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ingo_lembcke's review against another edition
4.0
Started December 01st, 2012. Reading the foreword by S. King and having read Chandler, Woolrich, etc. and The Grifters by the same author, this will be a great classic. The only question is, will I spoil it by watching the film before finishing it? I do not expect to be the film nearly as good as the book, and try not to read to many comments on a film before seeing it.
Finished the book yesterday short of midnight today.
Great, but not perfect. But fits in the Noir-Series, raw power, hard men, hard women and an ending I find other books lacking too often.
Trying to see the (newer) film in the next days so I can compare it with the book fresh in memory.
Finished the book yesterday short of midnight today.
Great, but not perfect. But fits in the Noir-Series, raw power, hard men, hard women and an ending I find other books lacking too often.
Trying to see the (newer) film in the next days so I can compare it with the book fresh in memory.
maryjf23's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
hakimbriki's review against another edition
3.0
The Killer Inside Me, the book that inspired generations of writers, is not the incredibly mind-blowing reading experience I was promised, but it surely had its moments.
The plot is filled with tragedy, tension and suspense, and the characterization is interesting. Be that as it may, it felt like Jim Thompson was relying on the element of surprise far too much towards the end, which seems to have overwhelmed him.
Overall, an enjoyable book which may seem naive by today's standards, but 62 years ago, there were no Dexter Morgan, Hannibal Lecter or Patrick Bateman.
The plot is filled with tragedy, tension and suspense, and the characterization is interesting. Be that as it may, it felt like Jim Thompson was relying on the element of surprise far too much towards the end, which seems to have overwhelmed him.
Overall, an enjoyable book which may seem naive by today's standards, but 62 years ago, there were no Dexter Morgan, Hannibal Lecter or Patrick Bateman.
badseedgirl's review against another edition
5.0
Seven years before Robert Bloch introduced Norman Bates and his “mother fixation,” twenty-eight years before Dr. Hannibal Lecter was drinking his Chianti with the help of Thomas Harris, thirty-nine years before Bret Easton Ellis introduced Patrick Bateman’s psychopathy to America, and fifty-four years before Jeff Lindley was dreaming darkly of Dexter Morgan, Jim Thompson brought the readers Lou Ford, Texas’ nicest sociopath, in the book The Killer Inside Me.
This novel would today be considered a “psychological thriller,” although at the time this novel was lumped into “crime genre”, with the likes of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. I strongly feel this is why these other two authors are household names and Mr. Thompson has languished in obscurity all these years.
The Killer Inside Me is a psychological horror novel. Lou Ford is a killer, he kills without remorse. But this novel is an odd combination of horror and innocence that is seldom found in today’s literature. Lou’s murders are horrific but are not bloody. Written in first person narration, the reader gets an up close and personal look into the mind of a serial killer. And the disturbing thing is Lou’s justifications for the murders make a sick sort of sense. The fact that I was able to say, “Oh, that makes sense” even for a moment during the novel is what I found most disturbing. That Mr. Thompson was able to achieve this without all the graphic blood and guts scenes we as readers have become used to reading was a revelation.
I could not put this novel down once I started it. It is a psychology student’s wet dream. Psychopathy (or sociopathy, depending on the age of your psych text book), sexual sadism, childhood trauma and repressed memories, they are all there. The interesting thing was there was no psychological terms in the novel at all. If the deviations were mentioned at all, it was coded in socially acceptable terms. Lou did kill two people in a psychopathic break, but was suffering from “the sickness.” I loved it.
Jim Thompson never achieved real success with his books during his lifetime. I hope this review goes a little way to rectifying that error.
5 of 5 stars
This novel would today be considered a “psychological thriller,” although at the time this novel was lumped into “crime genre”, with the likes of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. I strongly feel this is why these other two authors are household names and Mr. Thompson has languished in obscurity all these years.
The Killer Inside Me is a psychological horror novel. Lou Ford is a killer, he kills without remorse. But this novel is an odd combination of horror and innocence that is seldom found in today’s literature. Lou’s murders are horrific but are not bloody. Written in first person narration, the reader gets an up close and personal look into the mind of a serial killer. And the disturbing thing is Lou’s justifications for the murders make a sick sort of sense. The fact that I was able to say, “Oh, that makes sense” even for a moment during the novel is what I found most disturbing. That Mr. Thompson was able to achieve this without all the graphic blood and guts scenes we as readers have become used to reading was a revelation.
I could not put this novel down once I started it. It is a psychology student’s wet dream. Psychopathy (or sociopathy, depending on the age of your psych text book), sexual sadism, childhood trauma and repressed memories, they are all there. The interesting thing was there was no psychological terms in the novel at all. If the deviations were mentioned at all, it was coded in socially acceptable terms. Lou did kill two people in a psychopathic break, but was suffering from “the sickness.” I loved it.
Jim Thompson never achieved real success with his books during his lifetime. I hope this review goes a little way to rectifying that error.
5 of 5 stars
mrxqii's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
twotoes's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Thompson is relentless with his writing. There are some odd happenings plot wise but I really enjoyed this.
chemwitch's review against another edition
3.0
This book was so... mediocre. It's the original You by Caroline Kepnes. It was fine? There just wasn't anything about it that I saw that made it so amazing you have to shout it from the rooftops.
1) The Southern boy charm thing got so old after a while. 20 pages in I just wanted them to stop fucking talking like that.
2) after a while it's... not scary. We get it. You want to kill people. It's not shocking anymore. And there's really nothing else to this book. It's just this guy. Saying he wants to kill people.
3) The ending is super lackluster in my opinion. I can't even remember the entire thing because it was very forgettable.
4) Quick read! Pretty short. Maybe a bit longer if you (like me) take longer to work through the stupid Southern boy charm lingo.
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5/14/18: like every top review of this book is glowing but i just didn't think it was that amazing?
rtc
1) The Southern boy charm thing got so old after a while. 20 pages in I just wanted them to stop fucking talking like that.
2) after a while it's... not scary. We get it. You want to kill people. It's not shocking anymore. And there's really nothing else to this book. It's just this guy. Saying he wants to kill people.
3) The ending is super lackluster in my opinion. I can't even remember the entire thing because it was very forgettable.
4) Quick read! Pretty short. Maybe a bit longer if you (like me) take longer to work through the stupid Southern boy charm lingo.
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5/14/18: like every top review of this book is glowing but i just didn't think it was that amazing?
rtc