David Kelsey is smart, successful—and completely delusional about his relationship with Annabelle. He’s built a whole secret life based on a love that doesn’t exist, and when reality starts crashing in, things get dark fast. Highsmith is a master at creeping tension, and this book delivers plenty of unease. It’s not as famous as The Talented Mr. Ripley, but it’s just as unsettling. If you like slow-burning psychological thrillers with seriously messed-up characters, this one’s worth a read.

I really enjoyed Strangers in a Train ( and the film if the same name, directed by Hitchcock). I’ve read very little by Highsmith and was delighted to receive an arc of The Sweet Sickness, a Virago reissue. I l love it when titles are reissued with a new cover and it’s a great way to revive interest in authors who have perhaps become less popular as the years go by. Highsmith was an intriguing character and her books reflect a literary depth and her abi,ith to get inside the mind if her characters.

This story really is inside the mind of the central figure, David. He is unbalanced and the reader follows his descent. It’s a slow burn, but totally gripping and difficult to explain without spoilers. It’s aged well because the situation is timeless. Amazing writing and great insight. I enjoyed this.

I think this has been converted to ebook via machine, and the formatting needs looking at desperately. At first I thought maybe the typographical errors were stylistic choices, but I have since confirmed they are not by viewing a sample of the paperback online. To the publisher, please sort this out, you are ruining what was otherwise a very intriguing book. Effie has a lowercase letter 'e' throughout the ebook, and some other names suffer this too. At the end, the final line is followed on without a gap by information about Virago Classics! I had to reread it to appreciate the final sentence! Can't we at least have a page break?

Now onto the story itself...

This is a really interesting novel exploring a man's insanity. At times he seems self-aware, at others he has no idea. This would be a great novel to analyse... the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (David Kelsey / William Neumeister) aspect was fascinating and really underpinned how mad he'd gone. It's also a tale of unrequited love/obsession. If anyone's looking for something to base an English Lit essay on, I'd definitely suggest diving into this!

Virago have just reissued ten of the books from their Modern Classics range with new green cover designs, including Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston – and this one, Patricia Highsmith’s This Sweet Sickness. I’ve been meaning to try another Highsmith novel since reading Strangers on a Train a few years ago, so when I spotted this book on NetGalley it seemed the perfect opportunity.

This Sweet Sickness was first published in 1960 and takes us inside the mind of David Kelsey, a young man who lives in a boarding house in the town of Froudsburg, New York, and works as a scientist at a fabrics factory. At least, this is his life from Monday to Friday. When the weekend comes around, David leaves for his own house in nearby Ballard, where he becomes William Newmeister, a freelance journalist. For two whole days he locks himself away and imagines he is happily married to Annabelle, the love of his life. He has decorated the house the way he thinks Annabelle would have wanted it, prepares the meals he’s sure she would like and has even bought her a piano. The only problem is, Annabelle ended their relationship two years earlier and married another man. She and her husband, Gerald Delaney, live in Connecticut with their baby son and Annabelle has never even visited the house in Ballard, let alone lived in it.

David thinks he has successfully covered up his dual identities, having convinced everyone at work and at the boarding house that he visits his elderly mother at her nursing home every weekend. His mother has actually been dead for many years, but he’s sure no one will ever find out! However, two of his friends – a work colleague, Wes Carmichael, and a fellow boarder, Effie Brennan – begin to grow suspicious and decide to investigate. They are right to be concerned, because David is becoming increasingly unstable. He can’t and won’t accept that his relationship with Annabelle is over and bombards her with letters and phone calls, urging her to leave Gerald and marry him. Eventually, things take a more sinister turn and David finds himself in trouble. Is his double life about to be exposed at last?

I loved this book and although the first half is quite slow, I was completely gripped by it all the way through. It’s definitely a disturbing read, though, particularly as the whole book is written from David’s perspective (in third person). I was so impressed by the way Highsmith changed my perception of him several times throughout the book. At first I saw him as a basically decent person who’d had his heart broken and was struggling to move on, then I quickly lost sympathy for him when it became clear how dangerous his obsession was and how relentlessly he was stalking Annabelle, and finally, despite his actions, I began to pity him again because by then he had completely lost his grip on reality and desperately needed help.

Annabelle, although we do meet her occasionally, exists mainly as a fantasy woman in David’s mind and it seems obvious that if he got his wish and married her he would find that the real Annabelle didn’t quite live up to the imaginary one. Annabelle frustrated me because she could have been much more firm with David; instead, at least at first, she seems to be encouraging him, speaking to him on the phone, agreeing to meet him and letting him think there’s still hope. It would have been interesting to have seen things from Annabelle’s perspective, I think. Did part of her still care about David and not want to hurt him? How did she really feel about Gerald?

