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Paul Kavanagh #3
Not Comin' Home To You
“Jimmie John Hall wasn't anything until he was a killer, and Betty Dienhardt wasn't anything until she met Jimmie John Hall. When they get together, sparks fly and bullets follow. The first to go are Betty's parents, but Betty isn't bothered. She only wants to be with her man - the first person to ever make her feel special. “They set off on a cross-country spree, killing for gas money and food, killing to swap their car for one the police aren't looking for. As the dragnet draws tighter, they only grow closer, riding a road that leads to death because death has surrounded them all the time.” That’s the copy on Dreamscape Audio’s excellent audiobook, expertly narrated by Alan Sklar, and I’d be hard put to improve on it. It’s worth noting, though, that the novel derives from and was inspired by the real-life (and real death) rampage of Charles Starkweather and Caryl Fugate in 1950s Nebraska; the novel itself is set fifteen years later, and does not attempt a literal reconstruction of the original case. It’s a powerful work of fiction, a penetrating look at two disturbed and disturbing individuals, and a breakneck tear across the American Midwest. Like Such Men Are Dangerous and The Triumph of Evil, it was originally published under LB’s Paul Kavanagh pen name, but as soon as he could he resides all three books under his own name, and is pleased to make them available now in the Classic Crime Library. THE CLASSIC CRIME LIBRARY brings together Lawrence Block's early crime novels, reformatted and with new uniform cover art.
183 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
December 21, 2012
Jimmie John Hall was a no good drifter and irresistible to Betty Dienhardt, friendless high school girl. It was just too bad about the killing spree...
First off, Lawrence Block is the man. His Matthew Scudder series is in my crime series top three, along with Richard Stark's Parker books and Joe Lansdale's Hap and Leonard series. When I stumbled upon this, a book of his I'd never heard of, I snapped it up.
Not Comin' Home to You, named after a line in a Waylon Jennings song, was inspired by the true story of Charles Starkweather, one of the first spree killers. From what I've gathered, Starkweather was also one of the inspirations for Natural Born Killers, if anyone still remembers that flick.
The tale is a pretty simple one. A sociopath that takes a hell of a lot of speed meets up with a lonely girl and does a lot of driving and killing. One murder leads to another and to another and so forth. The thing that raises this above lesser killing spree books and movies is the way Block tells the story. While the chapters are pretty straightforward, they are separated by one or two page accounts by people who were involved with the events years after they occurred. Most are of the "He seemed like such a nice boy, always kept to himself" variety but they do a good job of foreshadowing of the coming shitstorm.
There isn't much else I can say. It's a slim book about a killing spree. Not that complicated. Not my favorite Block but it's definitely worth a rainy evening's reading time.
First off, Lawrence Block is the man. His Matthew Scudder series is in my crime series top three, along with Richard Stark's Parker books and Joe Lansdale's Hap and Leonard series. When I stumbled upon this, a book of his I'd never heard of, I snapped it up.
Not Comin' Home to You, named after a line in a Waylon Jennings song, was inspired by the true story of Charles Starkweather, one of the first spree killers. From what I've gathered, Starkweather was also one of the inspirations for Natural Born Killers, if anyone still remembers that flick.
The tale is a pretty simple one. A sociopath that takes a hell of a lot of speed meets up with a lonely girl and does a lot of driving and killing. One murder leads to another and to another and so forth. The thing that raises this above lesser killing spree books and movies is the way Block tells the story. While the chapters are pretty straightforward, they are separated by one or two page accounts by people who were involved with the events years after they occurred. Most are of the "He seemed like such a nice boy, always kept to himself" variety but they do a good job of foreshadowing of the coming shitstorm.
There isn't much else I can say. It's a slim book about a killing spree. Not that complicated. Not my favorite Block but it's definitely worth a rainy evening's reading time.
May 25, 2017
a fast moving story of murder and escape and pursuit with our 24 year old killer picking up a disillusioned 15 year schoolgirl and going on the run across 7 or 8 states. A violent story but written very well by Block, as usual
January 20, 2016
Lawrence Block wrote this as Paul Kavanagh. It was loosely based or maybe themed would be the better word on the Starkweather murder spree which occurred in 1958. I say themed rather than based because Block did not try to recreate the facts or replicate the characters, but instead wrote a story based on his conceptualization of two teenagers who engage in a killing spree.
Think Trueman Capote's 'In Cold Blood', but less fact based and you have a good feeling of what this book is like. It is a quick, chilling read with a sudden and surprising end. Block said in his Afterword, that at the time, the three books he wrote as Paul Kavanagh were his most serious attempts at writing.
I don't know about the other two, but for me, this one certainly qualified as a success.
Think Trueman Capote's 'In Cold Blood', but less fact based and you have a good feeling of what this book is like. It is a quick, chilling read with a sudden and surprising end. Block said in his Afterword, that at the time, the three books he wrote as Paul Kavanagh were his most serious attempts at writing.
I don't know about the other two, but for me, this one certainly qualified as a success.
September 5, 2015
3.5, actually.
It's the early 1970's and Jimmie John, 22 years old and already well down that road that leads nowhere, is drifting across the country, hitching rides and popping speed. In Texas he gets a ride in a fine new car with all the bells and whistles. Jimmie John impulsively decides that he must have this car, and to that end he murders its wealthy and naive driver and relieves him of his gun and money as well before continuing on his aimless wanderings.
