Patricia Highsmith: Preying on Our Minds | CrimeReads

Those seeking the reason behind her overdue renaissance might like to consider the parallels between our current socio-political climate and that of the Cold War, against the backdrop of which her most famous novels were written. Are we again in the grip of the paranoia and neurosis which typified so much the 1950s? Certainly were anxious, polarized, in a state of knuckle-biting instability. Our sense of belonging eroded, our sense of justice outraged. Were she at work today, Highsmith would find herself busier than ever, since writing about these feverish insecurities was her talent and her pleasure.