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** He's never been in love with a woman, and (except for [[spoiler:right after he kills Miriam]]) is unenthusiastic about sleeping with them. He "doesn't care too much" about it and has never been able to consider it anything other than "silly business". Whenever he has slept with women he's felt as though he's watching himself the entire time, and once even laughed while it was happening.
to:
** He's never been in love with a woman, and (except for [[spoiler:right after he [[InterplayOfSexAndViolence kills Miriam]]) Miriam]]]]) is unenthusiastic about sleeping with them. He "doesn't care too much" about it and has never been able to consider it anything other than "silly business". Whenever he has slept with women he's felt as though he's watching himself the entire time, and once even laughed while it was happening.
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disambig'd trope
* MommasBoy: Bruno is very close to his mother and delights in her well-preserved good looks. Meanwhile he loathes his father and plots the old man's death.
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* OedipusComplex: Textbook. Bruno is [[MommasBoy very close]] to his mother and delights in her well-preserved good looks. Meanwhile he loathes his father and plots the old man's death.
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Changed line(s) 4,6 (click to see context) from:
Novelist Patricia Highsmith's 1950 debut. While traveling by train, up-and-coming architect Guy Haines is distracted from thoughts of his unhappy marriage (and upcoming ugly divorce) by the awkward friendship-overtures of IdleRich drunkard Charles Bruno. Bruno, it turns out, is a ThrillSeeker who thinks he'd like to murder someone some day. While laying out his aspirations to Guy, Bruno comes up with an idea for a MurderSwap.
to:
Novelist Patricia Highsmith's 1950 debut. While traveling by train, up-and-coming architect Guy Haines is distracted from thoughts of his unhappy marriage (and upcoming ugly divorce) by the awkward friendship-overtures of IdleRich drunkard Charles Anthony Bruno. Bruno, it turns out, is a ThrillSeeker who thinks he'd like to murder someone some day. While laying out his aspirations to Guy, Bruno comes up with an idea for a MurderSwap.
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** He's never been in love with a woman, and (except for [[spoiler:right after he kills Miriam]]) is unenthusiastic about sleeping with them.
to:
** He's never been in love with a woman, and (except for [[spoiler:right after he kills Miriam]]) is unenthusiastic about sleeping with them. He "doesn't care too much" about it and has never been able to consider it anything other than "silly business". Whenever he has slept with women he's felt as though he's watching himself the entire time, and once even laughed while it was happening.
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* MurderTheHypotenuse: Bruno very briefly considers doing this with Anne -- he's immediately surprised at himself because he genuinely likes Anne and promptly puts the thought out of his mind.
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Removing some references to movie-only elements
Changed line(s) 33 (click to see context) from:
* IdiotBall: A fair amount of the drama could have been easily avoided if Guy had just gone to the police after finding out Bruno killed his ex-wife. If Bruno accused him of conspiracy, Guy could mount an easy defense since there was no exchange of money, no evidence of coercion, the two men had never met before and Bruno's father could've easily testified to his son's general instability, which he probably would have done because he believed Bruno needed help. In addition he was more-or-less the son-in-law of a Senator, which would have probably given him access to a more than competent defense attorney. What's more, the police could've easily verified Guy's alibi for the night of the murder. Even if Guy's witness didn't remember him, the platform/train attendants who presumably took his bags at New York and then Washington could have identified him and debunked the theory that he got on at Baltimore.
to:
* IdiotBall: A fair amount of the drama could have been easily avoided if Guy had just gone to the police after finding out Bruno killed his ex-wife. If Bruno accused him of conspiracy, Guy could mount an easy defense since there was no exchange of money, no evidence of coercion, the two men had never met before and Bruno's father could've easily testified to his son's general instability, which he probably would have done because he believed Bruno needed help. In addition he was more-or-less the son-in-law of a Senator, which would have probably given him access to a more than competent defense attorney. What's more, the police could've easily verified Guy's alibi for the night of the murder. Even if Guy's witness didn't remember him, the platform/train attendants who presumably took his bags at New York and then Washington could have identified him and debunked the theory that he got on at Baltimore.
