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Product Description
Review
"Jim Thompson is the best suspense writer going, bar none." --The New York Times
Book Description
An underground classic since its publication in 1952, The Killer Inside Me is the book that made Jim Thompson's name synonymous with the roman noir.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cold and Brutal,
By wellred (cullman, al United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Killer Inside Me (Paperback)
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.
5.0 out of 5 stars
No hoky noir crap--the sociopathic real deal,
By J from NY (New York) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Killer Inside Me (Paperback)
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.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Couldn't put it down,
By Dan Allison "Dan" (Tampa Bay) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Killer Inside Me (Paperback)
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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