When Boris Vian hoaxed his way into the roman noir scene in 1958 with ‘I spit on your graves’, he was giving Jim Thompson a nod.

This book is truly riveting. It builds upon the work of Chandler and Hammet, who by then were bringing the no-nonsense, cynical, take no prisoner ‘Has-Been’ into the spotlight. However, while these pioneer anti-heroes seemed to preserve a modicum of decency, their successors, guided by the likes of Patricia Highsmith, Vian, and Thompson, seemed to surgically remove that modicum. What was left in its wake was a macabre portrait of pathology.

The general consensus often ties our current era of rudderless moral drift in incoherent and incongruous directions to the overt rebelliousness that sounded the knell in the 1960s. But in fact, it seems that a lot of groundwork was being laid quietly yet decisively in the 1950s. Writers like Thompson broke with the established zeitgeist in the 50s and kickstarted the momentum that culminated in the total anti-thesis of the status quo in the 60s.

Lou Ford is the quintessential psychopath, a bogeyman. He gives me the shivers even across a fifty-year divide; he is that fresh and relevant. The full horror of this man lies in the utter unpredictability of a pillar in society transforming into a psychotic killer, with no warning signs to give the community at large an inkling of the monster lurking inside.

Lou is a damaged, sad human being who, on some level, epitomizes the universal sense of guilt imbued in all of us who are products of the 2000-year-old judeo-christian legacy, especially in relation to sex (bearing in mind this novel came out in the 1950s). Psychologically gripping and disturbing, this book is truly unputdownable.

A truly captivating story unfolds, centering around a seemingly harmless sheriff's deputy. However, as the story progresses, the dark and deeply ingrained undercurrents of his psyche start to bubble up, plunging his life into chaos. This tale turns out to be more of a tense psychological thriller than the detective or noir story one might have anticipated. Yet, it is a very pleasant surprise. The protagonist's warped psyche is explored with such expertise that it is truly disturbing. One cannot afford to miss this remarkable piece of work.

"If the good lord made a mistake in us people, it was in making us want to live when we've got the least excuse for it."

The deputy's inner turmoil is palpable as he grapples with his own demons. His actions and thoughts are a reflection of the complex and often disturbing nature of the human mind. The story keeps the reader on the edge of their seat, constantly wondering what will happen next.

"It was funny the way these people kept asking for it. Just latching onto you, no matter how you tried to brush them off, and almost telling you how they wanted it done. Why'd they all have to come to me to get killed. Why couldn't they kill themselves?"

These words further emphasize the deputy's twisted perspective and add an extra layer of mystery and suspense to the story. It makes the reader question the true nature of the characters and their motives.

Please provide the article that needs to be rewritten and expanded so that I can help you.

This book is truly everything I had read and heard it was.

It scared the living daylights out of me, even though I wasn't physically present there, of course, except in my mind.

The fact that it was written in the first person made me wonder if Jim Thompson was a killer in real life.

The storyline is sparse, just the way I love it, and it is excellent. The ending was not only a surprise but seemingly came out of nowhere.

It's an amazing book for those of us who do not read romance and all that other stuff. It offers a unique and thrilling experience that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.

The author's writing style is engaging and draws you into the story, making you feel as if you are right there with the characters.

If you're looking for a good read that will keep you entertained and on the edge of your seat, this book is definitely worth checking out.

At first, I wasn't overly certain about this book.

It appeared to progress at a rather sluggish pace, which made me a bit skeptical. However, it didn't take long for the story to pick up the pace significantly.

Once it gained momentum, it didn't slow down until the very end. Jim Thompson truly has an astonishing talent.

He is able to make even the most despicable characters seem somewhat likable. I found myself completely engaged in the story.

I couldn't help but be drawn in and I simply couldn't figure out how I wanted it to conclude.

My sincere thanks go out to the people at the Pulp Fiction group for introducing this and numerous other excellent books.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone looking for an exciting and engaging read.

