Highsmith's subject is Dostoevsky's: a young man of no means who decides the ordinary prohibition on killing does not apply to him, told by staying with the murderer instead of with whoever is chasing him. Tom Ripley is Raskolnikov with the conscience removed, and that is the argument. Dostoevsky's case is that the theory collapses under guilt; Highsmith's novels let Ripley prosper across five books, which is what made them notorious and is only legible as a reply. Filed MEDIUM: an inherited question rather than an inherited plot. Highsmith named Dostoevsky among her reading without citing this as a source.