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5.0 out of 5 stars
No hoky noir crap--the sociopathic real deal, May 26 2004
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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by Jim Thompson
by Jim Thompson
by Jim Thompson
by Jim Thompson
by Cornell Woolrich
