Highsmith found herself blocked for a time until the acceptance of other manuscripts (The Two Faces of January by Doubleday in the US and a short story by Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine) restored her confidence.

[3] Highsmith devoted a chapter of her non-fiction Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction (1966) to The Glass Cell as "The Case History of a Novel".

After the only close friend he makes in prison is killed in a riot, Carter becomes protractedly depressed, less concerned with conscience, and more easily violent.

Carter's character and personality have been so transformed by his incarceration that, when he is driven to confront those who have betrayed him, as well as those responsible for framing him, there are deadly consequences.

Highsmith employs strong overtones of Russian writers including Fyodor Dostoevsky, and the work was immensely well received by critics from across the spectrum.

[5] Writing in The Guardian, Rachel Cooke called The Glass Cell Highsmith's "masterwork: Crime and Punishment without any hard labour on the part of the reader".