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* IdiotBall: A fair amount of the drama could have been easily avoided if Guy had just gone to the police after finding out Bruno killed his ex-wife. If Bruno accused him of conspiracy, Guy could mount an easy defense since there was no exchange of money, no evidence of coercion, the two men had never met before and Bruno's father could've easily testified to his son's general instability, which he probably would have done because he believed Bruno needed help. In addition he was more-or-less the son-in-law of a Senator, which would have probably given him access to a more than competent defense attorney. What's more, the police could've easily verified Guy's alibi for the night of the murder. Even if Guy's witness didn't remember him, the platform/train attendants who presumably took his bags at New York and then Washington could have identified him and debunked the theory that he got on at Baltimore.
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* * InformedAttribute: Bruno claims his father is a horrible person, but we have only the word of a madman to goon. In the novel, the reader knows nothing about Bruno's father right up until [[spoiler: Guy kills him]], at which point a private detective in Bruno's father's employ tells Bruno that if he honestly thinks his father didn't love him then he really didn't know him at all.
to:
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* * InformedAttribute: Bruno claims his father is a horrible person, but we have only the word of a madman to goon. In the novel, the reader knows nothing about Bruno's father right up until [[spoiler: Guy kills him]], at which point a private detective in Bruno's father's employ tells Bruno that if he honestly thinks his father didn't love him then he really didn't know him at all.
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In 1951 Creator/AlfredHitchcock adapted the story into [[Film/StrangersOnATrain a film]] with the same title, characters, and initial situation, but a noticeably divergent plot.
to:
In 1951 Creator/AlfredHitchcock adapted the story into [[Film/StrangersOnATrain a film]] with the same title, characters, and initial situation, but a [[AdaptationDeviation noticeably divergent plot.
plot]].
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* PrivateDetective: Gerard is a detective who has worked for Charlie Bruno's father in the past.
to:
* PrivateDetective: Arthur Gerard is a detective who has worked for Charlie Bruno's father in the past.
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* AccidentalSuicide: [[spoiler:Charles Bruno]] dies by getting drunk and falling out of a sailboat.
to:
* AccidentalSuicide: [[spoiler:Charles Bruno]] dies by getting drunk and falling out of a sailboat. (This could plausibly be a deliberate suicide, but the possibility isn't followed up on in-story; everyone treats it as an accident.)
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* EngineeredPublicConfession: A [[DownplayedTrope low-key]] variant. Gerard catches a murderer by guessing that the man is ready to confess to someone, sneaking into his hotel room while he's out, leaving the phone off the hook, and later listening in on the open line while the incriminating conversation happens in the room.
to:
* EngineeredPublicConfession: A [[DownplayedTrope low-key]] variant. Gerard catches a murderer by [[BatmanGambit guessing that the man is ready to confess to someone, someone]], sneaking into his hotel room while he's out, leaving the phone off the hook, and later listening in on the open line while the incriminating conversation happens in the room.
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Changed line(s) 41 (click to see context) from:
* MotiveDecay: At first, Bruno's harassment of Guy is narrowly focused on getting Guy to hold up his end of the bargain Bruno thinks they made. Subsequent events render that motive irrelevant, and Bruno even tells Guy "I'll never see you again" -- but it turns out Bruno is so addicted to Guy's presence that he just can't stay away. Basically, he goes from StalkerWithoutACrush to {{Stalker|WithACrush}} ''[[StalkerWithACrush with]]'' [[StalkerWithACrush a Crush]].
to:
* MotiveDecay: Done intentionally. At first, Bruno's harassment of Guy is narrowly focused on getting Guy to hold up his end of the bargain Bruno thinks they made. Subsequent events render that motive irrelevant, and Bruno even tells Guy "I'll never see you again" -- but it turns out Bruno is so addicted to Guy's presence that he just can't stay away. Basically, he goes from StalkerWithoutACrush to {{Stalker|WithACrush}} ''[[StalkerWithACrush with]]'' [[StalkerWithACrush a Crush]].
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** Bruno ''thinks'' that his murder of Miriam is a perfect crime, but he actually gets away with it by pure luck in the short term, while leaving a whole mess of evidence that'll come back to bite him later.
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** Bruno ''thinks'' that his murder of Miriam is a perfect crime, but he actually gets away with it by pure luck in the short term, while leaving a whole mess of circumstantial evidence that'll come back to bite him later.
