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The Kill-Off
Luane Devore's days are numbered. All her neighbors in the declining seaside resort town of Manduwoc want her dead. Some, like her young husband Ralph and his girlfriend Danny, want the thousands of dollars she keeps hidden under the mattress she spends her days resting on. Others want her to stop her malicious gossip--some of which could ruin lives.
Told from multiple perspectives, The Kill-Off tells the story of a woman not long for this earth--but who will finally take matters into their own hands, and when? THE KILL-OFF was the basis of Maggie Greenwald's critically acclaimed film of the same name.
Told from multiple perspectives, The Kill-Off tells the story of a woman not long for this earth--but who will finally take matters into their own hands, and when? THE KILL-OFF was the basis of Maggie Greenwald's critically acclaimed film of the same name.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1957
53 people are currently reading
1329 people want to read
About the author
Jim Thompson
153 books1,666 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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 late-1940s through mid-1950s. Despite some positive critical notice, notably by Anthony Boucher in the New York Times, he was little-recognized in his lifetime. Only after death did Thompson's literary stature grow, when in the late 1980s, several novels were re-published in the Black Lizard series of re-discovered crime fiction.
Thompson's writing culminated in a few of his best-regarded works: The Killer Inside Me, Savage Night, A Hell of a Woman and Pop. 1280. In these works, Thompson turned the derided pulp genre into literature and art, featuring unreliable narrators, odd structure, and surrealism.
The writer R.V. Cassills has suggested that of all pulp fiction, Thompson's was the rawest and most harrowing; that neither Dashiell Hammett nor Raymond Chandler nor even Horace McCoy, author of the bleak They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, ever "wrote a book within miles of Thompson". Similarly, in the introduction to Now and on Earth, Stephen King says he most admires Thompson's work because "The guy was over the top. The guy was absolutely over the top. Big Jim didn't know the meaning of the word stop. There are three brave lets inherent in the forgoing: he let himself see everything, he let himself write it down, then he let himself publish it."
Thompson admired Fyodor Dostoevsky and was nicknamed "Dimestore Dostoevsky" by writer Geoffrey O'Brien. Film director Stephen Frears, who directed an adaptation of Thompson's The Grifters as 1990's The Grifters, also identified elements of Greek tragedy in his themes.
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 late-1940s through mid-1950s. Despite some positive critical notice, notably by Anthony Boucher in the New York Times, he was little-recognized in his lifetime. Only after death did Thompson's literary stature grow, when in the late 1980s, several novels were re-published in the Black Lizard series of re-discovered crime fiction.
Thompson's writing culminated in a few of his best-regarded works: The Killer Inside Me, Savage Night, A Hell of a Woman and Pop. 1280. In these works, Thompson turned the derided pulp genre into literature and art, featuring unreliable narrators, odd structure, and surrealism.
The writer R.V. Cassills has suggested that of all pulp fiction, Thompson's was the rawest and most harrowing; that neither Dashiell Hammett nor Raymond Chandler nor even Horace McCoy, author of the bleak They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, ever "wrote a book within miles of Thompson". Similarly, in the introduction to Now and on Earth, Stephen King says he most admires Thompson's work because "The guy was over the top. The guy was absolutely over the top. Big Jim didn't know the meaning of the word stop. There are three brave lets inherent in the forgoing: he let himself see everything, he let himself write it down, then he let himself publish it."
Thompson admired Fyodor Dostoevsky and was nicknamed "Dimestore Dostoevsky" by writer Geoffrey O'Brien. Film director Stephen Frears, who directed an adaptation of Thompson's The Grifters as 1990's The Grifters, also identified elements of Greek tragedy in his themes.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews
March 20, 2021
Excelente novela. Muy original. Narrada en primera persona desde el punto de vista de cada uno de los personajes protagonistas que intervienen.
Lo que hace Jim Thompson es hacer un retrato psicológico individual y colectivo de gran magnitud. A parte de lo que pueda suceder en el libro (y no digo que no sea importante), Thompson destripa las emociones profundas; los deseos reprimidos y las personalidades ocultas de una pequeña comunidad de un pueblo costero de EEUU.
El pasado de los protagonistas acaba por salir a la luz y la venganza se convertirá en el verdadero motor de la novela, mientras el lector va haciendo sus cábalas intentando encajar todas las piezas del puzzle.
Excellent novel. Very original. Narrated in first person from the point of view of each of the main characters involved.