In Grand Island, Nebraska, fifteen-year-old Betty sleepwalks through her life. If Jimmie John is on a high-speed road to nowhere, Betty is still in the driveway and out of gas. She has no friends, no particular interests besides going to the movies, and no plans for the future except that she wants to get away from her dysfunctional family. Her father is a bad-tempered alcoholic and her mother is uninterested in anything except fighting with him and complaining about how much better off she'd have been if she'd married someone else. Even Betty's grandmother, who lives with them, does nothing but sit and watch TV and pass gas. Betty's older sister Judy has been gone for six years, kicked out (much to Judy's relief, apparently) when she became pregnant, and Betty fantasizes about someday being rescued by Judy, whom she imagines leads a glamorous life as an airline stewardess or a nurse; she imagines going to live with Judy and getting the same interesting job as her, but the truth is that she hasn't heard anything from Judy since she left home and has no idea where she might be.
One afternoon, when Betty has defied her parents' order to come straight home after school and has instead gone to the movies, Jimmie John meets her outside the movie theater. It is instant attraction, and Betty embarks on the one and only adventure her life has in store for her. She and Jimmie John spend the night together, and plan to elope. Betty is worried about her parents' reactions when she comes home to pack her things, but Jimmie John insists that she must at least let them know she is all right and that she is leaving, and that he will try to make peace with them.
The confrontation is particularly ugly, and in the blink of an eye, both Betty's parents and her grandmother have been shot to death in the living room. Betty is shocked at the raw violence, but also relieved that her family will no longer stand in her way. She and Jimmie John are so excited that they actually have sex on the living room floor within a few feet of the bodies, before Betty packs her bags and they leave for parts unknown.
And so it begins, a downward spiral of stays in motels, stolen cars, armed robberies and murders. Jimmie John confesses early on that he killed his fancy car's original owner, but Betty has no objection to it, nor does she seem to care when she realizes he is killing all along their route. He kills for money, for a car, and just because someone seems to be in the way.
But there are bizarre respites from the brutality of their new life together. They come upon a farmhouse whose owners have obviously left for a vacation, and decide to stay there for a day. They take pains to clean up after themselves, leaving the place neater than they found it, and they leave a polite note of thanks and $100, far more than necessary to cover the food they ate and the few items they used. Then it's back on the road, and the violence escalates until one final confrontation on a remote road in New Mexico. And it's here, as the police finally close in, that Betty suddenly bolts from Jimmie John running to the cops and screaming "He's killing everything!"
The book is short but so is Jimmie John's and Betty's career in spree murder. There isn't much time for character development, but the two main characters are shallow, empty people anyway; Jimmie John is incredibly self-satisfied and has the gift of gab, but that's really all he's got. He's a charming psychopath and no more. Betty acknowledges to herself that she has no personality. These two live entirely in the moment with no self-reflection and no realistic thought of what the future holds. They live for their vague rose-colored fantasy of always being together in some faraway place. It is not till the very end that the inevitable reality of what their actions will bring them finally sets in, and by then it is far too late.
The story is told in alternating third-person chapters from Betty's and Jimmie John's point of view, and at the end of each one there is a brief glimpse of someone else's perspective. A neighbor of Betty's, a wounded police officer, a panel of experts on a talk show, all weigh in. It's in these parts that we see how different people's perspectives can be from the reality we as the readers have the privilege of knowing. For example, Betty has fantasized about her sister Judy for years, but when we hear from Judy herself, it turns out that far from being a stewardess having far-flung adventures, Judy has led an ordinary, uninteresting but busy life as a wife and mother, and furthermore, she has not spared a thought for Betty all this time.
A girl Jimmie John picks up describes to her friend how he nearly raped her and she just barely managed to get out of his car, but we already know that when she made a rather crude advance toward him, he became angry and ordered her out of the car.
And on the radio, we hear a gas station owner praise the bright and ambitious young attendant whom Jimmie John murdered in cold blood the night before. But when we hear from him as he talks to his wife about it, we learn he considered the attendant dimwitted and careless.
The book's title is the title of a song Block wrote himself. In the book, Betty and Jimmie John hear it sung by Waylon Jennings on the radio and a jukebox, and it becomes their song. The song has never been recorded or performed, which is a shame. Its lonely, bitter yet haunting lyrics fit the story perfectly.
And in case anybody was wondering, yes, the story was inspired by the real-life criminal activities of Charles Starkweather and Caril Fugate, but still differs markedly enough that it doesn't feel like a retelling.
It's the early 1970's and Jimmie John, 22 years old and already well down that road that leads nowhere, is drifting across the country, hitching rides and popping speed. In Texas he gets a ride in a fine new car with all the bells and whistles. Jimmie John impulsively decides that he must have this car, and to that end he murders its wealthy and naive driver and relieves him of his gun and money as well before continuing on his aimless wanderings.
In Grand Island, Nebraska, fifteen-year-old Betty sleepwalks through her life. If Jimmie John is on a high-speed road to nowhere, Betty is still in the driveway and out of gas. She has no friends, no particular interests besides going to the movies, and no plans for the future except that she wants to get away from her dysfunctional family. Her father is a bad-tempered alcoholic and her mother is uninterested in anything except fighting with him and complaining about how much better off she'd have been if she'd married someone else. Even Betty's grandmother, who lives with them, does nothing but sit and watch TV and pass gas. Betty's older sister Judy has been gone for six years, kicked out (much to Judy's relief, apparently) when she became pregnant, and Betty fantasizes about someday being rescued by Judy, whom she imagines leads a glamorous life as an airline stewardess or a nurse; she imagines going to live with Judy and getting the same interesting job as her, but the truth is that she hasn't heard anything from Judy since she left home and has no idea where she might be.
