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34th out of 308 books
—
203 voters
After Dark, My Sweet (Crime Masterworks)
by
Jim Thompson
Bill Collins is young, good looking, agile and strong but he's a drifter with mild multiple neuroses, in and out of institutions, and dangerously violent on occasion. When he gets involved with the hard-drinking Fay Anderson and the deceptively pleasant ex-police officer everyone knows as Uncle Bud in a ruthless kidnap plot, everything goes to hell in a hurry, and the end,...more
Paperback, 170 pages
Published
2004
by Orion Books
(first published 1955)
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Kid Collins is a former boxer fresh out of the mental institution when he runs into alcoholic Fay Anderson and Uncle Bud, a two bit con man. Fay and Bud conspire to kidnap a wealthy couple's son and pin it on Collins. Too bad Collins is much craftier than he appears and paranoid to boot...
While I didn't enjoy After Dark, My Sweet as much as some of the other Thompson books I've read, it was still pretty good. Once again, Thompson's use of the unreliable narrator set me on edge. Collin's paranoia...more
While I didn't enjoy After Dark, My Sweet as much as some of the other Thompson books I've read, it was still pretty good. Once again, Thompson's use of the unreliable narrator set me on edge. Collin's paranoia...more
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A hard drinking dame, a crooked cop, and a non-too bright patsy with a tendency for poor choices. Classic hardboiled stuff; and the hardboiled crime genre is something like the American equivalent of true tragedy ... emanating from the grain, separated from Europe not only by the Atlantic but by the feedlot plains and cannibal mountains, settling in primarily on the west coast like the santa ana's and the knife edged psychosis that Dashiell Hammet knew rode their currents.
Thompson, the dimestore...more
Thompson, the dimestore...more
Sad stuff about punch drunk ex-boxer, ex-loony bin inmate Kid "Collie" Collins, who's played by oily roundheels Fay and her accomplice Uncle Bud in a scheme to kidnap a rich kid who has a serious diabetic condition. Although the lines are so obviously drawn between good and evil to the point of absurdity, your heart strings will get tugged by the sadness of the story.
My favorite of all of Jim Thompson's books. Brain-damaged ex-boxer Kid Collins gets mixed up with shifty characters who involve him in a disastrous kidnapping plot. One of the finest first person noir novels ever written, in my opinion.
Like a story about a slippery slope narrated by a pool of quicksand, the first-person narrative is what makes this quick little noir story stand out.
Billy Collins, an ex-boxer with either a violent streak that isn't helped by his lack of social intelligence or multiple neuroses and brain damage, is a young drifter who doesn't want to stay in an institution but can't seem to function in the world. He gets mixed up with the kinda-typical noir basket case hottie named Fay and pretzel-crooked ex-co...more
Billy Collins, an ex-boxer with either a violent streak that isn't helped by his lack of social intelligence or multiple neuroses and brain damage, is a young drifter who doesn't want to stay in an institution but can't seem to function in the world. He gets mixed up with the kinda-typical noir basket case hottie named Fay and pretzel-crooked ex-co...more
Every Thompson book is my favorite while I'm reading it but this one managed to stay near the top when I was done. A trio of hard boiled characters each desperate in their own way hoping for the quick score that will "fix" everything. Except they are incapable of playing nice together. The unfolding of who is playing who for a sucker and how is true Thompson. While devious and unfeeling, you understand completely how each character comes to the conclusions that they do. The delicious trick lies...more
I loved the austerity of this book. The plot unfolded perfectly, with no extra details, and there was a sort of simple bleak feeling of darkness and inevitability perfectly executed all the way through. I liked it a little better than some of Graham Greene's stuff, because the double-crossing and plot twists weren't so obscure you couldn't grasp them. Instead Thompson made sure, in a tasteful way, that you'd understand his characters' machinations without too much guesswork. And I think that was...more
A Facebook friend was recently talking about Jim Thompson, which reminded me that I always meant to read more of his stories. "After Dark, My Sweet" is a great crime story on the pulp/noir side of things that you could probably knock out in just one day. All of the classic pulp trademarks are there, (drifters, dangerous girls, manipulative schemers, etc.) Thompson definitely has a sort of naturalist take on his characters; meaning they are just things, nothing more than simple creatures subject...more
