Strangers on a Train

novel by Highsmith

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July 14, 2026

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Strangers on a Train is a 1950 novel by Patricia Highsmith, a renowned author of psychological thrillers. The story centers on two men who meet on a train and, after sharing their personal troubles, devise a murder pact. The idea is that each man will kill a person bothering the other, thereby creating an untraceable crime due to their lack of connection.

The novel was famously adapted into a 1951 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, with a screenplay co-written by Raymond Chandler. While the film follows the novel's premise, it offers a different ending for the protagonist, Guy Haines. Highsmith is also known for her novel The Talented Mr. Ripley.123

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Patricia Highsmith
In 1950 she published Strangers on a Train, an intriguing story of two men, one ostensibly good and the other ostensibly evil, whose lives become inextricably entangled. The following year the novel was made into a movie by Alfred Hitchcock, using a screenplay by Raymond Chandler and Czenzi Ormonde.
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In 1950 she published Strangers on a Train, an intriguing story of two men, one ostensibly good and the other ostensibly evil, whose lives become inextricably entangled. The following year the novel was made into a movie by Alfred Hitchcock, using a screenplay by Raymond Chandler and Czenzi Ormonde.
Read More

Strangers on a Train
…Hitchcock and based on the novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith. Raymond Chandler cowrote the film’s screenplay.
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…Hitchcock and based on the novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith. Raymond Chandler cowrote the film’s screenplay.
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