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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
Another from the Dimestore Dostoyevsky about a sheriff who does terrible things in order to stay at his job without having to work, but then near the end it starts to hit you how just how far he's fallen.
Favourite lines:
1. "And suddenly the emptiness was filled with sound and sight, with all the sad terrible things that the emptiness had brought the people to."
2. About a strike-breaking 'Talkington' agent, "Them railroad workers throwin' chunks of coal at you an' splashin' you with water, and you fellas without nothin' to defend yourselves with but shotguns an' automatic rifles! Yes, sir, god-dang it, I really got to hand it to you! ... And them low-down garment workers... God-dang, you really took care of them, didn't you? People that threw away them three-dollar-a-week wages on wild livin' and then fussed because they had to eat garbage to stay alive! I mean, what the heck, they were all foreigners, wasn't they, and if they didn't like good ol' American garbage, why didn't they go back where they came from?"
3. "Just because I put temptation in front of people, it don't mean they got to pick it up... Well now, I guess it does sound kind of nutty," I said, "but that ain't hardly no ways my fault. By rights, I should be rompin' on the high an' the mighty, the folks that really run this country. But I ain't allowed to touch them, so I've got to make up for it by being twice as hard on the white trash an' Negroes, and people like you that let their brains sink down on their butts because they couldn't find no place else to use them. Yes, sir, I'm laborin' in the Lord's vineyard, and if I can't reach up high, I got to work all the harder on the low-hangin' vines. For the Lord loft a willin' worker, Rose; He liketh to see a man bustin' his ass during working hours. And I got them hours cut way, way down with eatin' and sleepin', but I can't eat and sleep all the time."
4. "It's just part of my job, you know, to gloat over folks in trouble."
5. "Do you really think you can go on taking graft and robbing the county, and doing nothing to earn you money?"
"Why, I don't see how I can do much else if I want to stay in office," I said. "I got all kinds of expenses that fellas like you and the county judge and so on ain't bothered with. Me, I'm out in the open all the time, brushin' up with hundreds of people whereas you folks only see one once in a while. Anyone that's put in trouble, I'm the fella that puts 'em there; they don't see you until afterward. Anyone that needs to borrow a dollar, they come to me. All the church ladies come to me for donations, and–"
"Nick..."
"I throw a big barbecue every night the last month before election. Come one, come all. I got to buy presents when folks have a baby, and I got to-"
"Nick! Nick, listen to me!" Robert Lee held up his hand. "You don't have to do all those things. People have no right to expect them of you."
"Maybe they don't have a right," I said. "I'll go along with that. But they got a right to expect, and what they do expect ain't exactly the same thing."
"Just do your job, Nick. Do it well. Show people you're honest and courageous and hard-working, and you won't have to do anything else."
I shook my head, and said I couldn't. "I just plain can't, Robert Lee, and that's a fact."
"No?" He leaned back in his chair. "And just why can't you, pray tell?"
"For a couple reasons," I said. "For one thing, I ain't real brave and hard-workin' and honest. For another, the voters don't want me to be."
"And just how do you figure that?"
"The elected me, didn't they? They keep electing me."
Favourite lines:
1. "And suddenly the emptiness was filled with sound and sight, with all the sad terrible things that the emptiness had brought the people to."
2. About a strike-breaking 'Talkington' agent, "Them railroad workers throwin' chunks of coal at you an' splashin' you with water, and you fellas without nothin' to defend yourselves with but shotguns an' automatic rifles! Yes, sir, god-dang it, I really got to hand it to you! ... And them low-down garment workers... God-dang, you really took care of them, didn't you? People that threw away them three-dollar-a-week wages on wild livin' and then fussed because they had to eat garbage to stay alive! I mean, what the heck, they were all foreigners, wasn't they, and if they didn't like good ol' American garbage, why didn't they go back where they came from?"
3. "Just because I put temptation in front of people, it don't mean they got to pick it up... Well now, I guess it does sound kind of nutty," I said, "but that ain't hardly no ways my fault. By rights, I should be rompin' on the high an' the mighty, the folks that really run this country. But I ain't allowed to touch them, so I've got to make up for it by being twice as hard on the white trash an' Negroes, and people like you that let their brains sink down on their butts because they couldn't find no place else to use them. Yes, sir, I'm laborin' in the Lord's vineyard, and if I can't reach up high, I got to work all the harder on the low-hangin' vines. For the Lord loft a willin' worker, Rose; He liketh to see a man bustin' his ass during working hours. And I got them hours cut way, way down with eatin' and sleepin', but I can't eat and sleep all the time."
4. "It's just part of my job, you know, to gloat over folks in trouble."
5. "Do you really think you can go on taking graft and robbing the county, and doing nothing to earn you money?"
"Why, I don't see how I can do much else if I want to stay in office," I said. "I got all kinds of expenses that fellas like you and the county judge and so on ain't bothered with. Me, I'm out in the open all the time, brushin' up with hundreds of people whereas you folks only see one once in a while. Anyone that's put in trouble, I'm the fella that puts 'em there; they don't see you until afterward. Anyone that needs to borrow a dollar, they come to me. All the church ladies come to me for donations, and–"
"Nick..."
"I throw a big barbecue every night the last month before election. Come one, come all. I got to buy presents when folks have a baby, and I got to-"
"Nick! Nick, listen to me!" Robert Lee held up his hand. "You don't have to do all those things. People have no right to expect them of you."
"Maybe they don't have a right," I said. "I'll go along with that. But they got a right to expect, and what they do expect ain't exactly the same thing."
"Just do your job, Nick. Do it well. Show people you're honest and courageous and hard-working, and you won't have to do anything else."
I shook my head, and said I couldn't. "I just plain can't, Robert Lee, and that's a fact."
"No?" He leaned back in his chair. "And just why can't you, pray tell?"
"For a couple reasons," I said. "For one thing, I ain't real brave and hard-workin' and honest. For another, the voters don't want me to be."
"And just how do you figure that?"
"The elected me, didn't they? They keep electing me."
A quick and dirty Western with insight into the nature of evil leadership that is uncomfortably resonant to today, even beyond its incisive acknowledgement of America’s inherent racism at the turn of the 20th century. One passage that struck me was near the end, as the psychopathic sheriff protagonist notes the emptiness of his own home and all houses, and how that leads to desperation and cynicism and causes us to “spread the stink and terror, the weepin’ and wailin’, the torture, the starvation, the shame of your deadness. Your emptiness.” If that’s not a perfect metaphor for American political ideology in 2025 I don’t know what is
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Nice to finally see cops painted in the light that they deserve.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
Paradox.
Pressure.
Unpredictable.
Unreliable narrator.
Distinctive voice.
Marvelous book.
For anyone who thinks they don't like crime fiction, you ain't reading the right crime fiction. This is it.
Pressure.
Unpredictable.
Unreliable narrator.
Distinctive voice.
Marvelous book.
For anyone who thinks they don't like crime fiction, you ain't reading the right crime fiction. This is it.
dark
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thompson puts forward an either/and thesis of ACAB (or is it ACAS?) in a noir that bravely plumbs the depths of the singular, why are you hitting yourself? American sociopath.
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A pretty interesting character. His matter of fact approach to his own actions was creepy.
But the final development kind of came out of nowhere. I wanted a crescendo and it was more like a random left turn.
But the final development kind of came out of nowhere. I wanted a crescendo and it was more like a random left turn.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Alcohol
Moderate: Hate crime, Rape
Minor: Fatphobia, Incest, Forced institutionalization