Jim Thompson is a sort of street psychologist who uses noir as an exploration of exactly how people go about wrecking themselves and each other. His real trick here is being able to coil up a nice, twisty plotline without its feeling overly contrived. There's a sort of irresistible downward pull to his scenarios that suggest -- without their being predictable -- that the way it goes really is the only way it could go. As opposed to the too-often problems of such a story that leave the reader fee...more
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It is decidedly hard for me to rate Thompson's dialogue because: a) I am not familiar with the era's standards, and b) I am not familiar with the genre's standards. I do know that the book seemed to slow down (and occasionally screech to a halt) as the characters struggled to not say what they were trying to not say out loud. It seems a much less mature style than he had in
Pop. 1280
, but it is also much less fun in its presentation. Not a bad book by any stretch, but not something I would hear...more
Jim Thompson is quickly becoming my favorite noir writer with books like my latest read, After Dark, My Sweet. It’s a story about Williams Collins, an escapee from a mental institution who tries to blend into a small town as a normal person. He’s a very kind man who is too easily persuaded and is subject to violent episodes. Quickly he becomes entangled with a wickedly alcoholic woman named Fay Anderson who pulls him into a sinister plot with her partner in crime, a crocked ex-cop named Uncle Bu...more
first book i've read by him and i can already tell this will be a long relationship. even if i didn't like the main character that much and it was frustrating watching him ruin his life it was still a really entertaining read. the book itself was short so it was a good read during the school year. the plot kinda lags in the middle and the one sex scene there is is virtually nonexistent but the ending makes up for it with an alright twist. he reminds me of james m cain lots of double crossing and...more
Note: I'm on a crazy Thompson binge. The world is the same in all his books, but this is the first (of the four so far) that turns into a total corker of a plot. It also features the most pervasive paranoia, with our narrator distrustful of not only the other characters but also himself. He could lose it at any moment and, compounded with his dodgy attitude towards his co-conspirators, that makes for a rocky read.
Also, really? The (acclaimed) 1990 film version stars Jason Patric and Rachel Ward?...more
Also, really? The (acclaimed) 1990 film version stars Jason Patric and Rachel Ward?...more
you just don't get stuff like this that often - it's real noir/pulp and all of that, but this was really an incredible little book. Apparently writer Jim Thompson died penniless (even though he wrote to screenplays for Kubrick - "The Killing" & "Paths of Glory"), and since then, he's had 5 or 6 books turned into films (the Getaway, the Grifters, Pop. 1280, After Dark... probably some others). And you can read this and see why. It practically is a screenplay. about 130 pages long, great chara...more
Every Jim Thompson fan has their favorite. This one is mine. Bill (Kid) Collins has already had it bad and just wants to get along. Like he tells you in the beginning, he just wants to be where people are nice and polite. Then he has to go and get tangled up with Fay and Uncle Bud.
The power in this one is Collie's voice. Read the first chapter and you'll see what I mean.
The power in this one is Collie's voice. Read the first chapter and you'll see what I mean.
1 part psychopathic drifter, 1 part alcoholic widow, 1 part grifter/ex-cop....shake well...add a pinch of kidnapping...a dash of revenge driven barkeep...and a smidge of good Samaritan and you have a recipe for classic Thompson.
Not his best work but a good, light read with some compelling moments on the 'concrete pasture'. Worth a look....good for crime noir.
Not his best work but a good, light read with some compelling moments on the 'concrete pasture'. Worth a look....good for crime noir.
Sep 06, 2011
Robert
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
crime-noir,
contemporary-fiction
In the mix for this exciting crime suspense tale from 1955: a tuff-talkin' dame who drinks too much, a sleazy kidnapping plot involving a diabetic child, an exceptionally handsome ex-fighter who has a bit of a mental deficiency as our hero (swoon) - and it's all full of cat-and-mouse, whom-to-trust plot twists, told seemingly without an extraneous word. It was hard to stop reading.