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** Bruno ''thinks'' that his murder of Miriam is a perfect crime, but he actually gets away with in by pure luck in the short term, while leaving a whole mess of evidence that'll come back to bite him later.
to:
** Bruno ''thinks'' that his murder of Miriam is a perfect crime, but he actually gets away with in it by pure luck in the short term, while leaving a whole mess of evidence that'll come back to bite him later.
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That was a ZCE, and I don't feel up to writing a proper example.
Deleted line(s) 42 (click to see context) :
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: The whole second half of the book is Guy getting hit progressively harder by this trope.
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* {{Foil}}: Guy and Bruno are so [[MirrorCharacter similar]]-yet-[[{{Foil}} opposite]] that they might as well be from [[Recap/StarTrekS3E15LetThatBeYourLastBattlefield Cheron]]. It's like they're made up of the same ingredients, but mixed in completely different ways:
** They both drink problematically. But Bruno is TheAlcoholic to begin with, while Guy is driven to drink only because of the events of the story.
** Each feels a deep, hard-to-explain connection toward the other. But Bruno's takes the form of obsession that manifests as stalking and harassment, while Guy's takes the form of irrational loyalty that manifests as a refusal to turn against Bruno no matter how much damage he causes.
** Both [[spoiler:murder someone]]. But Bruno does so enthusiastically, with few misgivings beforehand [[spoiler:and little conscious remorse afterward]], while Guy [[spoiler:refuses as long as he can, and is destroyed by guilt after he does give in]].
** They both drink problematically. But Bruno is TheAlcoholic to begin with, while Guy is driven to drink only because of the events of the story.
** Each feels a deep, hard-to-explain connection toward the other. But Bruno's takes the form of obsession that manifests as stalking and harassment, while Guy's takes the form of irrational loyalty that manifests as a refusal to turn against Bruno no matter how much damage he causes.
** Both [[spoiler:murder someone]]. But Bruno does so enthusiastically, with few misgivings beforehand [[spoiler:and little conscious remorse afterward]], while Guy [[spoiler:refuses as long as he can, and is destroyed by guilt after he does give in]].
Deleted line(s) 37,40 (click to see context) :
* MirrorCharacter: Guy and Bruno are so [[MirrorCharacter similar]]-yet-[[{{Foil}} opposite]] that they might as well be from [[Recap/StarTrekS3E15LetThatBeYourLastBattlefield Cheron]]. It's like they're made up of the same ingredients, but mixed in completely different ways:
** They both drink problematically. But Bruno is TheAlcoholic to begin with, while Guy is driven to drink only because of the events of the story.
** Each feels a deep, hard-to-explain connection toward the other. But Bruno's takes the form of obsession that manifests as stalking and harassment, while Guy's takes the form of irrational loyalty that manifests as a refusal to turn against Bruno no matter how much damage he causes.
** Both [[spoiler:murder someone]]. But Bruno does so enthusiastically, with few misgivings beforehand [[spoiler:and little conscious remorse afterward]], while Guy [[spoiler:refuses as long as he can, and is destroyed by guilt after he does give in]].
** They both drink problematically. But Bruno is TheAlcoholic to begin with, while Guy is driven to drink only because of the events of the story.
** Each feels a deep, hard-to-explain connection toward the other. But Bruno's takes the form of obsession that manifests as stalking and harassment, while Guy's takes the form of irrational loyalty that manifests as a refusal to turn against Bruno no matter how much damage he causes.
** Both [[spoiler:murder someone]]. But Bruno does so enthusiastically, with few misgivings beforehand [[spoiler:and little conscious remorse afterward]], while Guy [[spoiler:refuses as long as he can, and is destroyed by guilt after he does give in]].
