BOOKS THAT HAVE MADE AN IMPACT, PART 3
By now, it is apparent I enjoy crime fiction. I write it. I read it. I blog about it. I even posted about the many faces and voices of Philip Marlowe.
However, when we are talking about books that have made an impact, the one author I read in abundance very early on was Jim Thompson. I have 11 of his works, second only to Cornell Woolrich. Before I read “The Dain Curse” or “The Big Sleep” or even “American Tabloid”, I had devoured “The Killer Inside Me.”
It is a raw, haunting, and downright scary depiction of a warped mind in the person of a Texas sheriff who everyone passes off as a brainless twit. With psychosexual aspects, highly misogynistic themes, and violence indicative of a far cheaper pulp novel, this book will impact anyone who reads it. No less an artist than Stanley Kubrick commented the book was “probably the most chilling and believable first-person story of a criminally warped mind I have ever encountered.”
I recall reading that Val Kilmer at one time had the rights to the book. I had seen the 1976 film version starring Stacey Keach and remember thinking it was rather sanitized. On the other hand, the 2010 version was too literal and too over the top despite better production values and a better quality of acting.
What I find interesting is how far Thompson went with this piece. He was every inch a pulp writer, interested more in putting out as many words as possible and likely as salacious as possible. After all, that’s what the publisher wanted; it sold copies. Several of his works have had a smattering of greatness to them, whether plot or character or spot on dialogue. His work vacillates between raw power and sloppy plotting. But he is always fascinating.
Jim Thompson was my start in crime fiction. Hammett, Chandler, and Ellroy came later. From those ingredients, I have gone on to make some interesting confections of my own.
