The American Friend (1977)

Tom Ripley, an American who deals in forged art, is slighted at an auction in Hamburg by picture framer Jonathan Zimmerman. When Ripley is asked by gangster Raoul Minot to kill a rival, he suggests Zimmerman, and the two, exploiting Zimmerman's terminal illness, coerce him into being a hitman.

The American Friend keeps every mind human — it fights its subject at zero distance. The story fights on E8/E10 of the E0–E14 reality ladder.