From Publishers Weekly
The last novel by this still underappreciated author, published here nine years after Highsmith's death, is a sour, mostly inert comedy of manners. In Zurich, Rickie Markwalder mourns his younger lover, Peter Ritter, stabbed to death late one night six months earlier. Accompanied by his small dog, Lulu, Rickie haunts a local bar called Jakob's, identified in guidebooks with a "small g" (for gay), hanging out with acquaintances. The bar draws a mixed crowd, most of whom are in love with people they shouldn't be (a familiar Highsmith theme). Renate, a club-footed, middle-aged atelier owner and her young employee Luisa are other regulars. Homophobic to the point of caricature, Renate despised Peter (upon whom Luisa had a crush) and despises Rickie. When a handsome young man, Teddie, comes to the bar, she and an associate set out to wreck any relationship he might develop with either Rickie or Luisa, both of whom are attracted to him. When Rickie and Luisa realize what Renate is trying to do, they make their own plans to punish her in return. While the narrative never flags, at no point does it take off. There are flashes of the author's wit, but much of the writing captures surfaces and nothing more, and Highsmith's remarkable observational powers are muffled. Although most of the characters are well drawn, Renate is simply too much of an ogre to serve as either a realistic threat or a foil, and the story suffers accordingly. Overall, this is a disappointing final note by one of our more interesting writers.
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From Booklist
This final book from esteemed crime writer Highsmith, who died in 1995, is more a complement to her pseudonymous lesbian novel
Price of Salt than to her better known Ripley thrillers. The action centers on Jakob's, a pub in Zurich known as "Small g" for its "partially gay" clientele. A colorful clash of characters meet and mingle at Small g, including Rickie, a self-consciously aging gay man; Luisa, a young seamstress with a troubled past; Renate, Luisa's controlling and viciously homophobic employer and landlady; and Renate's neohenchman, Willi, a sinister and brooding halfwit. Following the stabbing death of Petey, Rickie's young lover, Rickie befriends Luisa, who had once been his rival for Petey's affections. They similarly both fall for and lust after the fetching Teddie, whose arrival at Small g triggers an escalating series of disastrous events. While Highsmith's last book--only now published in the U.S.-- does not live up to its potential as a suspense thriller, it does offer an intriguing exploration of gay culture and the complexities of love, jealousy, possessiveness, and friendship.
Misha StoneCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