What Jim Thompson does is to do a psychological individual and collective portrait of great magnitude. Aside from what might happen in the book (and I'm not saying it's unimportant), Thompson guts out the deep emotions; the repressed desires and hidden personalities of a small community of a USA coastal town.
The past of the protagonists comes to light and revenge will become the real motive of the novel, as the reader makes its cabals trying to fit all the pieces of the puzzle.
Lo que hace Jim Thompson es hacer un retrato psicológico individual y colectivo de gran magnitud. A parte de lo que pueda suceder en el libro (y no digo que no sea importante), Thompson destripa las emociones profundas; los deseos reprimidos y las personalidades ocultas de una pequeña comunidad de un pueblo costero de EEUU.
El pasado de los protagonistas acaba por salir a la luz y la venganza se convertirá en el verdadero motor de la novela, mientras el lector va haciendo sus cábalas intentando encajar todas las piezas del puzzle.
Excellent novel. Very original. Narrated in first person from the point of view of each of the main characters involved.
What Jim Thompson does is to do a psychological individual and collective portrait of great magnitude. Aside from what might happen in the book (and I'm not saying it's unimportant), Thompson guts out the deep emotions; the repressed desires and hidden personalities of a small community of a USA coastal town.
The past of the protagonists comes to light and revenge will become the real motive of the novel, as the reader makes its cabals trying to fit all the pieces of the puzzle.
March 29, 2019
Αποτελεί αναμφίλεκτο επίτευγμα να μεταφέρεις την ποίηση στον πεζό λόγο, ενώ διατηρείς γραφή μινιμαλιστική, και ο εξαιρετικός στιλίστας J. Thompson διέθετε το ταλέντο να το επιτύχει. Σε αντίθεση με τους γραφιάδες αστυνομικών που αναλώνουν την υπομονή τού αναγνώστη στις πολλές εκατοντάδες σελίδων τους, ο Thompson συνήθως χρειάζεται 200-250 σελίδες, συχνά λιγότερο, για να αναπτύξει τους χαρακτήρες και την ιστορία που έχει να διηγηθεί. Και το πράττει με μοναδικό αφηγηματικό ύφος.
Δεν του έχει αποδοθεί τυχαία ο τίτλος "dime-store Dostoyevsky", αν και εγώ θα προτιμούσα τον όρο "Dark-side Dostoyevsky", δεδομένου πως υπάρχουν κάποιες ομοιότητες αλλά και σαφείς διαφορές μεταξύ τους. Ομοιότητες όσον αφορά τον τρόπο που και οι δύο αποδομούν τους ήρωές τους, τοποθετώντας τους σε ένα εχθρικό κοινωνικό περιβάλλον και καταγράφοντας τη σχάση που το τραυματικό γεγονός δημιουργεί στον ψυχικό τους κόσμο και στην επαφή με τους γύρω τους.
Εκεί όμως που οι ήρωες του Ντοστογιέφσκι ως φορείς του δογματικού Χριστιανισμού του συγγραφέα έχουν εξαρχής -ή καταλήγουν με- ορθή (βλ. χριστιανική) πνευματική και ηθική υπόσταση και κάθαρση έστω υπό τη μορφή τιμωρίας, οι ήρωες του Thompson πόρρω απέχουν. Ο hardboiled συγγραφέας δεν προσφέρει καμία κάθαρση, καθότι δεν πιστεύει και δεν επιβραβεύει το δίπολο "ενοχής / τιμωρίας" για τους ήρωές του. Οι τελευταίοι εγκυμονούν σκέψεις και δράση στο σκοτάδι της ύπαρξής τους, τυφλοί απέναντι στα υπόγεια και υπόρρητα κίνητρά τους, αδυνατώντας να ενδοσκοπήσουν, έχοντας απωλέσει (αν ποτέ την είχαν) την πυξίδα που δείχνει τον ηθικό Βορρά.
Κι αν τα προαναφερθέντα ορίζουν το γενικότερο πλαίσιο του έργου του Thompson, το "Ξεπάστρεμα" εξαιτίας της δομής και του ύφους του παραπέμπει σαφώς στον Χέμινγουεϊ (η μεγάλη αγάπη των noir συγγραφέων), αλλά και στον Φώκνερ του "Καθώς ψυχορραγώ".