Effie is another character who interested me. She’s clearly in love with David, but he’s too preoccupied with his delusions and obsessions to pay her much attention. He becomes more and more irritated by her persistence and her ‘spying’, without acknowledging that he is behaving the same way towards Annabelle. Effie and the other characters in the book are seen only through David’s eyes which almost certainly doesn’t give us a true or fair picture of what they are really like.

This Sweet Sickness is an unsettling novel and not very comfortable to read, but it’s also fascinating from a psychological point of view and I found it very immersive. I liked it better than Strangers on a Train and look forward to reading more of Patricia Highsmith’s books.

David Kelsey has an unswerving conviction that life is going to work out for him - if he can just fix the 'Situation'. His one true love, the brilliant, beautiful Annabelle, has married another man. But that doesn't mean she doesn't still love David. Even though she's pregnant with her husband's baby, David is certain she will take him back. Under an alias, he is setting up the perfect home for the two of them in a town close by. And everything is just about going to plan, until things take a murderous turn.

What a wonderful read this is. Brilliant writing and superb characterisation, plumbing the depths of extreme obsession. From the first page I was gripped and couldn’t put it down. Absolutely superb.

I was sent a copy of This Sweet Sickness by Patricia Highsmith to read and review by NetGalley. I’m not quite sure what to make of this novel. The Author is hailed as ‘The No.1 Greatest Crime Writer’ and ‘The Queen of Suspense’, however I don’t altogether agree with those opinions myself - with this book at least. I think it may be the style of writing above all else as it was written third person and I felt quite detached and didn’t really care much for any of the characters. I have read a fair few more recent novels about a person’s descent into/struggle with madness, which have been written in the first person so you really feel like you are experiencing everything along with them. I understand that our response to the written word has changed a lot over the years and readers often like a ‘quick fix’ in a thriller. I’m not particularly one of those people, I do rather like a slow burner, but I do think that this particular novel may come across better on the screen than in print and am interested in searching out the Alfred Hitchcock version, which apparently was simply titled ‘Annabel’.

I watched the recent Netflix adaptation of Highsmith’s Ripley, and after reading this, I can’t help thinking this would have excellent potential for a stylish, monochrome adaptation too. It’s a psychological novel that combines obsessive love with a deteriorating mental state, so that the reader is continually wrong-footed and second guessing which version of reality - Kelsey’s, or the version of empty place settings - is the actual one.
The contrast between Kelsey’s scientist persona and his imaginary conquest of Annabelle is compelling, all the more so because of his true kindness to (some of) his boarding-house inmates. The ambiguity throughout, and the breakneck race to the finale, meant my nails were bitten to the quick by the end.

I haven't read Patricia Highsmith for a while, and had forgotten what a master story teller she was. This is a pared back simply told story of one man's descent bought on by an obsession. There are no tricks or gimmicks, no pages of needless exposition. The writing is the epitome of 1950s understated elegance. The reader is treated like and intelligent adult who does not need leading by the hand. The book is a slow boil, but never a boring read, the tension just slowly increases, This is not one of Highsmith's better known novels, but I will be highly recommending it.

This book had me hooked from the start and I only got drawn in more as it went on. I adore an unreliable narrator and reading a book from the point of view of someone who isn't always in reality, and this book delivered that so well that you were almost reading two books at once.

★★★★☆

This is like the precursor to Tom Ripley, baby steps in the act of deception with a small-scale goal, and I don't mean that in a bad way at all, because the mundanity of David Kelsey's dream - marrying Annabelle - makes his actions so much more bizarre (and believable.)

Long story short - the man is delusional. And isn't that fun to read? It's a slower pace, lures you into thinking, what could really be so bad about this, but then Kelsey keeps talking. Keeps writing letters, keeps bugging this poor woman. It's a shame to realise that this is still such a prevalent part of modern society - men not being able to understand the words "no".

Highsmith writes with such grace that it is always a joy to read.

I've read Patricia Highsmith for years, she was truly the queen of the darkest, psychological crime writing. Her characters show the ugly nature of humanity and her plots shock and surprise. This Sweet Sickness deals with obsession and the darker side of love, David is not a likeable character as are many of Highsmith's characters. From the outset you suspect things aren't quite right and the more you read the more you are dragged into David's madness. Highsmith manages to make the reader feel uncomfortable and yet keeps the reader reading. Hitchcock loved her writing and filmed more than one of her novels. This Sweet Sickness was adapted for TV for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

An enjoyable read from an author I’ve heard lots about and watched dramas based on her books but never read before. Difficult to put my finger on why I didn’t really enjoy it other than it seemed repetitive and felt old fashioned. I’m sure Patricia Highsmith won’t be worried about me not becoming a fan as she’s a hugely successful author so I’m obviously in a very tiny minority.

