The Glass Cell Audiobook By Patricia Highsmith cover art

The Glass Cell

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The Glass Cell

By: Patricia Highsmith
Narrated by: Tom Taylorson
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About this listen

Rife with overtones of Dostoevsky, The Glass Cell, first published in 1964, combines a quintessential Highsmith mystery with a penetrating critique of the psychological devastation wrought by the prison system.

Falsely convicted of fraud, the easygoing but naive Philip Carter is sentenced to six lonely, drug-ravaged years in prison. Upon his release, Carter is a more suspicious and violent man. For those around him, earning back his trust can mean the difference between life and death.

The Glass Cell's bleak and compelling portrait of daily prison life - and the consequences for those who live it - is, sadly, as relevant today as it was when the book was first published.

©1964 Patricia Highsmith. © renewed 1992 by Patricia Highsmith. © 1993 by Diogenes Verlag AG, Zurich (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Mystery Suspense Fiction
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Letter from a fan in Prison

"Life is funny. It is necessary both to see oneself in perspective and not to see oneself in perspective, yet either one can lead to madness. The two things must be done at the same time."
- Patricia Highsmith, The Glass Cell

An innocent man is sent to prison for six years and once let out, addicted to Morphine, he attempts to reconnect with his son, his wife, and her lover. Highsmith is the master of motivations and psychological thrillers. She knows what makes people tick and what it takes to break the clock. In 1961 she received a fan letter from a fan in prison. Soon they started writing back and forth. She became fascinated with the psychological trauma incarceration can inflict upon a man. There is, underlying almost all of Highsmith's stories, the image that within all men (and women) a bit of the sadist, the criminal, the psychopath. Most of us, however, are never twisted into a position where our own personal monster emerges. Highsmith loves looking at what makes the monster and is amazing in her ability ot describe the mental state of those caught in the dark machine that lurks just under the surfance of our own brain.

This isn't her best, but for fans of Highsmith, don't overlook it.

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4 people found this helpful