The Great Revival of Interest in Patricia Highsmith continues with two works that reveal the chilling reality behind the idyllic facade of American suburban life. In Deep Water, set in the small town of Little Wesley, Vic and Melinda Meller's loveless marriage is held together only by a precarious arrangement whereby in order to avoid the messiness of divorce, Melinda is allowed to take any number of lovers as long as she does not desert her family. Eventually, Vic tries to win her back by asserting himself through a tall tale of murder--one that soon comes true. The stories collected in Mermaids on the Golf Course are among Highsmith's most mature, psychologically penetrating works. As in the title story, in which a man's brush with death endows his everyday desires with tragic consequences, the warm familiarities of middle-class life becomes the eerie setting for Highsmith's chilling portrayals of violence, secrecy, and madness.
- ISBN10 0140038582
- ISBN13 9780140038583
- Publish Date 28 November 1974 (first published October 1966)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 12 February 1999
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Penguin Books Ltd
- Edition New edition
- Format Paperback
- Pages 272
- Language English