Thriller · Similar reads
Books like The Talented Mr. Ripley
The best books like The Talented Mr. Ripley are In Cold Blood, The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It Every Time, and Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup. The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith is about identity and reinvention, class anxiety, amorality and charm. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- In Cold Blood
01
Truman Capote · Memoir
Truman Capote's account of the 1959 murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas — and of the investigation, capture, trial, and execution of the killers Perry Smith and Richard Hickock — is the founding document of the true crime genre and one of the most admired works of American nonfiction of the twentieth century.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It Every Time
02
The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It Every Time
Maria Konnikova · Psychology
Maria Konnikova has a PhD in psychology and writes about it for a wide audience.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
03
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
John Carreyrou · Business
Bad Blood is Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou's account of Theranos, the blood-testing startup founded by Elizabeth Holmes that claimed its proprietary technology could run hundreds of diagnostic tests from a single finger-prick of blood.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - Homage to Catalonia
04
George Orwell · Memoir
Homage to Catalonia is George Orwell's firsthand account of fighting in the Spanish Civil War, which he joined in late 1936 as a volunteer with the POUM militia — a Trotskyist revolutionary organization that was later suppressed by the Soviet-backed Stalinist wing of the Republican forces.
A kindred thriller read.
Read the summary → - The Turn of the Key
05
Ruth Ware · Thriller
Rowan, a young nanny, writes a series of letters from prison to a solicitor she hopes will take her case.
Both dig into class anxiety.
Read the summary → - American Gods
06
Neil Gaiman · Fantasy
American Gods opens with Shadow Moon, a man released from prison days early because his wife has died in a car accident.
Both dig into identity and reinvention.
Read the summary → - Hook, Line, and Sinker
07
Tessa Bailey · Romance
Hannah Bellinger has always been the dependable one — her sister Piper's anchor, the practical twin who keeps things running.
Both dig into identity and reinvention.
Read the summary → - Lord Jim
08
Joseph Conrad · Literary fiction
Jim is a young British officer on a decrepit steamship carrying hundreds of Muslim pilgrims when, in a moment of crisis he cannot fully explain even to himself, he jumps overboard and abandons them.
Both dig into identity and reinvention.
Read the summary → - The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
09
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
Jonas Jonasson · Contemporary fiction
Allan Karlsson turns one hundred years old in a Swedish nursing home, and rather than sit through his birthday party, he climbs out the window in his slippers and walks away.
Both dig into identity and reinvention.
Read the summary → - The Human Stain
10
Philip Roth · Literary fiction
Coleman Silk is a seventy-one-year-old classics professor and former dean at Athena College in western Massachusetts who has been driven from his position by a racially charged accusation.
Both dig into identity and reinvention.
Read the summary → - The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
11
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Taylor Jenkins Reid · Contemporary fiction
Evelyn Hugo is eighty-one, a reclusive Hollywood legend who has outlived her beauty, most of her enemies, and all seven of her husbands.
Both dig into identity and reinvention.
Read the summary → - The Story of a New Name
12
Elena Ferrante · Literary fiction
The Story of a New Name is the second volume of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels, continuing the story of Elena Greco and Lila Cerullo from roughly 1960 through the late 1960s.
Both dig into identity and reinvention.
Read the summary →
Books like The Talented Mr. Ripley: quick answers
What are the best books like The Talented Mr. Ripley?
The best books like The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith are In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It Every Time by Maria Konnikova, Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou, Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with The Talented Mr. Ripley, such as identity and reinvention, class anxiety, amorality and charm.
What should I read after The Talented Mr. Ripley?
A natural next read after The Talented Mr. Ripley is In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. A kindred thriller read. Other strong choices are The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It Every Time by Maria Konnikova, Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou, Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell.
What books are similar to The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith?
The Talented Mr. Ripley centers on identity and reinvention, class anxiety, amorality and charm. Books with a similar feel include In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It Every Time by Maria Konnikova, Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou, Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware, American Gods by Neil Gaiman — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