It's a story that will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.

In my opinion, Jim Thompson's masterpiece is still "1280 Souls". In it, like in "The Killer Inside Me", the narrator is divided between being a member of the police force who incidentally also plays the role of an assassin. And as with all first-person narrations, we end up feeling more empathy than we might like.

However, the great drawback of this book is the seedy psychology it employs, even citing Kraepelin. Everything would have been so much better if there hadn't been the insertion of why the narrator was like this, in a kind of pathetic self-justification of an internalized misogyny.

Overall, while "1280 Souls" has its strengths in terms of the complex and engaging narrative, the use of this particular psychological framework detracts from what could have been an even more powerful and thought-provoking work.

Stephen King's words about novelist Jim Thompson are truly captivating. He described Thompson as a crazy man who charged into the American subconscious with a blowtorch in one hand and a pistol in the other, screaming his head off. According to King, no one else could come close to Thompson's intensity.

I had high expectations for this book, and to some extent, they were met. However, after reading it, I felt a bit dirty. Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford is, well, a real jerk. He hides in plain sight, that calm deputy who attracts no attention to himself, but deep inside, a monster lurks.

Told from the first person, this story sucks you in and spits you out at the end. It's not a long book; I finished it in just a few hours. Honestly, that was about all I could handle. Any longer, and I might have screamed for mercy.

Lou has a disturbing habit of smacking around and spanking his women. (I despised him at that point.) Then, as you learn more about his history, you start to feel a bit sorry for him. But then the monster rears its ugly head again, and you want to take a shower and bleach your mind because you竟然 felt sorry for this F@#CKER!!!!!!

I'm a fairly jaded reader, but I can't even begin to imagine how shocking this book would have been when it first came out. Things like this simply didn't exist then. It was way ahead of its time. I'm giving it four stars, even though part of me wants to give it a one-star rating just for the fact that it's now lodged in my head.

I think I'll go hug my dog now, just because.

An extraordinary book that left me feeling oddly drained and upset. It's truly a remarkable piece of work. Not without its humour though. It's strange how likeable Lou Ford really is. In the Humbert Humbert tradition, you feel awful for liking him, and that the likeability itself is a bit of a put-on, even if it's more complicated than that. Especially when he starts beating women to death. Nobody suspects Lou of any kind of misdeed because he's "a rube", a simple country deputy who doesn't even carry a gun. Lou hides every serious thing about himself. Few people have been inside his inherited family house and no one knows he spends his spare time reading psychology and philosophy books in several different languages. He's kept his sociopathic tendencies in check for years, but a prostitute on the outskirts of town brings them bubbling up to the surface in the nastiest of ways.

And everything about Lou's course through this short novel has such a bleak inevitability about it. The insights Lou comes up with are so strong, so full of a tugging kind of pathos and world-weariness. And it must be so exhausting, this work of his, this forced attempt to repress everything that truly matters about himself, to dupe everyone, including, on some level, his own self. Here is the ultimate sadness of Lou's story: how self-awareness isn't enough, intellect isn't enough and may even be a part of the deception. How the old Sheriff Bob, in particular, trusts Lou so completely that he would defy anyone to stick up for this old town man. The truth, when discovered, is so awful that Bob's life is over as a result. The scene in the cell with the pappas kid is heartbreaking, and contains the book's most quotable passage (I'll find it and post it here later), where Lou reveals his ultimate feelings on the state of the broken society we live in. And this shit was written in 1952! Just mindblowing.

Psyched Out!

In a quaint little Texas town, the kind that evokes memories of the idyllic Mayberry, there lives Lou Ford, the nicest sheriff around. However, dismally, he is plagued by catastrophic luck. It seems that everyone he knows and loves is brutally murdered! Given that he is the town's sheriff, this has to be a kismeted fluke. After all, who could possibly have anything personal against him? Surprisingly, Sheriff Ford doesn't seem overly distressed about these amazing coincidences. One can't help but wonder how his investigations are progressing. Five stars. ✨✨✨✨✨

WARNING #1 - The Stephen King foreword has major spoilers. (read after)

WARNING #2 - "Hitchhikers* may be escaped lunatics."

