15 Books by Jim Thompson
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Overview: (1906 – 1977) James Meyers Thompson was born in Anadarko, Oklahoma. He began writing fiction at a very young age, selling his first story to True Detective when he was only fourteen. Thompson eventually wrote twenty-nine novels, all but three of which were published as paperback originals. Thompson also wrote two screenplays (for the Stanley Kubrick films “The Killing” and “Paths of Glory”). An outstanding crime writer, the world of his fiction is rife with violence and corruption. In examining the underbelly of human experience and American society in particular, Thompson’s work at its best is both philosophical and experimental. Several of his novels have been filmed by American and French directors, resulting in classic noir including The Killer Inside Me (1952), After Dark My Sweet (1955), and The Grifters (1963).
Genre: Crime, Fiction, General, Hard-Boiled, Murder, Mystery & Detective, Suspense, Thriller.
1.Hell of a Woman: Frank "Dolly" Dillon has a job he hates, working sales and collections for Pay-E-Zee Stores, a wife named Joyce he can’t stand, and an account balance that barely allows him to pay the bills each month. Working door-to-door one day, trying to eke money out of folk with even less of it than he has, Dolly crosses paths with a beautiful young woman named Mona Farrell. Mona’s being forced by her aunt to do things she doesn’t like, with men she doesn’t know–she wants out, any way she can get it. And to a man who wants nothing of what he has, Mona sure looks like something he actually does. Soon Dolly and Mona find themselves involved in a scheme of robbery, murder and mayhem that makes Dolly’s blood run cold. As Dolly’s plans begin to unravel, his mind soon follows
2.A Swell Looking Babe: It was supposed to be only a temporary job–something to pay the bills until Dusty could get his feet back on the ground and raise enough money for medical school. After all, there’s nothing wrong with being a bellboy at a respectable hotel like the Manton–that is, until she came along. A richly-imagined crime narrative of the Oedipal and betrayal, A SWELL-LOOKING BABE is Thompson at his very best–a cornerstone in Thompson’s enduring legacy as the Dimestore Dostoyevsky of American fiction.
3.After Dark, My Sweet: William "Kid" Collins was once a respected boxer. Now he’s a drifter, on the run after escaping from a mental institution. One afternoon he meets Fay, a beautiful young widow. She is smart and decent–at least when she’s sober. Soon Collins finds himself involved in a kidnapping scheme that goes drastically wrong almost before it even begins. Because the kid they’ve picked up isn’t like other kids: he’s diabetic and without insulin, he’ll die. Not the safest situation for Collins, a man for whom stress and violence have long gone hand-in-hand
4.Bad Boy: From his rabble-rousing adolescence in the American Midwest, to wasted teenage years in the seedy underbelly of the hotel industry, to Thompson’s chilling encounter with the real-life inspiration of THE KILLER INSIDE ME, BAD BOY offers a fascinating glimpse at the formative years of the man who would become one of the most famous authors of modern American Noir, in the autobiography-as-novel that follows the birth of the legend himself in the signature style Thompson made famous.
5.Pop 1280: In Pop. 1280, widely regarded as a classic of mid-20th century crime, Thompson offers up one of his best, in a tale of lust, murder, and betrayal in the Deep South that was the basis for the critically acclaimed French film Coup de Torchon.
6.Roughneck: A bittersweet comedy of a hard-won American life, ROUGHNECK chronicles the many jobs, near-criminal escapades, and downright unlawful grifts of the man who would become one of crime fiction’s most enduring writers, in a larger-than-life literary memoir–or wildly entertaining tall tale–as only Thompson could tell it. Hard times have never sounded so good.
7.Savage Night: Is Carl Bigelow a fresh-faced college kid looking for a room, or is he a poised hit man tracking down his victim? And if Carl is really two people, what about everyone around him? Savage Night is Thompson at his best, with plot reversals and nightmarish shifts of identity
8.South of Heaven: In the 1920s the worst place you could be was in that part of Texas that some people call "South of Heaven," and the worst thing you could be doing there was laying a gas pipeline, along with six-hundred other hoboes, juice-heads, and jailbirds. But that’s exactly what Tommy Burwell was doing, even though he wasn’t smart enough to know better. Even though "South of Heaven" is another term for hell. Combining a tale of escalating savagery with a dead-eyed group portrait of men at the edge, Jim Thompson has produced a masterpiece of the American dissolute.
