45 pages 1 hour read

Patricia Highsmith

Strangers On A Train

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1950

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Chapters 34-38Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 34 Summary

Gerard questions Bruno about Guy. Bruno says he knows Guy because he was considering using him as an architect. Gerard asks about the flowers he sent Anne, and states that Bruno saw Guy regularly before the murder.

Chapter 35 Summary

Sitting on the deck of the India, Guy thinks that he had been mad on the day of his lunch with Bruno, and dreams of building a bridge. Bruno telephones a few evenings afterward, asking to meet, and "crumbling" Guy's sanity. Bruno cannot bring himself to tell Guy that Gerard knows they are connected. Guy picks up the phone and Gerard asks whether he can interview him. Guy tells Gerard that he met Bruno at the Parker Art Institute the previous December, and again at his wedding.

Chapter 36 Summary

Guy and Bruno agree on the Art Institute story over the telephone. Guy decides it is imperative to break contact with Bruno. Bruno walks through the door and collapses on the sofa. Bruno threatens to tell Anne if Guy doesn't let him stay. Bruno reassures Guy that Gerard is on the wrong trail, and argues that Guy's social standing will protect him, blackmailing Guy: "they've got a lot more against you than against me. I could wriggle out if you turned me in, but you couldn't" (218).