One afternoon, when Betty has defied her parents' order to come straight home after school and has instead gone to the movies, Jimmie John meets her outside the movie theater. It is instant attraction, and Betty embarks on the one and only adventure her life has in store for her. She and Jimmie John spend the night together, and plan to elope. Betty is worried about her parents' reactions when she comes home to pack her things, but Jimmie John insists that she must at least let them know she is all right and that she is leaving, and that he will try to make peace with them.
The confrontation is particularly ugly, and in the blink of an eye, both Betty's parents and her grandmother have been shot to death in the living room. Betty is shocked at the raw violence, but also relieved that her family will no longer stand in her way. She and Jimmie John are so excited that they actually have sex on the living room floor within a few feet of the bodies, before Betty packs her bags and they leave for parts unknown.
And so it begins, a downward spiral of stays in motels, stolen cars, armed robberies and murders. Jimmie John confesses early on that he killed his fancy car's original owner, but Betty has no objection to it, nor does she seem to care when she realizes he is killing all along their route. He kills for money, for a car, and just because someone seems to be in the way.
But there are bizarre respites from the brutality of their new life together. They come upon a farmhouse whose owners have obviously left for a vacation, and decide to stay there for a day. They take pains to clean up after themselves, leaving the place neater than they found it, and they leave a polite note of thanks and $100, far more than necessary to cover the food they ate and the few items they used. Then it's back on the road, and the violence escalates until one final confrontation on a remote road in New Mexico. And it's here, as the police finally close in, that Betty suddenly bolts from Jimmie John running to the cops and screaming "He's killing everything!"
The book is short but so is Jimmie John's and Betty's career in spree murder. There isn't much time for character development, but the two main characters are shallow, empty people anyway; Jimmie John is incredibly self-satisfied and has the gift of gab, but that's really all he's got. He's a charming psychopath and no more. Betty acknowledges to herself that she has no personality. These two live entirely in the moment with no self-reflection and no realistic thought of what the future holds. They live for their vague rose-colored fantasy of always being together in some faraway place. It is not till the very end that the inevitable reality of what their actions will bring them finally sets in, and by then it is far too late.
The story is told in alternating third-person chapters from Betty's and Jimmie John's point of view, and at the end of each one there is a brief glimpse of someone else's perspective. A neighbor of Betty's, a wounded police officer, a panel of experts on a talk show, all weigh in. It's in these parts that we see how different people's perspectives can be from the reality we as the readers have the privilege of knowing. For example, Betty has fantasized about her sister Judy for years, but when we hear from Judy herself, it turns out that far from being a stewardess having far-flung adventures, Judy has led an ordinary, uninteresting but busy life as a wife and mother, and furthermore, she has not spared a thought for Betty all this time.
A girl Jimmie John picks up describes to her friend how he nearly raped her and she just barely managed to get out of his car, but we already know that when she made a rather crude advance toward him, he became angry and ordered her out of the car.
And on the radio, we hear a gas station owner praise the bright and ambitious young attendant whom Jimmie John murdered in cold blood the night before. But when we hear from him as he talks to his wife about it, we learn he considered the attendant dimwitted and careless.
The book's title is the title of a song Block wrote himself. In the book, Betty and Jimmie John hear it sung by Waylon Jennings on the radio and a jukebox, and it becomes their song. The song has never been recorded or performed, which is a shame. Its lonely, bitter yet haunting lyrics fit the story perfectly.
And in case anybody was wondering, yes, the story was inspired by the real-life criminal activities of Charles Starkweather and Caril Fugate, but still differs markedly enough that it doesn't feel like a retelling.
August 23, 2025
It's fine, written well for the most part, I just didn't care about any of it. It's a Bonnie and Clyde story for the 70s based on an older actual killing spree. A 20 year old male finds a 15 year old girl after he has already killed someone, and he goes on killing, trying to get away with her so they can start a new life. Every time they think they are ahead, something happens to put them back in the crosshairs.
Can't really recommend the two young people are silly for the most part, and I just never cared about them one way or the other.
Can't really recommend the two young people are silly for the most part, and I just never cared about them one way or the other.
July 3, 2019
Having read nearly all of Lawrence Block's major series (Keller, Rhodenbarr, Scudder), and his more recent one-offs and collections (Resume Speed, The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes), I've been delving deeper into his back catalog. Some of these excursions have paid off excitingly: Getting Off, about a serial killer who chooses her victims based on her past sexual experience, was thrilling. Grifter's Game - a Hard Case Crime book - was similarly exciting, as was Deadly Honeymoon. There's a lot more Block I love than Block I don't love.
But I didn't love this one.
It's based loosely on the Starkwether/Fugate spree killings of the 1950s, with a couple of kooky kids named Jimmy John and Betty standing in for the real-life folks. That's sort of the problem. It doesn't seem to get beyond that, most of the time. This is a "ripped from the 20-year-ago headlines" story, based on real events and then sprinkled with fiction dust ... but you rarely get the sense that these people are real and not just playing parts.
Some moments elevate the story: a sex scene at the site of a multiple homicide is grisly and horrifying; Jimmy John's reluctance to kill animals as he's killing people almost arbitrarily; a quiet domestic scene where we can see who these kids might be if they weren't criminals. Good scenes that hint at Block's future mastery of the form. But for me, the best part of the book was the afterword, where Block talks about Terence Malick's Badlands, which came out as his screenplay adaptation of Not Comin' Home to You was being shopped around. I'm a sucker for writers talking about the history of their fiction, and I was a sucker for this revealing afterword.