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* MotiveDecay: At first, Bruno's harassment of Guy is narrowly focused on getting Guy to hold up his end of the MurderSwap that Bruno thinks they agreed to. Subsequent events render that motive irrelevant, and Bruno even tells Guy "I'll never see you again" -- but it turns out Bruno is so addicted to Guy's presence that he just can't stay away. Basically, he goes from StalkerWithoutACrush to {{Stalker|WithACrush}} ''[[StalkerWithACrush with]]'' [[StalkerWithACrush a Crush]].
to:
* MotiveDecay: At first, Bruno's harassment of Guy is narrowly focused on getting Guy to hold up his end of the MurderSwap that bargain Bruno thinks they agreed to.made. Subsequent events render that motive irrelevant, and Bruno even tells Guy "I'll never see you again" -- but it turns out Bruno is so addicted to Guy's presence that he just can't stay away. Basically, he goes from StalkerWithoutACrush to {{Stalker|WithACrush}} ''[[StalkerWithACrush with]]'' [[StalkerWithACrush a Crush]].
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* KitschCollection: Charles Bruno's father collects cookie cutters. He never actually makes cookies with them.
to:
* KitschCollection: Charles Bruno's father collects cookie cutters. He never actually makes cookies with them.cookies.
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Changed line(s) 49 (click to see context) from:
** Another murder in the story actually ''is'' well planned, and the murderer gets away undetected even despite some mistakes. It might have gone unsolved if not for some risk-taking in the aftermath: [[spoiler:Bruno keeps contacting Guy, and Guy keeps eventually seeks out an opportunity to confess]].
to:
** Another murder in the story actually ''is'' well planned, and the murderer gets away undetected even despite some mistakes. It might have gone unsolved if not for some risk-taking in the aftermath: [[spoiler:Bruno keeps contacting Guy, and Guy keeps eventually seeks out an opportunity to confess]].
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Novelist Patricia Highsmith's 1950 debut. While traveling by train, up-and-coming architect Guy Haines is distracted from thoughts of his unhappy marriage (and upcoming ugly divorce) by the awkward friendship-overtures of IdleRich drunkard Charles Bruno. Bruno, it turns out, is a ThrillSeeker who really wants to murder someone one day. While laying out his aspirations to Guy, Bruno comes up with an idea for a MurderSwap.
to:
Novelist Patricia Highsmith's 1950 debut. While traveling by train, up-and-coming architect Guy Haines is distracted from thoughts of his unhappy marriage (and upcoming ugly divorce) by the awkward friendship-overtures of IdleRich drunkard Charles Bruno. Bruno, it turns out, is a ThrillSeeker who really wants thinks he'd like to murder someone one some day. While laying out his aspirations to Guy, Bruno comes up with an idea for a MurderSwap.
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Changed line(s) 16 (click to see context) from:
* AmbiguouslyGay: Bruno has several hints of this:
to:
* AmbiguouslyGay: Bruno has several hints of this:this.
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Changed line(s) 16,17 (click to see context) from:
* AmbiguouslyGay: Bruno. He's never been in love with a woman, and (except for [[spoiler:right after he kills Miriam]]) is unenthusiastic about sleeping with them. Once, as he daydreams about being interviewed, he explains that he does ''not'' hate women and then immediately remembers the maxim that "hate is akin to love." Meanwhile, he feels a deep connection to Guy, thinking of him as a "brother" and perhaps a bit more:
-->"The bond between Guy and him now was closer than brotherhood. How many brothers liked their brothers as much as he liked Guy?"
-->"The bond between Guy and him now was closer than brotherhood. How many brothers liked their brothers as much as he liked Guy?"
to:
* AmbiguouslyGay: Bruno. Bruno has several hints of this:
** He's never been in love with a woman, and (except for [[spoiler:right after he kills Miriam]]) is unenthusiastic about sleeping withthem. them.
** Once, as he daydreams about being interviewed, he explains that he does ''not'' hate women and then immediately remembers the maxim that "hate is akin to love." Meanwhile, he "
** He feels a deep connection to Guy, thinking of him as a "brother" and perhaps a bit more:
-->"The --->"The bond between Guy and him now was closer than brotherhood. How many brothers liked their brothers as much as he liked Guy?"
** He's never been in love with a woman, and (except for [[spoiler:right after he kills Miriam]]) is unenthusiastic about sleeping with
** Once, as he daydreams about being interviewed, he explains that he does ''not'' hate women and then immediately remembers the maxim that "hate is akin to love.
** He feels a deep connection to Guy, thinking of him as a "brother" and perhaps a bit more:
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[[quoteright:500:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3303951862.jpg]]
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->''"Hey! Cheeses, what an idea! We murder for each other, see? I kill your wife and you kill my father! We meet on the train, see, and nobody knows we know each other! Perfect alibis! Catch?"''
