Ripley is an improviser who kills reactively, not a premeditating schemer

Evidence

The first step to Ripley’s becoming a Something turns out to be his vampirising of the identity of Dickie Greenleaf. I say “turns out” because, contrary to what Anthony Minghella’s film implies, it is clear that Tom does not to go to Europe with the thought of destroying Dickie already in his mind. Ripley is a brilliant improviser, not a planner; the plans he does make are short-term, often leading to more problems than they solve, and he derives enjoyment from cleaning up messes rather than from avoiding them in the first place. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 242

Categorization

• XREF: Ripley’s improvisational murder logic resonates with Fisher’s broader account of death-drive repetition in David Peace’s fiction from ch13. — connects to: Ripley fears social unmasking more than the discovery of his murders — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 254