Let's commence with a Stephen King quote: "THE KILLER INSIDE ME is an American classic, no less, a novel that merits space on the same shelf as Moby-Dick, Huckleberry Finn, The Sun Also Rises, and As I Lay Dying. Thompson's other books are either good or nearly great, but all of them pale in comparison to the horrifying, captivating story of Lou Ford, that smiling good ol' Texas boy who would rather bludgeon you to death with clichés than shoot you with a.44...but if the clichés don't accomplish the task, he is not afraid to pick up the gun and use it."

Lou Ford is a deputy sheriff in the idiosyncratic town of Central City, Texas. He is easygoing, soft-hearted, and seemingly (?) likes people. He has a talkative girlfriend whom he sort of loves but will never marry, and an even more beautiful mistress on the side that he claims to truly adore. He enjoys bantering with people (to drive them crazy) and indeed knows how to deal with troublemakers. He even likes good ol' sheriff Bob.

BUT.... Lou is also a deeply troubled, sneaky, conniving serial killer....a truly terrifying type of serial killer who strolls down the street in his Stetson with a contented smile on his face after committing an atrocious act, AND, (as you will witness) his shocking comments and thoroughly revolting laugh-out-loud reaction afterward are simply mind-boggling!

The first-person narration functions extremely well here, providing the reader with a peek into the mind of a psycho killer as he plans every move. And make no mistake, this guy eliminates anyone who gets in his way.

First published on March 13, 1952, THE KILLER INSIDE ME is a disturbing yet remarkable work of crime-noir-horror that I must rate 5 Stars. It's just so....what?....indescribably dark and vile?....or insanely good?

\\n  *\\n  (I can't fathom how many times we picked up hitchhikers in the 60's!)\\n

This one is truly a doozy, no matter when you happen to read it.

But just try to imagine coming across a copy of this in 1952. The mind boggles at how gnarly and shocking it must have been back then.

It presents a grimly fascinating portrait of an American psycho that predates Bret Easton Ellis' work by a few decades.

The main character is seriously unsettling and unhinged. However, uncomfortably for the reader, he isn't just a one-dimensional, mustache-twirling Snidely Whiplash type of motherfucker. Instead, he is a victim in his own right, shaped by nurture rather than nature.

The story is filled with numerous twists and turns, making it extremely hard to put down. In fact, I read it in one sitting. But it was definitely one of those books that leaves you with the feeling that you need a shower afterwards.

It is most definitely a hall-of-fame nutjob book, and I have to admire Thompson's absolute refusal to pull any punches. His unflinching portrayal of this disturbed character makes for a truly unforgettable reading experience.

Self-Indulgent

Whether Jim Thompson is penning about a shrewd serial killer as in Pop. 1280 or not as in The Killer Inside Me, it appears to me that his works are always vile novels that pander to the serial killer's perspective. These novels seem to draw in a significant number of readers into a sort of con game. In Pop. 1280, it's as if the author is taunting the reader, saying, "reader, you are loving this novel so you are as bad as me! Hehe!" And in this one, it's like the character is proclaiming, "yes, I love to kill and hurt. Poor me. I need to be saved and cared for." Neither type of psychopath, if given the opportunity, would think twice about indulging themselves repeatedly.

A book club that I am a part of selected this particular novel, which is the reason why I ended up reading it. I found myself quite conflicted while reading. On one hand, the writing was engaging enough to keep me turning the pages. But on the other hand, the subject matter and the way it was presented made me feel rather uncomfortable. I couldn't help but wonder why such a story would be so appealing to some readers. It really made me question the darker side of human nature and our fascination with the macabre.