Novelist Patricia Highsmith's 1950 debut. While traveling by train, up-and-coming architect Guy Haines is distracted from thoughts of his unhappy marriage (and upcoming ugly divorce) by the awkward friendship-overtures of IdleRich drunkard Charles Bruno. Bruno, it turns out, is a ThrillSeeker who really wants to murder someone one day. While laying out his aspirations to Guy, Bruno comes up with an idea for a MurderSwap.
In 1951 Creator/AlfredHitchcock adapted the story into [[Film/StrangersOnATrain a film]] with the same title, characters, and initial situation, but a noticeably divergent plot.
----
!!This novel provides examples of:
* AccidentalSuicide: [[spoiler:Charles Bruno]] dies by getting drunk and falling out of a sailboat.
* AgeInsecurity: Bruno has this on his mother's behalf. He's proud of her for looking like a much younger woman, and it upsets him when, after [[spoiler:her husband's death]], she starts showing her age.
* TheAlcoholic: Bruno is at least a little tight in virtually every scene he appears in. His drinking gets worse over the course of the book, with marked effects on his health.
* AmbiguouslyGay: Bruno. He's never been in love with a woman, and (except for [[spoiler:right after he kills Miriam]]) is unenthusiastic about sleeping with them. Once, as he daydreams about being interviewed, he explains that he does ''not'' hate women and then immediately remembers the maxim that "hate is akin to love." Meanwhile, he feels a deep connection to Guy, thinking of him as a "brother" and perhaps a bit more:
-->"The bond between Guy and him now was closer than brotherhood. How many brothers liked their brothers as much as he liked Guy?"
* AmusementPark: Miriam is murdered while on a date at an amusement park.
* TheBroCode: Bruno insinuates himself into Guy's social circle by befriending Anne. In a moment of exuberation, he has an urge to kiss her -- but decides not to, because she "belong[s] to Guy."
-->"He took great pride in being a perfect gentleman with Anne."
* EngineeredPublicConfession: A [[DownplayedTrope low-key]] variant. Gerard catches a murderer by guessing that the man is ready to confess to someone, sneaking into his hotel room while he's out, leaving the phone off the hook, and later listening in on the open line while the incriminating conversation happens in the room.
* FirstGrayHair: Guy finds his on his eyebrow -- which has the effect of reminding the reader of the tiny but shameful scar that's ''also'' on his eyebrow, though the narrative never explicitly makes that connection.
* GoodScarsEvilScars: Zig-zagged. Guy is injured by branches hitting his face when he flees through the woods after being involved in an act of violence. The resulting scars are small and don't harm his appearance, but he thinks of them as if they were a MarkOfShame. It fits with the book's theme of united opposites: they look like good scars but "feel" like evil scars because Guy is simultaneously a sympathetic protagonist and [[spoiler:someone who committed a murder in cold blood]].
* HandCannon: Bruno, while trying to pressure Guy to kill for him, gives Guy a Luger. Guy thinks it's ridiculously large and clumsy. [[spoiler:He ends up using his own (much smaller) handgun instead.]]
* HomoeroticSubtext: Bruno is AmbiguouslyGay and has some kind of fixation on Guy. Guy, meanwhile, regards Bruno with a complex and changeable attitude whose only constant is a sense of loyalty that Guy himself can't explain; at one point his feelings for Bruno are outright described as "love."
* INeedAFreakingDrink:
** Guy plays this straight a few times, in response to Bruno's harassment and his own guilt.
** On one occasion (after Anne's father engages in some ObliviousGuiltSlinging), Guy [[DefiedTrope defies]] this trope:
--->"He must, he thought, have a brandy or something. But he knew also that he would not take anything."
** Bruno, being TheAlcoholic, turns to drink on very slight provocation. But a conventional use of this trope comes when he needs to calm down after killing Miriam.
* IdleRich: Bruno complains about being kept on a financial leash by his father. But he finds time and money to travel around getting drunk in interesting places, all without having to hold down a job.
* ImmuneToDrugs: PlayedForDrama in the second half of the book, when Guy (who's become an increasingly heavy drinker) reflects that it is now "impossible for him to become drunk." This is a realistically {{downplayed|trope}} example -- he can still feel ''some'' effect from alcohol, but drinking too much only makes him sick.
