Although this book was interesting, it really didn't have much to do with "horror" or "scariness". There were a few stories that gave me the creeps, but most of them just didn't make much sense. Patricia Highsmith is an excellent author, but her writing takes some getting used to. Basically, I was disappointed in the book. I really thought it was going to be better. I actually got bored with a few of the stories; there's not a lot of action.

The Black House is a very unique book. You may think it sounds like a horror book. But it is really only scary in the way that people are in this book. It takes a while to become used to the author's style of writing, so you have to be patient. Some of these stories are very strange, be prepared. I found this book to be frusturating because it was so different.The author did a good job leaving you with a question at the end of each story.

Everytime you open a book by Patricia Highsmith, there is no certainty at all about what you will encounter (at least that happens to me). However, this time I found more surprises than usual. Each of the 11 stories has its particular charm, but the one I loved most was "Blow It". It is worth buying the book just to read this story. If you are a woman and you like Highsmith, you cannot afford to leave this one unread. And, remember, reality is more frightening than horror movies!

Patricia Highsmith is known for her tightly-woven psychological mysteries, especially where anxiety levels of the accused criminal approach the breaking point. Ms Highsmith has also published many short stories of lesser quality, mostly because she has a shorter runway for building the suspense. Having said this, her short story collection 'Eleven' does have nice juicy bits.

In 'Tales of Natural and Unnatural Catastrophes' Paticia Highsmith turns her attention to modern issues (eg, pollution) and writes some rather strange stories where these issues are turned upside-down. I would broadly classify them has horror rather than mystery/suspense, and they are quite readable. Yet one gets the impression that this is all very old hat. And this material relects the general demise of Highsmith's works during the latter part of her career (1980s onwards).

Bottom line: okay, but Highsmith has done much better than this.

This book was classed as Mystery & Suspense, but presumably just because "that's what Patricia Highsmith writes." I'd class it as fantasy. These stories describe completely recognizable worlds, but "gone slightly mad" as one review accurately puts it. Some are enormously disturbing - I tried not to fall asleep in the middle of one because I feared the nightmares it would kindle!

That said, it's far from my favorite Highsmith. The stories just don't grip like most of her work - I couldn't stay awake when I tried. Peculiarly, many of them seem both too short, i.e. sketchy, and too long, i.e.moral/story could have been delivered much more quickly.

Perhaps mostly a good book for Highsmith completists; it's always interesting to read a favorite author's forays into a different genre.

These stories are interesting and well-conceived. They are not always what you would expect - but hat's what Highsmith does best. This is not Strangers on a Train or The Talented Mr. Ripley, but it is clever fiction, well rendered.

'Found in the Street' is certainly one of Highsmith's stranger books. Firstly, nearly all the characters are gay, bi-sexual, or at least very gay accepting. Even in today's era of enlightenment I found all this to be a bit unrealistic. Secondly, Highsmith lets down the reader by not capitalising on the suspense built up throughout much of the book. In other words the book's ending is a dud. Having said all this, 'Found in the Street' is standard Highsmith in that it is well-written (nice prose) and the characterisations are quite decent (despite the contrived gay aspect).

So what's the story about? It concerns a young, newly gay-enlightened woman in NYC being chased by an obsessive middle-aged bachelor. Coincidentally this middle-aged bachelor finds a wallet in the street owned by an artist. This artist's wife has some lesbian tendencies. All the characters then mesh together and, well, that's pretty much it. As I mentioned above, the ending is rather poor.

As an aside, Highsmith has done a MUCH better story concerning lesbians in her classic 'Carol'. That book is strongly recommended regardless of the reader's gender or gender preference.

Bottom line: 'Found is the Street' is really a forgettable piece of lesbian-mystery nonsense. Yet it is generally well-written, and I suspect Highsmith fans will find it okay.

Patricia Highsmith is one of my favorite novelists, but this was not one of her best books (though I agree with the reviewer who found the character of Ralph very well conceived). Was it not odd, for example, that, while Ralph *was* right in the end, the tension that was built up surrounding his character--his potential capacity for violence--never amounted to anything?

