≫ PDF The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson 9780679733973 Books

The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson 9780679733973 Books

Download As PDF : The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson 9780679733973 Books

The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson 9780679733973 Books

I recommend this book. Lou Ford is a deputy sheriff in a small West Texas City about the size of Midland. It's 1952, he likes his work, but (for reasons which are best left to readers of this violent short novel) he takes pains to disguise the fact that he is much more intelligent than most of the people he encounters. Suffice it to say he harbors a sickness that he has been well aware of since childhood. THE KILLER INSIDE ME is violent, sexual, violently sexual, and for all that one of Thompson's best works. Do not expect dry wit or cunning plotting; do expect a roller-coaster ride through a sick mind that is all too happy to share his actions with us.


Tags : The Killer Inside Me [Jim Thompson] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Lou Ford is the deputy sheriff of a small town in Texas.  The worst thing most people can say against him is that he's a little slow and a little boring.  But,Jim Thompson,The Killer Inside Me,Vintage CrimeBlack Lizard,0679733973,Mystery & Detective - General,Reading Group Guide,20th Century American Novel And Short Story,Crime & mystery,Detective and mystery stories,Detective and mystery stories.,Fiction,Fiction - Mystery Detective,Fiction Mystery & Detective General,Mystery & Detective - Hard-Boiled,Mystery and detective stories,Mystery and detective stories.,MysterySuspense,Fiction Mystery & Detective Hard-Boiled,Crime & Thriller

The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson 9780679733973 Books Reviews

I've been tearing through Jim Thompson books recently, having just discovered them. Can't get enough. They have some common themes. Each is very dark. Principle characters are unsympathetic (and in the case of Killer, he is flat out detestable), yet they are still compelling because you want to see what they try to get away with next. The first person narrative is smart, edgy and authentic.

Many have aptly compared Killer to Pop 1280. But, Killer is darker. It is also a more complete story, delving into enough backstory to give us a greater understanding of who Lou Ford is. It also has a great ending, whereas Pop 1280 doesn't end so much as stop abruptly. Even so, the humor of Pop 1280 made it slightly more enjoyable for me. My recommendation Read both.

Like other Thompson books, Killer is quite violent. Yet it is never gratuitous. We don't get a graphic description of every drop of blood. The book is not so much about the violence as it is about the psychology of the man who commits it. Even so, it is shocking and disturbing, and always compelling.

I've seen these books described as pulp fiction, but I hope the new reader is not dissuaded by that. These are not sordid crime dramas. Well, I suppose they are, but they are also so much more. Pick one and read the first chapter and see if you aren't hooked.
I got interested in Jim Thompson as an author after reading in the New York Times Book Review that he was a favorite of Bruce Springsteen. This book was totally engrossing, written simply but with plenty of underlying complexity and suspense-building incompleteness that compelled me to read on. Written from the point of view of a highly intelligent psychopath passing as a normal but dull deputy sheriff, it presents in story-form a brilliant first person portrait of this kind of psychological chameleon who is compelled by his nature into serial, intensely violent murders. Hints of his traumatic past round out the story, and the main character's backstory and desires for normality that will appeal to fans of the "Dexter" TV series. I gave it only four stars because Thompson's sophisticated holding back of information and subtlety of clues slowed me down at times as I had to go back and reread for plot points. However, now that I know this is his style and device, letting the truth dawn on the reader rather than spelling it out, I will enjoy his next books more, and I've already started the next one! Thanks, Bruce!
This killer isn't deep enough inside... In fact, nothing is deep here. The main character is a psycho without any supporting background, any conflicts, nothing. Maybe the author thought that this is enough to make an interesting story for some reason. The book is written in first person and the dark hero is so eager to let you know how cool and are he is. You get to know him pretty fast, no surprises or suspense, and there is not a lot to know.
Decades before Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffery Dahmer, Velma Barfield, Gary Ridgway and an endless string of American psychos made serial killers a part of the national nightmare and a stock Hollywood staple, Jim Thompson etched a terse, sinewy portrait of that particularly American monster. His 1952 novel is still considered both a noir classic and a work that transcends the genre. Thompson’s killer, Deputy Lou Ford, seems as apple-pie normal as can be, a genial nice-guy on the surface given to spouting boring platitudes and bromides that give him the reputation of a dullard and bore. That’s on the outside. On the inside, Ford is psycho with what he calls ‘the sickness,’ a secret sadist who enjoys grinding a cigar butt into a bum’s hand and beating a hooker senseless—a turn-on for them both. They become lovers and co-conspirators in a blackmail scheme. Lou has other nasty habits besides killing and violent sex. He also injects himself with drugs he steals from his physician father’s stash. Lou is Exhibit One in Thompson’s caustic indictment of 1950s small-town hypocrisy. But to make these charges stick, he has to make mythical Central City, Texas come to life with painstaking detail, capturing both the banal and the corrupt. He does so with sparse but telling narrative, taut dialogue and a knack for juxtaposition just as deft as the dark contrast between Ford’s superficial self and the killer inside him.
I recommend this book. Lou Ford is a deputy sheriff in a small West Texas City about the size of Midland. It's 1952, he likes his work, but (for reasons which are best left to readers of this violent short novel) he takes pains to disguise the fact that he is much more intelligent than most of the people he encounters. Suffice it to say he harbors a sickness that he has been well aware of since childhood. THE KILLER INSIDE ME is violent, sexual, violently sexual, and for all that one of Thompson's best works. Do not expect dry wit or cunning plotting; do expect a roller-coaster ride through a sick mind that is all too happy to share his actions with us.