A dog's ransom

In A Dog's Ransom, one of Patricia Highsmith's most acclaimed and suspenseful novels, a high-minded criminal hits a Manhattan couple where it hurts most when he kidnaps their beloved black miniature poodle, Lisa, from Riverside Park. Ed Reynolds, a forty-two-year-old editor at a prestigious publishing house, returns home one night to find a note: 'Dear Sir: I have your dog Lisa. She is well and happy . . . I gather she is important to you? We'll see.' And so the nightmare begins for the Reynolds couple in this harrowing portrait of mid-century urban life shattered by a single bizarre event. Reminiscent of the best social dramas, A Dog's Ransom captures the fragility of middle-class life in this riveting, scathing tale.