through the ordeal. The Mafia become suspicious of Minot's involvement with the murders and bomb his house, prompting him to flee. Ripley begins to fear Mafia revenge when he receives a couple of suspicious phone calls. After sending Heloise and their housekeeper away, Ripley asks Trevanny to help him deal with any Mafia reprisals at Belle Ombre. When two Mafia hitmen turn up at Belle Ombre, Ripley kills one and forces the other to phone his boss in Milan and say that Ripley is not the man they are after before being executed. Simone then shows up at the house demanding answers, discovers the corpses, and is sent away in a taxi. Ripley and Trevanny drive to a remote village to burn the corpses in their own car. A few days later, Ripley visits Trevanny's house, where a quartet of Mafia gunmen appear. One of them opens fire on Ripley, but Trevanny steps in front of him and is mortally wounded; he dies in Ripley's car on the way to hospital. Ripley is unsure whether Trevanny's action was by accident or design. A few months later, Ripley encounters Simone in Fontainebleau, and she spits at him. He realizes that Simone has accepted her husband's blood money, and in doing so has remained silent about her suspicions of Ripley's instigation of the entire affair. Reception In The New York Times, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt wrote that the novel "gets off to a very strong beginning" and described how he appreciated the plot once Ripley set it in motion and stood back. He concluded: Adaptations Film Ripley's Game was adapted in 1977 by Wim Wenders as Der Amerikanische Freund, starring Dennis Hopper as Ripley. It was adapted under its original title in 2002 by director Liliana Cavani, with John Malkovich as Ripley. Radio The 2009 BBC Radio 4 adaptation stars Ian Hart as Ripley, Helen Longworth as Heloise, Tom Brooke as Trevanny, Paul Rider as Minot and Janice Acquah as Simone. References External links Two Faces of Ripley, filmbrain.com comparison of The American Friend and Ripley's Game Ripley's Game at Fact Behind Fiction 1974 American novels Novels by Patricia Highsmith American novels adapted into films Novels about organized crime Heinemann (publisher) books Novels set in Hamburg Novels about serial killers