9.Texas by the Tail: Mitch Corley has a girlfriend with expensive tastes and a ruthless wife who refuses to become an "ex" without major compensation. He needs big money and he needs it fast. Which makes Texas Mitch’s natural destination, since nowhere are rich men more inclined to stake huge sums on a roll of the dice. The only problem is that Texans are sore losers–and they have cruel and ingenious ways of getting back at anyone who cheats them. Texas by the Tail is a high-spirited, sexy, and ingeniously plotted novel of the grifting life, by a writer who is a virtual encyclopedia of the con, the scam, and the double cross.
10.The Criminal: Everyone in Kenton Hills knows that short-tempered, tongue-tied Bob Talbert wasn’t the one responsible for the brutal crime that ended Josie Eddleman’s life. Nevermind that he was the last one to see her alive. But in a town filled with the likes of an amoral tabloid reporter known only as The Captain, a district attorney who’ll do anything for a confession, and Bob’s parents, who care as little for Bob as they do for each other, guilt and innocence are little more than a matter of perspective.In a masterfully woven tapestry of multiple points of view, THE CRIMINAL explores the nature of guilt and responsibility in a psychological thriller of an entire town under the spell of an act of brutal violence. Jim Thompson unlike you’re ever read him before.
11.The Golden Gizmo: Toddy Kent was born with a talent for finding easy money, but Toddy’s gift has the habit of deserting him when he needs it most. When he discovers a seemingly limitless ( and illicit) source of pure gold, Toddy’s wife suddenly is murdered and he himself is on the run from a sinister man with no chin and a singing Doberman.
12.The Kill off: Luane Devore’s days are numbered. All her neighbors in the declining seaside resort town of Manduwoc want her dead. Some, like her young husband Ralph and his girlfriend Danny, want the thousands of dollars she keeps hidden under the mattress she spends her days resting on. Others want her to stop her malicious gossip–some of which could ruin lives. Told from multiple perspectives, The Kill-Off tells the story of a woman not long for this earth–but who will finally take matters into their own hands, and when? THE KILL-OFF was the basis of Maggie Greenwald’s critically acclaimed film of the same name.
13.The Nothing Man: War changed Clinton Brown. Permanently disfigured by a tragic military accident, he’s struggling to find satisfaction from life as a rewrite man for Pacific City’s Courier. Shame has led him to isolate himself from closest friends and even his estranged, still faithfully devoted wife, Ellen. Only the bottle keeps him company. But now Ellen has returned to Pacific City, and she’s ready to do whatever it takes to get Brown back. Even if it means exposing his deepest secret … a painful truth Brown would do anything to stop from coming to light. He’d kill a whole lot of people just to keep this one thing quiet–and soon enough, the bodies just happen to start piling up around him… THE NOTHING MAN is Thompson at his most psychologically astute, in a deeply suspenseful and tragic portrait of one man’s journey through the dark side of the Postwar Boom.
14.The Rip off: Britton Rainstar never knew he could love a woman as deeply as he does Manuela Aloe and be so terrified of her at the same time. It’s not just that he thinks she’s out of his league. It’s more that the longer he stays with her, the closer to death he seems to come. A vicious dog is somehow let loose in his hotel room. He’s threatened at gunpoint by a man in a skeleton costume. And when he finally ends up in the hospital, someone pushes his wheelchair down the stairs. Nothing anything like this has ever happened to Britt before–and while Manuela’s never around when the so-called "accidents" happen, neither can Britt prove she’s behind the many threats on his life. Is a rival for Manuela’s affections trying to chase him away? Is there more to Manuela herself than meets the eye? Whatever it is, Britt better find out fast–before whoever’s after him hits their mark, and the man who never thought he’d land the ultimate girl ends up paying the ultimate price.
15.King Blood: Ike King, a man who built his empire with blood and violence, faces a career change when his sons threaten to take that empire away from him. By the author of The Grifters and The Killer Inside Me.
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