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Murder most casual: why Patricia Highsmith’s thrillers are so chilling

16 January 2021

9:00 AM

16 January 2021

9:00 AM

Devils, Lusts and Strange Desires: The Life of Patricia Highsmith Richard Bradford

Bloomsbury Caravel, pp.272, 20

Patricia Highsmith’s life was filled with more eccentric, disturbing brilliance than most readers can normally handle; and so the chief attraction of this third biography in 18 years (released to commemorate her 100th birthday) may be its brevity.

From the time Highsmith was born (after a failed abortion attempt by her parents), her story starts off dark and then gets much, much darker.

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