12 πρόσωπα, κάτοικοι μιας μικρής πόλης σχετίζονται αμέσως ή εμμέσως με τη δολοφονία μιας καθόλα αντιπαθητικής και μοχθηρής γυναίκας που διασπείρει κακεντρέχειες, δηλητηριάζοντας τη ζωή της πόλης. Ο καθένας από αυτούς θα μπορούσε θεωρητικά να είναι ένοχος, όχι πως έχει κάποια ιδιαίτερη σημασία για την αξία του βιβλίου αυτού που, για μένα, θα μπορούσε να έχει ξεκινήσει με την αποκάλυψη του δολοφόνου, δίχως να υστερεί σε τίποτε.
Η λογοτεχνική αξία του έγκειται στον εξαιρετικό τρόπο διαχείρισης του θέματος από τον συγγραφέα. Ο καθένας εκ των 12 αφηγητών διαθέτει το δικό του ύφος, καθώς αφηγείται την ιστορία του με τη μορφή εσωτερικού μονολόγου. Είναι σαφές πως η Χάττι, η μαύρη αγράμματη υπηρέτρια δεν μπορεί να μιλήσει όπως ο μορφωμένος γιατρός. Το ίδιο ισχύει και στην περίπτωση του "τρελού" του χωριού, του οποίου η ποιητική, νεφελώδης οπτική με άγγιξε ιδιαίτερα. Ο Thompson σκιαγραφεί με εντυπωσιακό τρόπο τον ψυχισμό του αλκοολικού μεν, με προφητικές εκλάμψεις δε χαρακτήρα που διακρίνει όσα οι νουνεχείς πολίτες δεν κατορθώνουν.
Και βέβαια, ο μεγάλος συγγραφέας απλά μεγαλουργεί, κάνοντας αυτό που ξέρει καλύτερα, όταν εισέρχεται στο μυαλό των διφορούμενων ή σκοτεινών χαρακτήρων. Εκεί το ανοίκειο γίνεται οικείο και ο αναγνώστης νιώθει την υποχρέωση να συμβιβαστεί με το αρνητικό ή τουλάχιστον να το ανεχτεί, ακόμα κι εάν του φαίνεται εκ πρώτης απεχθές. Ως προς αυτό αναδεικνύεται η τέχνη του σημαντικού αυτού συγγραφέα: στο πώς αποδίδει στιλιστικά την Κοινοτοπία του Κακού, αναγκάζοντας τον αναγνώστη να κοιτάξει για λίγη ώρα μέσα στην άβυσσο, ώστε με τη σειρά της κι αυτή να κοιτάξει εντός του.
Να μια ακόμα αντιστροφή του Ντοστογιεφσκικού προτύπου, καθώς στον Thompson το σκοτεινό, το μιαρό δεν αιτιολογείται, δεν στηλιτεύεται, απλά υφίσταται, προκαλώντας μια άλλου είδους κάθαρση. Όχι εκείνης που στηρίζεται στη δικαίωση, στην τιμωρία, στην επικράτηση του θετικού, αλλά της αισθητικής, αμοραλιστικής μορφής: της αιώρησης του αναγνώστη εκτός συμβάσεων και αναστολών σε έναν υπέροχα στιλιστικό κόσμο όπου ο μόνος κυρίαρχος και Ύπατος ηθικός Αρμοστής είναι ο Συγγραφέας και η πένα του.
https://fotiskblog.home.blog/2019/03/...
Δεν του έχει αποδοθεί τυχαία ο τίτλος "dime-store Dostoyevsky", αν και εγώ θα προτιμούσα τον όρο "Dark-side Dostoyevsky", δεδομένου πως υπάρχουν κάποιες ομοιότητες αλλά και σαφείς διαφορές μεταξύ τους. Ομοιότητες όσον αφορά τον τρόπο που και οι δύο αποδομούν τους ήρωές τους, τοποθετώντας τους σε ένα εχθρικό κοινωνικό περιβάλλον και καταγράφοντας τη σχάση που το τραυματικό γεγονός δημιουργεί στον ψυχικό τους κόσμο και στην επαφή με τους γύρω τους.
Εκεί όμως που οι ήρωες του Ντοστογιέφσκι ως φορείς του δογματικού Χριστιανισμού του συγγραφέα έχουν εξαρχής -ή καταλήγουν με- ορθή (βλ. χριστιανική) πνευματική και ηθική υπόσταση και κάθαρση έστω υπό τη μορφή τιμωρίας, οι ήρωες του Thompson πόρρω απέχουν. Ο hardboiled συγγραφέας δεν προσφέρει καμία κάθαρση, καθότι δεν πιστεύει και δεν επιβραβεύει το δίπολο "ενοχής / τιμωρίας" για τους ήρωές του. Οι τελευταίοι εγκυμονούν σκέψεις και δράση στο σκοτάδι της ύπαρξής τους, τυφλοί απέναντι στα υπόγεια και υπόρρητα κίνητρά τους, αδυνατώντας να ενδοσκοπήσουν, έχοντας απωλέσει (αν ποτέ την είχαν) την πυξίδα που δείχνει τον ηθικό Βορρά.