I just reread AFTER DARK, MY SWEET by Jim Thompson for the first time in more than 20 years ... and it holds up even better the second time around. The writing is spare but evocative and the suspense is masterful. I have always adored this novel, but today more than ever.
Hmmm.......I've read two of Thompson's books now and they both have an "off" male narrator. The reader is basically in the.guy's head and it was.....strange. Probably because the character was strange. I'd have to say, Collins is a bit more than just "off.
Kid Collins is a dangerously beautiful creation
One Of tohmpsons finest
Reviewing this book im avoiding like one of the kids mitts Tis the story so intricate & tight & tragic ...
Yeah could be seen as unrequited love
I'll end it there jus read it
Dmtiz
One Of tohmpsons finest
Reviewing this book im avoiding like one of the kids mitts Tis the story so intricate & tight & tragic ...
Yeah could be seen as unrequited love
I'll end it there jus read it
Dmtiz
a solid 3.5 stars, not quite 4 though. still have to read another one by thompson (after having read the killer inside me about 15 years ago and not liking it very much) to find out whether he is really one of the truly good writers of noir fiction ...
Published in 1955 when Thompson was hitting his stride. Small-town noir about a kidnapping that goes awry and narrated by mental patient/boxer Kid Collins. The unpolished prose makes the edgy voice work well. Worth a second read some day, a compliment to the book.
If any other reader figured out what would happen at the end of AFTER DARK, MY SWEET, they are a lot savvier than I am. I had ideas about the ending, but none of them were correct. I haven’t seen the movie, maybe I will now.
This is a strange and horrifying book about a kidnapping. It is written from the first-person perspective of an ex-boxer, who might be suffering from a mental illness. Sort of reminds me of PKD's science fiction, where you are unsure of how reliable the narrator is.
A "crazy" ex-fighter hooks up with an alcoholic "dolly" and they get involved in kidnapping a young boy. Lots of mumbly dialogue and scattered ramblings, but the ending is pretty good! And I love the last line - "I Just kind of stopped all over."
I enjoyed this novel although it was utterly frustrating reading about the impending bad decisions/doom about to land on the protagonist throughout the entire story.
Good old-fashioned writing.
Good old-fashioned writing.
Since I really like the hard boiled, noir and pulps genre, I had heard of Jim Thompson a few years back. I read "The Killer Inside Me" last year. Since I don't ever find his novels at used book stores, etc. I bought this, with a Woolrich book on ebay. From the beginning, you know wherever this is going, it's not going to be good for Collie.
At just 130 pages long, there are many moments that I felt like a rubber band, stretched to its limit, you know it's close to breaking , just waiting for it...more
At just 130 pages long, there are many moments that I felt like a rubber band, stretched to its limit, you know it's close to breaking , just waiting for it...more
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I get the noir factor of this story, no problem. What I don't get is the ending or all the things left unsaid. This author may be too hard-boiled for me.
Thompson as you know and love him. An escaped convict, a hard drinking lady, a crooked cop and a kidnapping that just couldn't go wrong...except that you know it does. A vintage tour de force of criminality, humanity, sexuality and insanity!
-JRS
-JRS
Sep 08, 2011
Joshua
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Jim Thompson completists/folks who like short books
Recommended to Joshua by:
Green Apple books in SF
This is a quick Jim Thompson read. I love his neurotic writing and his stories are always fun. This one is okay. It feels like an early work of his that would lead into some of his classic more thought-out novels. I like the way it reads, very choppy and some great dialogue (JT special). I wasn't too into the last 40 pages, and the last chapter but I still liked the book and glad I read it.
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James Myers Thompson was a United States writer of novels, short stories and screenplays, largely in the hardboiled style of crime fiction.
Thompson wrote more than thirty novels, the majority of which were original paperback publications by pulp fiction houses, from the lat...more
More about Jim Thompson...
James Myers Thompson was a United States writer of novels, short stories and screenplays, largely in the hardboiled style of crime fiction.
Thompson wrote more than thirty novels, the majority of which were original paperback publications by pulp fiction houses, from the lat...more
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