Long story short: it's a fairly good, fast read from one of the nation's best writers.
But I didn't love this one.
It's based loosely on the Starkwether/Fugate spree killings of the 1950s, with a couple of kooky kids named Jimmy John and Betty standing in for the real-life folks. That's sort of the problem. It doesn't seem to get beyond that, most of the time. This is a "ripped from the 20-year-ago headlines" story, based on real events and then sprinkled with fiction dust ... but you rarely get the sense that these people are real and not just playing parts.
Some moments elevate the story: a sex scene at the site of a multiple homicide is grisly and horrifying; Jimmy John's reluctance to kill animals as he's killing people almost arbitrarily; a quiet domestic scene where we can see who these kids might be if they weren't criminals. Good scenes that hint at Block's future mastery of the form. But for me, the best part of the book was the afterword, where Block talks about Terence Malick's Badlands, which came out as his screenplay adaptation of Not Comin' Home to You was being shopped around. I'm a sucker for writers talking about the history of their fiction, and I was a sucker for this revealing afterword.
Long story short: it's a fairly good, fast read from one of the nation's best writers.
July 16, 2012
Loosely based on the Charles Starkweather and Caril Anne Fugate case of the 1950's and written before the movie Badlands, Not Comin' Home to You tells the story of Jimmy John Hall and Betty Dienhardt in the 1970's. Jimmie John fed up with working for his father pumping gas, leaves home in Texas and hitches rides cross country from truckers. Jimmie keeps a pipe in his back pocket, just in case. A man with a Toronado and a gun gives Jimmie John a ride and before long, Jimmie John takes the Toronado and the gun for himself leaving the driver dead in the middle of a field.
Fifteen year old Betty Dienhardt, naive, friendless and bored with her life at home in small town Nebraska. Her parents argue endlessly. Her only escape is the movies. She meets Jimmie John Hall after leaving a movie and the two make off in the Toronado traveling across the country with Jimmie John killing to acquire money and different cars.
The story is as familiar as Bonnie and Clyde but what makes it special is the way Lawrence Block tells it. Beautiful narrative of the lead characters thoughts and feelings. Each chapter written in third person ends with a brief first person testimonial from people who knew them. I also think this novel speaks of the inner voice in all of use to just escape our lives and make a complete break from our current situation the difference is that these two take it to an extreme with no worries about the consequences. Jimmie John kills people with no guilt, yet animals he accidentally kill haunt him forever. Betty is so enamored with Jimmie John, so happy to have someone to be her friend, her only friend that a few killings does not bother her. She just wants to be with Jimmie John. These two are so twisted yet you feel empathy towards them. They dart through many states with no plans for the future, yet you know where they are headed from the beginning. Excellent read.
Fifteen year old Betty Dienhardt, naive, friendless and bored with her life at home in small town Nebraska. Her parents argue endlessly. Her only escape is the movies. She meets Jimmie John Hall after leaving a movie and the two make off in the Toronado traveling across the country with Jimmie John killing to acquire money and different cars.
The story is as familiar as Bonnie and Clyde but what makes it special is the way Lawrence Block tells it. Beautiful narrative of the lead characters thoughts and feelings. Each chapter written in third person ends with a brief first person testimonial from people who knew them. I also think this novel speaks of the inner voice in all of use to just escape our lives and make a complete break from our current situation the difference is that these two take it to an extreme with no worries about the consequences. Jimmie John kills people with no guilt, yet animals he accidentally kill haunt him forever. Betty is so enamored with Jimmie John, so happy to have someone to be her friend, her only friend that a few killings does not bother her. She just wants to be with Jimmie John. These two are so twisted yet you feel empathy towards them. They dart through many states with no plans for the future, yet you know where they are headed from the beginning. Excellent read.
July 6, 2016
I wondered if there was any reason to read (listen) to this book beyond liking many of the other works by this author. In a word, "NO!". It was free from the library, so I thought I'd give it a try & hoped he'd put a spin on it like he did with Keller, his hit man.
I was creeped out from the dedication. Seriously, Block dedicated this to his 3 daughters & 'their mother'. Next is a poem titled the same as the book & basically says they took him for granted, so he's not coming home to them - ever. Apparently he'd gotten divorced & there were hard feelings, but writing off your daughters like that?
Two loser psychos are laid out in dispassionate, realistic detail & that's as far as I got. The book was exactly what the blurb said it was & there wasn't any redeeming trick to make it palatable. It's a shame, but some people just need to be put down quickly & quietly like mad dogs. I don't want to read about them.
I was creeped out from the dedication. Seriously, Block dedicated this to his 3 daughters & 'their mother'. Next is a poem titled the same as the book & basically says they took him for granted, so he's not coming home to them - ever. Apparently he'd gotten divorced & there were hard feelings, but writing off your daughters like that?
Two loser psychos are laid out in dispassionate, realistic detail & that's as far as I got. The book was exactly what the blurb said it was & there wasn't any redeeming trick to make it palatable. It's a shame, but some people just need to be put down quickly & quietly like mad dogs. I don't want to read about them.
August 23, 2015
Starkweather/Fugate Re-revisited
Lawrence Block's Not Comin' Home to You is a work of fiction that draws from the true crime story of the Starkweather / Fugate killing spree from the mid twentieth century. Block's version is highly fictionalized and an early work, predictive of later films such as Badlands, Natural Born Killers, Kalifornia, and a good many others. The thing to keep in mind is that Block's Not Comin' Home to You is the first, and probably the best attempt to fictionalize the Starkweather killing spree.
