The Two Faces of January

Patricia Highsmith

ISBN 10: 0802122620 / ISBN 13: 9780802122629

Published by Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press, 2014

About this Item

A] classic psychological thriller.--USA Today Originally published in 1964, and the winner of the CWA Best Foreign Novel Award, Patricia Highsmith's The Two Faces of January is a chilling tale of suspense, suffused with her trademark slow, creeping unease. In a grubby Athens hotel, Rydal Keener is bored and killing time with petty scams. But when he runs into another American, Chester MacFarland, dragging a man's body down the hotel hall, Rydan impulsively agrees to help, perhaps because Chester looks like his father. Then Rydal meets Collete, Chester's younger wife, and captivated, becomes entangled in their sordid lives, as the drama marches to a shocking climax at the ruins of the labyrinth at Knossos. A film version of The Two Faces of January, starring Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, and Oscar Isaac (Drive, Inside Llewelyn Davis) is in production. Adapted by Academy Award nominee Hossein Amini (Drive), and produced by Working Title and Timnick Films (The Talented Mr. Ripley), it will be released later this fall. An offbeat, provocative and absorbing suspense novel.--The New York Times Patricia Highsmith is one of the few suspense writers whose work transcends genre.--The Austin American-Statesman.

Seller Inventory # 00105998165

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Two Faces of January
• Publisher: Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
• Publication Date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802122620
• ISBN 13: 9780802122629
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

“[A] classic psychological thriller.”—USA Today

Originally published in 1964, and the winner of the CWA Best Foreign Novel Award, Patricia Highsmith’s The Two Faces of January is a chilling tale of suspense, suffused with her trademark slow, creeping unease.

In a grubby Athens hotel, Rydal Keener is bored and killing time with petty scams. But when he runs into another American, Chester MacFarland, dragging a man’s body down the hotel hall, Rydan impulsively agrees to help, perhaps because Chester looks like his father. Then Rydal meets Collete, Chester’s younger wife, and captivated, becomes entangled in their sordid lives, as the drama marches to a shocking climax at the ruins of the labyrinth at Knossos.

A film version of The Two Faces of January, starring Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, and Oscar Isaac (Drive, Inside Llewelyn Davis) is in production. Adapted by Academy Award nominee Hossein Amini (Drive), and produced by Working Title and Timnick Films (The Talented Mr. Ripley), it will be released later this fall.

“An offbeat, provocative and absorbing suspense novel.”—The New York Times

“Patricia Highsmith is one of the few suspense writers whose work transcends genre.”—The Austin American-Statesman

From the Back Cover

Three of them are waiting. Rydal Keener is waiting for something exciting to happen in his grubby little Athens hotel. At forty-odd, Chester MacFarland has been waiting much longer, expecting his life of stock manipulation and fraud to catch up with him. And Colette, Chester's wife, is waiting for something altogether different. After a nasty little incident in the hotel, they all wait together. As the stakes-and the tension-in their three-cornered waiting game mount, they learn that while passports and silence can be bought, other things can cost as much as your life.

"Shifts of ground stand metaphor for shifts in relationship; psychology is beautifully interleaved with a gritty genius loci."-Library Journal

"An offbeat, provocative and absorbing suspense novel."-Anthony Boucher, The New York Times