This Sweet Sickness is a creepy delight of a book, a slow burn that examines how far a deranged obsession will take a young man who just can’t get over that the woman he loves has rejected him. What a thrill of a book, and what a writer. ( )

I'm reluctant to make all the Highsmith's 5 star, so maybe this one is not quite as good Edith, Deep Water or Tremors, but still... it is pretty great. Our lead is obsessed with Annabelle, who has gone and married some other dopey guy while our lead was out working. He can not give her up... at all .. even with a very appealing housemate clawing at him in every agreeable way. He is one track for Annabelle- writing letters, calling and so forth. eventually her husband gets mad and comes to see him at his secret identity (for Annabelle) house and our lead kills the hubby (accidentally)... things go down hill from there and is it saying too much to suggest that it doesn't really work for our lead. Outstanding portrait of mind numbing obsession.. not too crazy, but just enough to not see anything he didn't want to see. ( )

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I haven't shelved this under "mystery" here b/c there was no mystery about it. The main character was doomed from the beginning & the painfulness of reading this was that it was so obvious. I knew that by reading it I'd just witness the increasing madness, the increasing sadness. DON'T READ THIS IF YOU'RE FEELING LONELY! Don't read this if you're feeling hopeless! It'll only make it worse (probably). I certainly feel worse from having read it. STILL, it was well-written. These days, I suppose, this wd be called a stalker novel. I'm not really sure if the current conception of a stalker existed in 1960 when this was published. Whatever. I found myself wishing the main character wd have a restraining order against him, that he'd receive psychological help (even though I don't have much faith in that), shit!, even that he'd take happy drugs - ANYTHING to get him off his monomania for good, if possible. But, no, of course Highsmith wdn't let that happen - his pathetic obsessiveness had to be written thru to its 'natural' conclusion. Was Highsmith such a bummer in HER personal life?! Let this novel be a warning to anyone inclined in the 'romantic' direction that the main guy here was - but, of course, chances are it wdn't work. This is a novel that practically makes me want to kill myself. Thanks alot, Highsmith. ( )

Very overlong story of a man obsessed with a girl he only knew for a few months and assumed he was going to marry, planning out his whole life with her in advance and even buying a house for them to live in equipped with a Steinway baby grand! But he never made these feelings known to her and she married someone else. Nevertheless, he is determined to get her back. Lots of this book are annoying, such as the constant prying by the protagonist David Kelsey's work pal Wes and Effie, a girl who lives at the same boarding house and has apparently fallen in love with David at first sight. All the emotions and David's interior monologue (or dialogue, since he imagines he is with his only love Annabelle) gets old at times--as I said, the book is overlong. But the mess David has gotten himself into with lie after lie, especially after an unfortunate accident, is likely to keep you engaged until the end. David is a very human character, with good traits and intelligence that must do battle with his darker side. The struggle is interesting. ( )