In this work Jimmie John and Betty cut a murderous swath south and then, almost inexplicably but maybe just brilliantly, back north again. This is a great but disturbing read. Highly recommended.
Lawrence Block's Not Comin' Home to You is a work of fiction that draws from the true crime story of the Starkweather / Fugate killing spree from the mid twentieth century. Block's version is highly fictionalized and an early work, predictive of later films such as Badlands, Natural Born Killers, Kalifornia, and a good many others. The thing to keep in mind is that Block's Not Comin' Home to You is the first, and probably the best attempt to fictionalize the Starkweather killing spree.
In this work Jimmie John and Betty cut a murderous swath south and then, almost inexplicably but maybe just brilliantly, back north again. This is a great but disturbing read. Highly recommended.
February 25, 2016
OK (for Block)
This is Block's take on the Charlie Starkweather/Caril Fugate murder spree of the late 50s, updated to the early 70s and fictionalized.
Over all, it's pretty good, but far from my favorite of Block's. It has what I expect from him: a story I want to finish, believable characters speaking believable dialog, crisply described action, and a minimum of fluff.
I cannot understand, however, why Block chose to stuff the story into a "movie treatment" envelope, putting the final action--trial, execution, etc.--off stage.
This is Block's take on the Charlie Starkweather/Caril Fugate murder spree of the late 50s, updated to the early 70s and fictionalized.
Over all, it's pretty good, but far from my favorite of Block's. It has what I expect from him: a story I want to finish, believable characters speaking believable dialog, crisply described action, and a minimum of fluff.
I cannot understand, however, why Block chose to stuff the story into a "movie treatment" envelope, putting the final action--trial, execution, etc.--off stage.
May 19, 2017
I first learned about Charles Starkweather and Caril Fugate when
Springsteen's song Nebraska came out in 1982: "I saw her standin on
her front lawn just twirlin her baton. Me and her went for a ride sir and
ten innocent people died. From the town of lincoln nebraska with a
sawed-off .410 on my lap. Through to the badlands of wyoming I killed
everything in my path."
There was a real Charles Starkweather. His girlfriend was fourteen. In
a week's span in 1958, he murdered ten people across Nebraska and
Wyoming. He got the electric chair. This killing spree shocked and
horrified the entire country. There have been four or five movies based
loosely on Starkweather, including Badlands starring Martin Sheen and
Sissy Spacek, and Natural Born Killers.
Not Comin' Home to You is also loosely based on Starkweather and
Fugate. But if you assume it's just another remake of the oft-told
story, you don't know Block's work.
From start to finish, this little-known book shines. Block took the speck
of an idea and made it his own. The mood he creates is just terrific.
The reader feels like he's out on the desolate highways of Texas,
Nebraska, and New Mexico. The chapters alternate between Jimmie
John and Betty's points of view. These two killers are humanized
without being turned into pathetic creatures. You sense that Jimmie
John feels as if he's got no choice but to kill any eyewitnesses much as
Lou Ford in Thompson's Killer Inside Me felt he had to of what he did.
Jimmie John commandeers car after car, leaving a trail of bodies in his
wake. He's just trying to get by and he's got to do what he's got to do.
When the story opens, Jimmie John is hitchhiking and being real
choosy about who he accepts a ride from. While his newest lift jabbers
away, Jimmie uses a length of pipe to knock the guy out and take his
fancy new fully loaded car, fully loaded that is with a gun and bullets in
the glovebox. Meanwhile, Betty is bored in her little nowheresville
town and wants to run away like her sister did six years earlier. She
gets into Jimmy's car outside the movie theater and they immediately
bonded for life. To Jimmie John, firing the gun is like having an orgasm
and after some killings, he immediately makes love to Betty
sometimes right on the floor where the bodies fell.
Springsteen's song Nebraska came out in 1982: "I saw her standin on
her front lawn just twirlin her baton. Me and her went for a ride sir and
ten innocent people died. From the town of lincoln nebraska with a
sawed-off .410 on my lap. Through to the badlands of wyoming I killed
everything in my path."
There was a real Charles Starkweather. His girlfriend was fourteen. In
a week's span in 1958, he murdered ten people across Nebraska and
Wyoming. He got the electric chair. This killing spree shocked and
horrified the entire country. There have been four or five movies based
loosely on Starkweather, including Badlands starring Martin Sheen and
Sissy Spacek, and Natural Born Killers.
Not Comin' Home to You is also loosely based on Starkweather and
Fugate. But if you assume it's just another remake of the oft-told
story, you don't know Block's work.
From start to finish, this little-known book shines. Block took the speck
of an idea and made it his own. The mood he creates is just terrific.
The reader feels like he's out on the desolate highways of Texas,
Nebraska, and New Mexico. The chapters alternate between Jimmie
John and Betty's points of view. These two killers are humanized
without being turned into pathetic creatures. You sense that Jimmie
John feels as if he's got no choice but to kill any eyewitnesses much as
Lou Ford in Thompson's Killer Inside Me felt he had to of what he did.
Jimmie John commandeers car after car, leaving a trail of bodies in his
wake. He's just trying to get by and he's got to do what he's got to do.
When the story opens, Jimmie John is hitchhiking and being real
choosy about who he accepts a ride from. While his newest lift jabbers
away, Jimmie uses a length of pipe to knock the guy out and take his
fancy new fully loaded car, fully loaded that is with a gun and bullets in
the glovebox. Meanwhile, Betty is bored in her little nowheresville
town and wants to run away like her sister did six years earlier. She
gets into Jimmy's car outside the movie theater and they immediately
bonded for life. To Jimmie John, firing the gun is like having an orgasm
and after some killings, he immediately makes love to Betty
sometimes right on the floor where the bodies fell.