And there's something else that troubled me about this book and about The Price of Salt: the attitude toward children implicit in them. Yes, yes, I know that this is fiction and the attitudes expressed do not necessarily express the attitude of the author. But I, at least, found the characters' distance from their children in both novels troubling and unrealistic. In Found in the Street the daughter is forever given to babysitters to raise, while the parents live almost as if they had never had a daughter in the first place: nightclubbing until all hours, and the mother went off on a trip for six months, we are told, when the kid was two, leaving the child with a grandmother for the duration. Perhaps Highsmith intended thereby to portray the parents in a certain light, but I wonder whether she found this sort of behavior remarkable or indeed realistic. In The Price of Salt, on the other hand, while one of the characters *is* broken up about not being able to see her daughter enough, I got the impression from the book that in the heirarachy of relationships, children rank below lovers.

But perhaps I am missing something. I am curious about others' reactions.

This was my first Highsmith novel and I am pleased to know that there are better ones out there. I did think that the pacing was good and the tension sufficient for my limited tolerance. However the characters were outlandishly polite and accepting over death, our of marriage affairs, gay and otherwise, and the gentle manner by which marital sex was managed. There were so many brilliant moments in their lives, successful books, art world ingenuity, even two very significant deaths were magnificently endured. Following one murder, the couple shared drinks, mulled over the wife's gay affair and the husband's otherwise erotic obsession, to be followed by lamb chops-perfect, I'm sure. The child of this wealth and beauty union, was over the edge of my tolerance however. She could draw upon command, was never impossibly intrusive and went easily whenever the plot commanded, to the abundant babysitters who could instantly be called upon for days of support.
And yet the book had a definite intelligence, a psychological frisson,in the the ambiguous questionably sinister watchful movements of a lonely and completely marginalized 50 year old man. We try to stay ahead of that very slender line where he keeps his madness, his rage and consuming sexual confusion from psychopathic proportions. At the same time the story is unbearably tragic when he is brutalized by the violent toughs who reduce him from even the slightest acceptability. We wait for another personality or some violence from him or to him, its a gamble and it's well done. We do not know the details of how this character became isolated by his own broken memories, Ralph is isolated by virtue of his own broken memories, but we know they are unmentionable. The book is redeemed through his part in it.

Highsmith's later work is uneven, and this collection from the 1970's is no exception. There are some truly bizarre stories -- including a sci-fi piece (not typical for her) and a dream-like fantasy called "One for the Islands" -- that simply do not work at all; and "The Pond" is a nasty, depressing tale. However, "Something You Have to Live With," "A Curious Suicide," "Those Awful Dawns" and "Woodrow Wilson's Neck-Tie" are all vintage Highsmith, and make this collection well worth acquiring. "Something" is a very thought-provoking story, and "Dawns" is simply shocking; unforgettable.

For the record, I've read a lot of Highsmith's short stories -- which poured prolifically from her pen in late career -- and the only uniformly excellent collection is "Eleven," which features first-rate early tales and is, fortunately, still in print.

Highsmith's last novel, very hard to find, is probably best reserved for die-hard fans only (like me). It is NOT a suspense novel, and bears only the faintest resemblance to her other works (most notably, "Found in the Street," her penultimate book). "Small g" is a rambling character study about sexual preference and freedom among various characters associated with a semi-gay bar in Zurich. Its chief merits are the many strong and likable characters, plus a fluid writing style that makes for a very easy read. Also, like one or two other Highsmith works, it addresses gay issues without seeming like pro-gay propaganda. For a Highsmith fan like me, it was amazing to encounter so many very likable characters here -- a real switch for Highsmith, who has always seemed like a profound cynic about human nature -- and a generally upbeat book, with several happy scenes and some actual romance. This NEVER happens in other Highsmith books! I was fascinated that she left such an upbeat novel as her last work, considering that most of her novels are so incredibly downbeat and depressing. One wonders what else she might have done if she had lived another 10 years. . . .