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Summary: A Weed is Just a Plant Out of Place.
Review: Jim Thomson, in my case, seemed to come out of nowhere. I don't know for what reason and I don't know why now .. but I also don't think I want to know. In hindsight, I'd like to think it was fate. I remember sitting down in one of the bookstore's aisles, (mystery I suppose), trying to make the decision between purchasing Norman Mailer's most recent "opus" and Tom Wolfe's latest "era-defining novel," when something caught my eye. It was a flash of color, a bright shade of orange, which actually turned out to be the spine of a book. It was then that I read the title: "The Killer Inside Me." The title intrigued me even more and in a matter of seconds I placed both of the novels I had been holding on the shelf and took this short 'surprise' with me to the cashier. Two days later, I had finished one of the most enjoyable, thought-provoking 'genre-books' I had ever read. The story is told in the first-person narrative which heavily influences the suspense of the story. The main character is Lou Ford, a deputy sheriff in a small, middle-of-nowhere Texas town of Central City. The thing with Lou is that he is a sociopath...and more importantly, he knows he is a sociopath. To hide this "sickness", as he puts it, that he's carried with him since childhood, he makes himself appear bland, dim-witted, and his conversations are drowned in cliches. However, this sickness that Lou has tried so desperately to hide is about to resurface again, and the aftermath of this explosion inside him isn't very pretty. The course of the novel is one that would better serve the reader if left unsaid by a reviewer such as myself, so I feel this is all I will reveal of the book's content. I will leave you with this. There is a part within the novel where a character states, "A weed is just a plant out of place," and then adds, "If I placed a hollyhock in a cornfield, it would be considered a weed. But if I put it in my front yard, it's a flower. You get what I'm sayin'?"...and this affected me. How something so hackneyed and simple could strike a reader such as myself remains a mystery. But it did. The same goes for the story. Jim Thomson is an excellent writer and my sole regret is not finding out about his work until now. True talent.
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Summary: Small Town Killer
Review: All is not as it seems as we start in on this is chilling account told by Lou Ford, a sheriff's deputy in a small town in Texas. This easy-going, well-liked man is a respected citizen of the town and is well known for his quiet, gentle nature. But it's all an act and as Lou tells us a little about his past, the demons in his head are revealed as are the reasons behind his secret, violent nature. This is a serial killer book with a couple of very interesting features. The first is, it was written back when stories about serial killers weren't very common and so, was pretty groundbreaking stuff. The second is that it is written entirely in the first person from the point of view of the killer, so we get the total range of emotions from before, during and after each murder. The thought processes that prompt every action and the way he goes about covering up his tracks really does make for interesting reading. We get a terrific example of the grim style of Jim Thompson's storytelling that is at once captivating and slightly horrifying. The Killer Inside Me fully deserves the praise that I've seen given to it and I'm adding my own to it here.
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Summary: Hard Boiled crime at its best
Review: This was my first Jim Thompson book and although it will not be my last, I can't see how he can top this - I have heard that this is his best, so maybe he never did. There are too many plot twists and suprises, so I can't say much about the specifics, but I can say that as pace of the book picks up, the killings get more elaborate and chilling. Highly Recommended!
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Summary: At once the most frightening and exhilarating book I've read
Review: I wandered into the Mysterious Bookstore in Manhattan looking to find something different. The lay of the store told me that this would be the case. I had been reading up on serial killers, both real and imagined, on and off for some time. I asked the clerk if he could point me in the direction of some sort of crime novel. I explained what I was interested in and he said that I might like hard-boiled detective fiction. He showed me Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and then said that the best of all of them was this guy, Jim Thompson. He showed me "The Killer Inside Me," and "The Gifters." I bought "The Grifters" as I was familiar with the title from the film, which I still haven't seen. I was hooked. I went back later and bought "The Killer Inside Me" which the clerk had claimed was Jim Thompon's best book. I read it cover to cover and thought that indeed it must be his best book. It was the best book I had read yet about the dissolute. I felt drawn to this charater of Lou Ford. I felt for all his problems, he is a sort of hero for all of us little people who try and try and don't ever seem to get a break. The phrase, "All of us that started the game with a crooked cue, that wanted so much and got so little,that meant so good and did so bad." summed it up for me. He makes his bad guy the hero by bringing him to this level. The kind of guy who, in a perfect world, might be great, or at the vey least good, but in this world is left doing time in the gutter indefinitely. An open letter to anyone considering this, or any other Jim Thompson novel. Read it. I consider myself fortunate that I wandered into the Mysterious Bookstore. Jim Thompson is now my favorite writer. My one regret about all of this is that when I am done reading all his novels, as I will soon be, there will be no more new books. I have comfort that I can return to the stories I've read. But that adventure of meeting Lou Ford and all Jim Thompson's other creations for the first time will be gone. Ah, such is life.
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Summary: My Favorite Thompson Story.
Review: I believe I've read all of Jim's fiction and even his autobiography "Roughneck". Killer Inside Me is easily my favorite. Jim has a refreshingly raw sence of humor. His writing style is hard for some to follow but for those who don't mind or bear with it usually finish his noveloes in the first night. I highly recommend this book for the newly inducted thompson reader. When you've become a fan move on to "The Grifters", "Savage Night" or "A Hell of a Women" (my personnal top 4 Thompsons).