July 21, 2025
"Jimmie John Hall, free and white and twenty-two, and you couldn't ask for better than that."
"Hanging's too good for them."
Jimmie John is good-looking, charming, usually high on speed, and utterly without a conscience. He kills one Walker P. Ferris because he likes his car, and he enjoys it. He enjoys it a lot…
Betty Deinhardt is fifteen, lonely, and chafing under her father's rule. She is nobody, a nonperson, until the day Jimmie John picks her up and gives her new life…
Lawrence Block's 1974 novel is loosely inspired by the real-life killing spree of Charles Starkweather and his girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate. It is a masterful character study. The interplay between charismatic Jimmie John and intense, desperate Betty rings authentic in every scene. The tension ratchets slowly but steadily as the bodies begin to mount and the inevitable retribution of the law closes in.
Yet, despite the excellent writing, I had trouble getting into it. The story has two glaring problems. One, it is predictable. It is cast in the mold of a Bonnie and Clyde tragedy. The foreshadowing tells the reader from the outset that one or both of our protagonists will come to a violent end.
Second, the story is claustrophobic. Jimmie John and Betty are in every scene. This book needs a couple of interesting secondary characters to provide an alternate viewpoint or at least to shake things up so the narrative does not feel like just a straight line from first murder to final shootout.
I alternated between the kindle edition and the audiobook read by Alan Sklar.
(Note the audiobook is not truly unabridged. The printed edition contains a short postscript, just a few pages long. It is structured as the final act of a screenplay treatment of the novel you just read. It is an odd fit with the rest of the book, but it does update the readers on the fate of the characters after the close of the curtain. This postscript is omitted in the audiobook.)
3 stars
"Hanging's too good for them."
Jimmie John is good-looking, charming, usually high on speed, and utterly without a conscience. He kills one Walker P. Ferris because he likes his car, and he enjoys it. He enjoys it a lot…
Betty Deinhardt is fifteen, lonely, and chafing under her father's rule. She is nobody, a nonperson, until the day Jimmie John picks her up and gives her new life…
Lawrence Block's 1974 novel is loosely inspired by the real-life killing spree of Charles Starkweather and his girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate. It is a masterful character study. The interplay between charismatic Jimmie John and intense, desperate Betty rings authentic in every scene. The tension ratchets slowly but steadily as the bodies begin to mount and the inevitable retribution of the law closes in.
Yet, despite the excellent writing, I had trouble getting into it. The story has two glaring problems. One, it is predictable. It is cast in the mold of a Bonnie and Clyde tragedy. The foreshadowing tells the reader from the outset that one or both of our protagonists will come to a violent end.
Second, the story is claustrophobic. Jimmie John and Betty are in every scene. This book needs a couple of interesting secondary characters to provide an alternate viewpoint or at least to shake things up so the narrative does not feel like just a straight line from first murder to final shootout.
I alternated between the kindle edition and the audiobook read by Alan Sklar.
(Note the audiobook is not truly unabridged. The printed edition contains a short postscript, just a few pages long. It is structured as the final act of a screenplay treatment of the novel you just read. It is an odd fit with the rest of the book, but it does update the readers on the fate of the characters after the close of the curtain. This postscript is omitted in the audiobook.)
3 stars
July 25, 2024
A fictional account of a true story - based on Charles Raymond Starkweather, an American spree killer who murdered eleven people in Nebraska and Wyoming between November 1957 and January 1958. He killed ten of his victims between January 21 and January 29, 1958, the date of his arrest. During his spree in 1958, Starkweather was accompanied by his fourteen-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate.
This is their story. Two young thrill-killers. As Block reimagined it.
If you know the case, or have watched the movie “Natural Born Killers”, you may not be inclined to read this book. It’s a pretty straightforward retelling, even if it is fictionalized.
I did not care for the “screen treatment” ending at all. Completely different POV, and one that didn’t work for me. The rest was good, but I may have been one of those folks who already knew too much about the actual case.
This is their story. Two young thrill-killers. As Block reimagined it.
If you know the case, or have watched the movie “Natural Born Killers”, you may not be inclined to read this book. It’s a pretty straightforward retelling, even if it is fictionalized.
I did not care for the “screen treatment” ending at all. Completely different POV, and one that didn’t work for me. The rest was good, but I may have been one of those folks who already knew too much about the actual case.
December 22, 2017
This Lawrence Block book was so, so, so superb. A non-stop thrill ride. But the body count is pretty high, so if that is not your cup of tea, you might want to steer clear.
If you are not familiar with Block, who has written over 100 books, I highly recommend three of his detective mysteries in the Matthew Scudder series: A Ticket to the Boneyard, A Walk Among the Tombstones (don't be put off if you've seen the recent sub-par film version with Liam Neeson), and a Dance at the Slaughterhouse. They are hard-boiled, tense and propulsive.
If you are not familiar with Block, who has written over 100 books, I highly recommend three of his detective mysteries in the Matthew Scudder series: A Ticket to the Boneyard, A Walk Among the Tombstones (don't be put off if you've seen the recent sub-par film version with Liam Neeson), and a Dance at the Slaughterhouse. They are hard-boiled, tense and propulsive.