* KitschCollection: Charles Bruno's father collects cookie cutters. He never actually makes cookies with them.
* MirrorCharacter: Guy and Bruno are so [[MirrorCharacter similar]]-yet-[[{{Foil}} opposite]] that they might as well be from [[Recap/StarTrekS3E15LetThatBeYourLastBattlefield Cheron]]. It's like they're made up of the same ingredients, but mixed in completely different ways:
** They both drink problematically. But Bruno is TheAlcoholic to begin with, while Guy is driven to drink only because of the events of the story.
** Each feels a deep, hard-to-explain connection toward the other. But Bruno's takes the form of obsession that manifests as stalking and harassment, while Guy's takes the form of irrational loyalty that manifests as a refusal to turn against Bruno no matter how much damage he causes.
** Both [[spoiler:murder someone]]. But Bruno does so enthusiastically, with few misgivings beforehand [[spoiler:and little conscious remorse afterward]], while Guy [[spoiler:refuses as long as he can, and is destroyed by guilt after he does give in]].
* MotiveDecay: At first, Bruno's harassment of Guy is narrowly focused on getting Guy to hold up his end of the MurderSwap that Bruno thinks they agreed to. Subsequent events render that motive irrelevant, and Bruno even tells Guy "I'll never see you again" -- but it turns out Bruno is so addicted to Guy's presence that he just can't stay away. Basically, he goes from StalkerWithoutACrush to {{Stalker|WithACrush}} ''[[StalkerWithACrush with]]'' [[StalkerWithACrush a Crush]].
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: The whole second half of the book is Guy getting hit progressively harder by this trope.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Gerard, the corn-fed Iowan PI, is very good at what he does, but Bruno has a hard time believing it:
-->"Arthur Gerard didn't even look like the kind of a detective who was not supposed to look like a detective."
* ObliviousGuiltSlinging: A dark example. Anne's father is just talking about UsefulNotes/{{hunting}} when he asks if Guy is "any good with a gun." Guy can't very well admit that he's guilt-ridden and traumatized because of something he did with a gun.
* OedipusComplex: Textbook. Bruno is [[MommasBoy very close]] to his mother and delights in her well-preserved good looks. Meanwhile he loathes his father and plots the old man's death.
* ThePerfectCrime: Subverted and played straight:
** Bruno ''thinks'' that his murder of Miriam is a perfect crime, but he actually gets away with in by pure luck in the short term, while leaving a whole mess of evidence that'll come back to bite him later.
** Another murder in the story actually ''is'' well planned, and the murderer gets away undetected even despite some mistakes. It might have gone unsolved if not for some risk-taking in the aftermath: [[spoiler:Bruno keeps contacting Guy, and Guy keeps eventually seeks out an opportunity to confess]].
* PrivateDetective: Gerard is a detective who has worked for Charlie Bruno's father in the past.
* QuickNip: Bruno carries a hip flask. One of the first things he does when he meets Guy is to offer him a drink.
* SwitchingPOV: The narrative alternates between Guy's and Bruno's perspectives (and occasionally others). In a few places it "head hops" between them within the same scene, emphasizing the increasing closeness between the two characters and the resulting damage to Guy's sense of self.
* StalkerWithoutACrush: Charlie Bruno stalks Guy Haines after murdering his wife, in order to try and make Haines fulfill his end of a MurderSwap he never agreed to. After [[spoiler:Guy gives in and commits the other murder]], Bruno becomes more like a StalkerWithACrush, continuing to intrude on Guy's personal life just because he feels connected to him.
* StrangersOnATrainPlotMurder: [[invoked]] {{Trope Namer|s}} and {{unbuilt|Trope}} example. The murder-swap scheme is 100% Bruno's idea; Guy doesn't agree to it, and he doesn't even try to humor Bruno the way his film counterpart does. [[spoiler:But eventually, Bruno's [[StalkerWithoutACrush campaign of psychological terrorism]] wears him down.]]
* ThanatosGambit: In the opening chapters, Bruno says that if he ever feels like committing suicide, he'll make sure his worst enemy is framed for it. [[spoiler:His actual death doesn't reflect this at all.]]