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Summary: No hoky noir crap--the sociopathic real deal
Review: Although crime fiction has never been of particular interest to me, I actually discovered Thompson's "Killer Inside Me" in the horror section of a local bookstore. The cover itself held my attention: a deranged, "Deliverancesque" face grimacing at the jagged orange lines which gave us a clue into the psyche of the protagonist, or rather the anti-protagonist. Along with Kubrick's blurb (I couldn't imagine a better or more believable "sociopathic" narrative than the one Kubrick offered in his classic "Clockwork") I envisioned in my mind a seedy novel which detailed the gleeful rampage of a madman with a badge. I was dead wrong. Not only is this not your typical "I'm actually a twisted (...) and no one knows it" piece of fiction, Thompson's murderer is in actuality as mind numbingly complex as the beautifully simple, commonplace mentality in which he writes. Lou Ford is a town sherrif with seemingly honest sensibilities, hardline values, and a great deal of empathy for the downtrodden and disinherited. Striking his fellow townspeople as a warm, somewhat monotonous but ever reliable upholder of the law, Ford's slow and fascinating downfall reveals the inner world of a man who is not so much a ruthless killer as a conflicted psychopath attempting to grasp his own identity (which he does not have) within the circumference of his surroundings and by turns tender and vicious relationships with the opposite sex. The brutal scenes in which he coldly calculates and executes those who 'stand in his way' (including women who are seemingly ignorant of 'the sickness' right up until the bloody end) are so divergent from the rest of his narrative that the reader is genuinely shocked and frightened. Ford displays not so much a facade to others as a pathetic 'do gooder' mentality which he needs to conceal the fact that not only does he lack much emotion of any kind, but that the other side of his split/schizoid personality could emerge at any moment. Ford's relationship with Johnnie Papas, the young town 'screw up' is perhaps the most poignant aspect of the entire novel. On one level he seems to genuinely empathize with the young man's pitiable position in life, and we see understanding dialogues between the two characters; later, in the depths of the county jail, we see Lou bash his throat in after giving his 'real', chilling feelings about the world and Johnnie's honest but rough position in it. In the last chapter, we see the 'other' Lou Ford full blown. I won't ruin it for other readers, but I will say that it is undoubtedly one of the most chilling pieces of fiction I have ever read.
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Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: I know crime novels -- I write them -- and even though this one is fifty years old, it's absolutely one of the most frightening books I've ever read. I'd do anything to get this guy's narrative voice. If you've never read Jim Thompson, start with this one, and you'll end up reading everything (still in print) that he wrote.
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Summary: Cold and Brutal
Review: The few people who have given this work such poor reviews most likely are looking for a book with a higher body count and a lower degree of insight. The few killings for which we are witness are indeed brutal and repulsive acts. No matter if they happen in 1952 or 2003. The look inside the killer is not frantic or eratic but is cold and harsh and probing.
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Summary: Great Psychological Intrigue
Review: I decided to read a Jim Thompson novel because of Amazon[.com] recommendations. I can honestly say that Amazon[.com] did a good job. What a great jaunt into the amazingly Normal thought processes of a killer's mind. I enjoyed this book immensly, but I think it has to be approached with a certain attitude. First and foremost, this book is noir. It's not the normal Stephen King-ish kind of thriller that most pop-culture oriented readers expect of a book with the likes of "The Killer Inside Me" as it's title. Perhaps my background helps: My parents are both clinical psychologists. I knew what sociopaths and paranoid schizophrenics were before I could write. The brilliance of this book is the simplicity of it. The plot revolves around the "sickness" of Lou Ford, but it's also about a look at a seemingly normal life. Schizophrenics tend to seem normal, and that is where Jim Thompson succeeds. Lou Ford has to "dumb himself down" to maintain a sense of power and superiority over his acquaintances and colleagues. I, personally, loved his confrontation of the doctor that was sent to his house -- he thrives on feeding him book knowledge when he is supposed to be a humble sherriff. Could Lou Ford have been a Hannibal Lector? I think he certainly could have been and was definitely as disturbing a character in his own right. The difference between the characters is that Lou Ford could be your neighbor, your minister, your lover, or your best friend--and you would never know the deprivation inside his mind. To summarize: "The Killer Inside Me" is a wonderful book because of it's noir nature of suspense and it's utter realism to the true world of a killer. I can't wait to read another Jim Thompson book.
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Summary: The Killer Inside Me Died of Boredom
Review: I think my own anticipation just murdered this book for me. I expected it be engaging and thought provoking but it was neither of those things. I found the narrative entirely flat and completely unenticing. The killer's monologue did not provide me with anything even remotely homicidal in nature. He sees a girl, has a thought of carnage and does it. Usually, the author would maximize such a robotic human being, making him seem cold or indifferent or even using the angle that "he was just like any of us", to thrill the reader into psychological paranoia. But the author did no such thing. There were moments where the plot just fell flat and I wondered if the author was even trying to make things seem interesting. Even the very climax of the novel was so drawn out and poorly managed that whatever redeeming quality the book could have had was completely erased. When I finished this book, I distinctly remember saying: "What a bloody waste of time". I swear, that comment was more sinister than anything found in this book.
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