November 3, 2020
I think of this story as a dual character study. One of a young, naïve, small-town girl wanting to be anywhere else. The other, an affable, criminally insane serial killer. These two opposites meet and attract. Their whirlwind romance is tarnished with death and destruction, ending in a predictable confrontation. Ol’ Jimmie John would be a likable feller if he wasn’t so damn crazy. The tale loosely reminds me of Bonnie and Clyde. A good story that I’ve had on my shelf for quite some time. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
January 5, 2025
Very early Block work originally published under one of his many pen names from that time. Teenage couple on a killing spree, loosely based on the infamous Starkweather/Fugate killers. (Fun Fact: Springsteen's song Nebraska is also based on those killings)
Obviously this is not up to the standard set by Blocks later work ...the Scudder & Hit Man series' , but it's an enjoyable easy read & earns 2 👍.
Obviously this is not up to the standard set by Blocks later work ...the Scudder & Hit Man series' , but it's an enjoyable easy read & earns 2 👍.
May 12, 2020
Really a more modern version of Bonnie and Clyde...young couple that finds each other, but the young man only knows one way to deal with a problem. He gets deeper and deeper into a situation that will always have a terrible ending. I enjoyed the bystander accounts of what other people saw or felt as the story moves toward its ultimate conclusion.
January 10, 2020
I liked that the book hooks you right off. All together a fast paced crime spree. Learning at the end that the author based the book on something that took place some years before added to the story.
April 10, 2019
A pretty pedestrian take on the Starkweather case was elevated in my mind with a really good, ambiguous ending. I am a sucker for Lawrence Block
Read
May 10, 2022Didn’t know it was about serial killers. Not my thing.
September 23, 2024
5/10 - Spree killer romance story by Lawrence Block published in 1974. Definitely a lot of examples of Block's excellent pacing and writing, but overall, it was a pretty average story.
July 30, 2012
Jimmie John Hall is 22, handsome, and a career drifter. He hitchhikes across the United States, stealing whatever catches his eye, assaulting people that get in his way, and generally riding high on a never-ending speed trip. Betty Deinhardt is a lonely fifteen-year old high school student from Podunk, Nebraska. Her father drinks, her parents fight constantly, and she keeps to herself, dreaming of one day escaping from her family and her little town and living a life of excitement like she sees in the movies. In some ways, the two seem diametrically opposed; in other ways, they seem destined for one another. Enhancing this feeling is the way that Block tells the story, alternating POVs between the two of them every other chapter. It gives the impression of two fated planets spinning closer and closer until they crash into one another.
The events of Not Comin' Home to You are set into motion when Jimmie John kills a man for his car and his gun and hauls ass for parts unknown. His meandering path takes him north into Nebraska and a small town called Grand Island. There he meets Betty, the two of them fall instantly and hopelessly in love (or maybe lust?), and they agree to run off together. After a night spent in a local hotel, Jimmie John murders a gas station attendant during a holdup (Betty not knowing this at the time) and then convinces her to go with him back to her house to collect her things and tell her parents goodbye. Of course, it’s just a ruse to give Jimmie John an excuse to murder her parents. This he accomplishes according to plan—blowing away even Betty’s near-catatonic grandmother—and then savagely takes his child bride on the floor in the middle of her dead family. They blow town and hit the road, leaving a trail of bodies behind them as they try to evade the ever-tightening noose of the law.
Not Comin’ Home to You was inspired by a real life “thrill kill” couple, Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate. Over a two-month period in 1957, the pair viciously murdered 14 people (including a 2 year old child). Their spree finally culminated in a car chase with police at the end of which Starkweather surrendered to authorities. It’s a story you may be familiar with—not a surprising thing given the fact that the Starkweather murders inspired multiple works of art, from the 1963 exploitation film The Sadist to the 1974 biography of Caril Ann Fugate, titled simply, Caril. And then there’s all the other psycho-killer movies and novels out there (things like The Killer Inside Me, Natural Born Killers, American Psycho, etc.). So without me getting into the details, you should still be able to anticipate how the story is going to end. But that’s not why you should read the book — to see what happens to a couple of star-crossed lovers on their mad killing spree. You should read the book because of the characters themselves.
Block goes to great lengths to depict deep, intricate character portraits for both Jimmie John Hall and Betty Deinhardt. He illustrates detailed facets of their lives, from events in their childhood, to their relationship with their parents, to their inward thoughts and reasoning. Hell, fully one third of the book goes by before the two even meet each other. That’s how much time he puts into developing these characters. He accomplishes this depth through the alternating POV I mentioned earlier (which didn’t stoke my ire in this instance, mostly because it was well-structured and actually had a damn point), but also with short snippets of news reports or interviews or personal conversations spliced in at the end of each chapter. And it's not all death an horror for these two--included as well are brief interludes of tenderness and humanity, scenes illustrating the fact that--just as all heroes have flaws--so too should villains have their... well, whatever the hell is the opposite of "flaw." The result is an almost kaleidoscopic view of the characters—multifaceted, twisted, and yet somehow relatable.
This wasn’t my favorite Block novel (for that, I’ll kindly direct you to Grifter’s Game, originally published under the title Mona), but it rates pretty damn high—which is why I give Not Comin’ Home to You four out of five stars. Give it a look if you get a chance. If you’re a fan of the crime genre—or hell, of well developed characters in general—you’ll probably enjoy it.
http://www.ireadabookonce.com/2012/07...