----
Novelist Patricia Highsmith's 1950 debut. While traveling by train, up-and-coming architect Guy Haines is distracted from thoughts of his unhappy marriage (and upcoming ugly divorce) by the awkward friendship-overtures of IdleRich drunkard Charles Bruno. Bruno, it turns out, is a ThrillSeeker who really wants to murder someone one day. While laying out his aspirations to Guy, Bruno comes up with an idea for a MurderSwap.
In 1951 Creator/AlfredHitchcock adapted the story into [[Film/StrangersOnATrain a film]] with the same title, characters, and initial situation, but a noticeably divergent plot.
----
!!This novel provides examples of:
* AccidentalSuicide: [[spoiler:Charles Bruno]] dies by getting drunk and falling out of a sailboat.
* AgeInsecurity: Bruno has this on his mother's behalf. He's proud of her for looking like a much younger woman, and it upsets him when, after [[spoiler:her husband's death]], she starts showing her age.
* TheAlcoholic: Bruno is at least a little tight in virtually every scene he appears in. His drinking gets worse over the course of the book, with marked effects on his health.
* AmbiguouslyGay: Bruno. He's never been in love with a woman, and (except for [[spoiler:right after he kills Miriam]]) is unenthusiastic about sleeping with them. Once, as he daydreams about being interviewed, he explains that he does ''not'' hate women and then immediately remembers the maxim that "hate is akin to love." Meanwhile, he feels a deep connection to Guy, thinking of him as a "brother" and perhaps a bit more:
-->"The bond between Guy and him now was closer than brotherhood. How many brothers liked their brothers as much as he liked Guy?"
* AmusementPark: Miriam is murdered while on a date at an amusement park.
* TheBroCode: Bruno insinuates himself into Guy's social circle by befriending Anne. In a moment of exuberation, he has an urge to kiss her -- but decides not to, because she "belong[s] to Guy."
-->"He took great pride in being a perfect gentleman with Anne."
* EngineeredPublicConfession: A [[DownplayedTrope low-key]] variant. Gerard catches a murderer by guessing that the man is ready to confess to someone, sneaking into his hotel room while he's out, leaving the phone off the hook, and later listening in on the open line while the incriminating conversation happens in the room.
* FirstGrayHair: Guy finds his on his eyebrow -- which has the effect of reminding the reader of the tiny but shameful scar that's ''also'' on his eyebrow, though the narrative never explicitly makes that connection.
* GoodScarsEvilScars: Zig-zagged. Guy is injured by branches hitting his face when he flees through the woods after being involved in an act of violence. The resulting scars are small and don't harm his appearance, but he thinks of them as if they were a MarkOfShame. It fits with the book's theme of united opposites: they look like good scars but "feel" like evil scars because Guy is simultaneously a sympathetic protagonist and [[spoiler:someone who committed a murder in cold blood]].
* HandCannon: Bruno, while trying to pressure Guy to kill for him, gives Guy a Luger. Guy thinks it's ridiculously large and clumsy. [[spoiler:He ends up using his own (much smaller) handgun instead.]]
* HomoeroticSubtext: Bruno is AmbiguouslyGay and has some kind of fixation on Guy. Guy, meanwhile, regards Bruno with a complex and changeable attitude whose only constant is a sense of loyalty that Guy himself can't explain; at one point his feelings for Bruno are outright described as "love."
* INeedAFreakingDrink:
** Guy plays this straight a few times, in response to Bruno's harassment and his own guilt.
** On one occasion (after Anne's father engages in some ObliviousGuiltSlinging), Guy [[DefiedTrope defies]] this trope:
--->"He must, he thought, have a brandy or something. But he knew also that he would not take anything."
** Bruno, being TheAlcoholic, turns to drink on very slight provocation. But a conventional use of this trope comes when he needs to calm down after killing Miriam.
* IdleRich: Bruno complains about being kept on a financial leash by his father. But he finds time and money to travel around getting drunk in interesting places, all without having to hold down a job.
* ImmuneToDrugs: PlayedForDrama in the second half of the book, when Guy (who's become an increasingly heavy drinker) reflects that it is now "impossible for him to become drunk." This is a realistically {{downplayed|trope}} example -- he can still feel ''some'' effect from alcohol, but drinking too much only makes him sick.