I've really enjoyed the Patricia Highsmith books I've read and the film adaptations of some of them , so I was pleased to find a new edition of this one. I didn't feel it was one of her best though as, for me, there were times when the plot dragged and it was almost too wordy. However, as a story of obsession, unrequited love, and, I imagine, an early plot about stalking it was really disturbing and the author never allowed the reader to feel comfortable while travelling with David into his descent into murder and madness and the effect on those around him.
Thank you to netgalley and Little Brown for an advance copy of this book.

A twisted portrait of a man obsessed, this edition of Highsmith's novel is still viscerally affecting. David's descent into jealous, murderous madness is a masterclass in writing from the perspective of a deluded man. This psychological thriller plays with its readers' perception of reality and morality through David, by positioning him as the pov character, his justifications for increasingly dangerous and obsessive choices seem almost reasonable.

The author Patricia Highsmith is really good at getting into the head of an obsessive mind. This book made me feel very uncomfortable and shuddered me out . Personally I felt it's one of the disturbing novels I have read. At one end I felt very sorry for David but also the character gave me creeps . 🙇‍♀️ to the author for the writing such a character, we know highsmith is famous for such characters. Annabelle's character was kind of confusing to me I understand that she didn't want to hurt David but neither did she voiced her opinion strongly to him. I haven't read talented Mr Ripley but this one is to the mark for me I thank netgalley for this eARC copy

What is rational. Who is rational? And how does how we interact make another person's behaviour carry on, stop, change.
In the way of stalkers I think anything and everything will be an encouragement. They won't see the boundaries they cross. Nor see the other person's behaviour as anything other than what will fit their narrative.
So when I found myself sometimes questioning a few of the characters reactions to his clearly stalker behaviours I had to remind myself that I'm able to look objectively from the outside. And everything he is doing will easily from my point of view be clearly wrong!
All the characters in this book seemed to have issues though. But maybe that the very setup that spirals to the events that happen here.
You see my brain thinking over this book right here in my review, ha. I've been doing this all the way through my read.
Stalkers are far to widely dismissed. With devastating consequences for the victims. And watching the Pov from the stalker in this story showed a tiny but informative slither of just how disturbing and dangerous these perpetrators are or could be.
A great twisty creepy tale.

"Nothing was true but the fatigue of life and the eternal disappointment".

David, a successful scientist, spends his week days in a boarding house and his weekends with his ailing mother. Or does he? David is an obsessive and delusional stalker, convinced that Annabelle, a woman whom he dated briefly, will marry him. Annabelle has married someone else, but she seems to encourage Dave and doesn't seem intent on putting an end to his letters and visits. It becomes clear David is insane, although we only see things from his point of view, and he thinks he's quite rational. A nail biting ending as he floats in and out of lucidity.

Brilliantly twisted tale of obsession from Patricia Highsmith; I’ve only read a couple of the Ripleys before now and this is definitely up there as a dark classic. Told from the - rather warped - perspective of David as he maintains the fiction that a brief relationship from two years ago is just waiting to begin again (despite Annabell’e marriage); we get taken further into David’s ability to compartmentalise, lie and abuse those who are - if not his friends - then at least his closest acquaintances.

I hugely enjoyed this deep dive with a questionable narrator, Highsmith is a classic author of the “psycho we can relate to” genre…

Possible spoilers

3.5 🌟

Unbelievably this is my first Highsmith.
To be honest, I'm not sure what to make of it.
All the main characters seemed slightly unhinged.
Well, David was very unhinged.
He took obsession to a new level, but all of them came across as slightly off.
Made for an interesting read.
I enjoyed the writing, and the story, though at times felt we were just covering the same ground again.
Mostly though, it's opened up a nice back catalogue of books for me to explore, that will hopefully be as good as this one.

I have read a few of this authors works The Talented Mr Ripley being one of all time favourite books and films, so I can't come to this book without an unbiased view. That being said my biased view is more than true here, a truly masterful book and a lesson in writing mind blowing suspense and thrills, creepy and uncomfortable it will keep you reading way into the night rooting for very unlikely heroes. Absolute class act that modern writers clearly still draw on for inspiration but let this reprint be a reminder that highsmith is the Queen of sinister unsettling play with your mind slow burning thrillers