The events of Not Comin' Home to You are set into motion when Jimmie John kills a man for his car and his gun and hauls ass for parts unknown. His meandering path takes him north into Nebraska and a small town called Grand Island. There he meets Betty, the two of them fall instantly and hopelessly in love (or maybe lust?), and they agree to run off together. After a night spent in a local hotel, Jimmie John murders a gas station attendant during a holdup (Betty not knowing this at the time) and then convinces her to go with him back to her house to collect her things and tell her parents goodbye. Of course, it’s just a ruse to give Jimmie John an excuse to murder her parents. This he accomplishes according to plan—blowing away even Betty’s near-catatonic grandmother—and then savagely takes his child bride on the floor in the middle of her dead family. They blow town and hit the road, leaving a trail of bodies behind them as they try to evade the ever-tightening noose of the law.
Not Comin’ Home to You was inspired by a real life “thrill kill” couple, Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate. Over a two-month period in 1957, the pair viciously murdered 14 people (including a 2 year old child). Their spree finally culminated in a car chase with police at the end of which Starkweather surrendered to authorities. It’s a story you may be familiar with—not a surprising thing given the fact that the Starkweather murders inspired multiple works of art, from the 1963 exploitation film The Sadist to the 1974 biography of Caril Ann Fugate, titled simply, Caril. And then there’s all the other psycho-killer movies and novels out there (things like The Killer Inside Me, Natural Born Killers, American Psycho, etc.). So without me getting into the details, you should still be able to anticipate how the story is going to end. But that’s not why you should read the book — to see what happens to a couple of star-crossed lovers on their mad killing spree. You should read the book because of the characters themselves.
Block goes to great lengths to depict deep, intricate character portraits for both Jimmie John Hall and Betty Deinhardt. He illustrates detailed facets of their lives, from events in their childhood, to their relationship with their parents, to their inward thoughts and reasoning. Hell, fully one third of the book goes by before the two even meet each other. That’s how much time he puts into developing these characters. He accomplishes this depth through the alternating POV I mentioned earlier (which didn’t stoke my ire in this instance, mostly because it was well-structured and actually had a damn point), but also with short snippets of news reports or interviews or personal conversations spliced in at the end of each chapter. And it's not all death an horror for these two--included as well are brief interludes of tenderness and humanity, scenes illustrating the fact that--just as all heroes have flaws--so too should villains have their... well, whatever the hell is the opposite of "flaw." The result is an almost kaleidoscopic view of the characters—multifaceted, twisted, and yet somehow relatable.
This wasn’t my favorite Block novel (for that, I’ll kindly direct you to Grifter’s Game, originally published under the title Mona), but it rates pretty damn high—which is why I give Not Comin’ Home to You four out of five stars. Give it a look if you get a chance. If you’re a fan of the crime genre—or hell, of well developed characters in general—you’ll probably enjoy it.
http://www.ireadabookonce.com/2012/07...
February 27, 2017
9/10
220 pages
Fantastic crime spree novel loosely based on a series of 1958 Nebraska killings. Block at his best!
220 pages
Fantastic crime spree novel loosely based on a series of 1958 Nebraska killings. Block at his best!
December 25, 2016
I didn't like this book. Very slow start.
February 13, 2012
I think this book would be a fine read. The 'hero' reminds me very much of the bad guy in Steven King's 'The Stand', without the supernatural components.
The author has a very crisp style. Excellent characterization, doesn't bog down in trivial details & captures the mood of US desert highways well.
If you are looking for something black, with lots of murder, this is probably a really good bet. It would be for me, too, because I am sometimes in the mood for something as dark as this. But at the moment I feel like reading something else.
Given I only read the sample, my review doesn't really count.
The author has a very crisp style. Excellent characterization, doesn't bog down in trivial details & captures the mood of US desert highways well.
If you are looking for something black, with lots of murder, this is probably a really good bet. It would be for me, too, because I am sometimes in the mood for something as dark as this. But at the moment I feel like reading something else.
Given I only read the sample, my review doesn't really count.
March 9, 2012
This was a fascinating, tense, and sad read. I am a fan of the movie Badlands, so I decided to check this out. I am glad that I did. Betty and Jimmy John are such pathetic creatures, each in their own way. I was surprised to feel what I felt about Betty's actions at the end (no spoiler here), but being surprised by my own emotions is what I enjoy in a good book. I was sick today and had to spend an hour waiting for the doctor to see me, and I didn't even notice because I brought my Kindle with me and was so caught up in this story.
June 23, 2012
I wouldn't call this enjoyable, nor would I say it's not enjoyable. It was uncomfortable to read because I wanted to hate the main characters, for various reasons, but they are the story's vented, it's hard not to pull for them. It further conflicts me to know they are based on real people.
It was a good read up until the very end when we changed perspective to one that hadn't been previously used. I thought that was pretty silly and could have done without it.
It was a good read up until the very end when we changed perspective to one that hadn't been previously used. I thought that was pretty silly and could have done without it.
August 8, 2012
Depressing, fact-based 1974 novel written under the pen-name Paul Kavavagh.
Thriller - He is Jimmie John Hall, "free and white and 22". Her name is Betty Dienhardt, plain, friendless, and oppressed by a bleak home life. In each other, they find a chance for love and fulfillment. But they are doomed. For Jimmie John has already embarked on a killing spree on the backroads of the Southwest that will leave 14 innocent people dead.
Thriller - He is Jimmie John Hall, "free and white and 22". Her name is Betty Dienhardt, plain, friendless, and oppressed by a bleak home life. In each other, they find a chance for love and fulfillment. But they are doomed. For Jimmie John has already embarked on a killing spree on the backroads of the Southwest that will leave 14 innocent people dead.
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