* KitschCollection: Charles Bruno's father collects cookie cutters. He never actually makes cookies with them.
* MirrorCharacter: Guy and Bruno are so [[MirrorCharacter similar]]-yet-[[{{Foil}} opposite]] that they might as well be from [[Recap/StarTrekS3E15LetThatBeYourLastBattlefield Cheron]]. It's like they're made up of the same ingredients, but mixed in completely different ways:
** They both drink problematically. But Bruno is TheAlcoholic to begin with, while Guy is driven to drink only because of the events of the story.
** Each feels a deep, hard-to-explain connection toward the other. But Bruno's takes the form of obsession that manifests as stalking and harassment, while Guy's takes the form of irrational loyalty that manifests as a refusal to turn against Bruno no matter how much damage he causes.
** Both [[spoiler:murder someone]]. But Bruno does so enthusiastically, with few misgivings beforehand [[spoiler:and little conscious remorse afterward]], while Guy [[spoiler:refuses as long as he can, and is destroyed by guilt after he does give in]].
* MotiveDecay: At first, Bruno's harassment of Guy is narrowly focused on getting Guy to hold up his end of the MurderSwap that Bruno thinks they agreed to. Subsequent events render that motive irrelevant, and Bruno even tells Guy "I'll never see you again" -- but it turns out Bruno is so addicted to Guy's presence that he just can't stay away. Basically, he goes from StalkerWithoutACrush to {{Stalker|WithACrush}} ''[[StalkerWithACrush with]]'' [[StalkerWithACrush a Crush]].
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: The whole second half of the book is Guy getting hit progressively harder by this trope.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Gerard, the corn-fed Iowan PI, is very good at what he does, but Bruno has a hard time believing it:
-->"Arthur Gerard didn't even look like the kind of a detective who was not supposed to look like a detective."
* ObliviousGuiltSlinging: A dark example. Anne's father is just talking about UsefulNotes/{{hunting}} when he asks if Guy is "any good with a gun." Guy can't very well admit that he's guilt-ridden and traumatized because of something he did with a gun.
* OedipusComplex: Textbook. Bruno is [[MommasBoy very close]] to his mother and delights in her well-preserved good looks. Meanwhile he loathes his father and plots the old man's death.
* ThePerfectCrime: Subverted and played straight:
** Bruno ''thinks'' that his murder of Miriam is a perfect crime, but he actually gets away with in by pure luck in the short term, while leaving a whole mess of evidence that'll come back to bite him later.
** Another murder in the story actually ''is'' well planned, and the murderer gets away undetected even despite some mistakes. It might have gone unsolved if not for some risk-taking in the aftermath: [[spoiler:Bruno keeps contacting Guy, and Guy keeps eventually seeks out an opportunity to confess]].
* PrivateDetective: Gerard is a detective who has worked for Charlie Bruno's father in the past.
* QuickNip: Bruno carries a hip flask. One of the first things he does when he meets Guy is to offer him a drink.
* SwitchingPOV: The narrative alternates between Guy's and Bruno's perspectives (and occasionally others). In a few places it "head hops" between them within the same scene, emphasizing the increasing closeness between the two characters and the resulting damage to Guy's sense of self.
* StalkerWithoutACrush: Charlie Bruno stalks Guy Haines after murdering his wife, in order to try and make Haines fulfill his end of a MurderSwap he never agreed to. After [[spoiler:Guy gives in and commits the other murder]], Bruno becomes more like a StalkerWithACrush, continuing to intrude on Guy's personal life just because he feels connected to him.
* StrangersOnATrainPlotMurder: [[invoked]] {{Trope Namer|s}} and {{unbuilt|Trope}} example. The murder-swap scheme is 100% Bruno's idea; Guy doesn't agree to it, and he doesn't even try to humor Bruno the way his film counterpart does. [[spoiler:But eventually, Bruno's [[StalkerWithoutACrush campaign of psychological terrorism]] wears him down.]]
* ThanatosGambit: In the opening chapters, Bruno says that if he ever feels like committing suicide, he'll make sure his worst enemy is framed for it. [[spoiler:His actual death doesn't reflect this at all.]]
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