those Who Walk Away

Ray Garrett, a wealthy young American living in Europe, is grieving over the death of his wife, Peggy. Ray is at a loss for why she would take her own life, but Peggy’s father, Ed Coleman, a painter, has no such uncertainty—he blames Ray completely. Late one night in Rome, Coleman shoots Ray at point-blank range. He thinks he’s had his revenge, but Ray survives and follows Coleman and his wealthy girlfriend to Venice.

In Venice, it happens again: Coleman attacks his loathed son-in-law, dumping him into the cold waters of the Laguna. Ray survives thanks to the help of a boatman, and this time he goes into hiding, living in a privately rented room under a fake name. So begins an eerie game of cat and mouse. Coleman wants vengeance, Ray wants a clear conscience, and the police want to solve the mystery of what happened to the missing American.

As Ray and Coleman stalk each other through the narrow streets and canals, the hotels and bars of the beguiling city, Those Who Walk Away simmers with violence and unease. Originally published in 1967, this is vintage Highsmith.

About the author

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.

Summary

Ray Garrett, a wealthy young American living in Europe, is grieving over the death of his wife, Peggy. Ray is at a loss for why she would take her own life, but Peggy’s father, Ed Coleman, a painter, has no such uncertainty—he blames Ray completely. Late one night in Rome, Coleman shoots Ray at point-blank range. He thinks he’s had his revenge, but Ray survives and follows Coleman and his wealthy girlfriend to Venice.

In Venice, it happens again: Coleman attacks his loathed son-in-law, dumping him into the cold waters of the Laguna. Ray survives thanks to the help of a boatman, and this time he goes into hiding, living in a privately rented room under a fake name. So begins an eerie game of cat and mouse. Coleman wants vengeance, Ray wants a clear conscience, and the police want to solve the mystery of what happened to the missing American.


As Ray and Coleman stalk each other through the narrow streets and canals, the hotels and bars of the beguiling city, Those Who Walk Away simmers with violence and unease. Originally published in 1967, this is vintage Highsmith.

Additional text

Praise for Those Who Walk Away:

“For me, the name ‘Patricia Highsmith’ designates a sacred territory: she is the One whose place among writers is that which Spinoza held for Gilles Deleuze (a ‘Christ among philosophers’) . . . [A] masterpiece.”—Slavoj Žižek, London Review of Books

“Absorbing . . . illuminating—and always compelling.”—Anthony Boucher, New York Times Book Review

“[Ray and Coleman] are among the most memorable products of Highsmith’s powerful imagination . . . The deadly games of pursuit . . . are as subtle and interesting as anything being done in the novel today.”—Julian Symons, Times Literary Supplement

“The novel has many virtues, including a stunning sense of place and a fascinating cast of characters.”—Pauline Mayer, Cleveland Plain Dealer

Praise for Patricia Highsmith:

“One of the 20th-century’s most powerful writers . . . [Highsmith] transcended the workaday limitations of the crime genre with an array of erotic predators and stylish plot-reversals. She wrote unpretentiously . . . and with profound psychological insight.”—Alexander Theroux, Wall Street Journal

“[Highsmith’s] characters are irrational, and they leap to life in their very lack of reason . . . Highsmith is the poet of apprehension rather than fear.”—Graham Greene

“For some obscure reason, one of our greatest modernist writers, Patricia Highsmith, has been thought of in her own land as a writer of thrillers. She is both. She is certainly one of the most interesting writers of this dismal century.”—Gore Vidal

“Miss Highsmith’s genius is in presenting fantasy’s paradox: successes are not what they seem . . . Where in the traditional fairy tale the heroine turns the toad into a prince, in Miss Highsmith’s fables the prince becomes a toad—success is nearly always fatal . . . Combining the best features of the suspense genre with the best of existential fiction—a reflection—the stories are fabulous, in all the senses of that word.”—Paul Theroux

“She writes so fearlessly . . . about human relationships and the human heart. I always have this terrible sense of foreboding . . . you never feel safe.”—Cate Blanchett

“Patricia Highsmith’s novels are peerlessly disturbing—bad dreams that keep us restless and thrashing for the rest of the night.”—Terrence Rafferty, New Yorker

“These days, just about all the exciting work in the murder-for-entertainment business descends not from Arthur Conan Doyle or Hammett but from Highsmith.”—Atlantic

Product details

• Authors: Patricia Highsmith, Patricia Highsmith
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.07.2017
• EAN: 9780802126924
• ISBN: 978-0-8021-2692-4
• No. of pages: 264
• Dimensions: 137 mm x 208 mm x 22 mm
• Weight: 291 g
• Subjects: Fiction > Suspense; FICTION / Mystery & Detective / General, FICTION / Crime, FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological, Italy, Thriller / suspense fiction, c 1960 to c 1969, Relating to adulthood, CULTURAL HERITAGE / Italian