Κι αν τα προαναφερθέντα ορίζουν το γενικότερο πλαίσιο του έργου του Thompson, το "Ξεπάστρεμα" εξαιτίας της δομής και του ύφους του παραπέμπει σαφώς στον Χέμινγουεϊ (η μεγάλη αγάπη των noir συγγραφέων), αλλά και στον Φώκνερ του "Καθώς ψυχορραγώ".
12 πρόσωπα, κάτοικοι μιας μικρής πόλης σχετίζονται αμέσως ή εμμέσως με τη δολοφονία μιας καθόλα αντιπαθητικής και μοχθηρής γυναίκας που διασπείρει κακεντρέχειες, δηλητηριάζοντας τη ζωή της πόλης. Ο καθένας από αυτούς θα μπορούσε θεωρητικά να είναι ένοχος, όχι πως έχει κάποια ιδιαίτερη σημασία για την αξία του βιβλίου αυτού που, για μένα, θα μπορούσε να έχει ξεκινήσει με την αποκάλυψη του δολοφόνου, δίχως να υστερεί σε τίποτε.
Η λογοτεχνική αξία του έγκειται στον εξαιρετικό τρόπο διαχείρισης του θέματος από τον συγγραφέα. Ο καθένας εκ των 12 αφηγητών διαθέτει το δικό του ύφος, καθώς αφηγείται την ιστορία του με τη μορφή εσωτερικού μονολόγου. Είναι σαφές πως η Χάττι, η μαύρη αγράμματη υπηρέτρια δεν μπορεί να μιλήσει όπως ο μορφωμένος γιατρός. Το ίδιο ισχύει και στην περίπτωση του "τρελού" του χωριού, του οποίου η ποιητική, νεφελώδης οπτική με άγγιξε ιδιαίτερα. Ο Thompson σκιαγραφεί με εντυπωσιακό τρόπο τον ψυχισμό του αλκοολικού μεν, με προφητικές εκλάμψεις δε χαρακτήρα που διακρίνει όσα οι νουνεχείς πολίτες δεν κατορθώνουν.
Και βέβαια, ο μεγάλος συγγραφέας απλά μεγαλουργεί, κάνοντας αυτό που ξέρει καλύτερα, όταν εισέρχεται στο μυαλό των διφορούμενων ή σκοτεινών χαρακτήρων. Εκεί το ανοίκειο γίνεται οικείο και ο αναγνώστης νιώθει την υποχρέωση να συμβιβαστεί με το αρνητικό ή τουλάχιστον να το ανεχτεί, ακόμα κι εάν του φαίνεται εκ πρώτης απεχθές. Ως προς αυτό αναδεικνύεται η τέχνη του σημαντικού αυτού συγγραφέα: στο πώς αποδίδει στιλιστικά την Κοινοτοπία του Κακού, αναγκάζοντας τον αναγνώστη να κοιτάξει για λίγη ώρα μέσα στην άβυσσο, ώστε με τη σειρά της κι αυτή να κοιτάξει εντός του.
Να μια ακόμα αντιστροφή του Ντοστογιεφσκικού προτύπου, καθώς στον Thompson το σκοτεινό, το μιαρό δεν αιτιολογείται, δεν στηλιτεύεται, απλά υφίσταται, προκαλώντας μια άλλου είδους κάθαρση. Όχι εκείνης που στηρίζεται στη δικαίωση, στην τιμωρία, στην επικράτηση του θετικού, αλλά της αισθητικής, αμοραλιστικής μορφής: της αιώρησης του αναγνώστη εκτός συμβάσεων και αναστολών σε έναν υπέροχα στιλιστικό κόσμο όπου ο μόνος κυρίαρχος και Ύπατος ηθικός Αρμοστής είναι ο Συγγραφέας και η πένα του.
https://fotiskblog.home.blog/2019/03/...
July 14, 2019
Luane cree que la van a asesinar y se lo comunica a su abogado.
Así es como comienza este libro que continua con 12 capítulos contados desde la perspectiva de cada una de las 12 personas que podrían querer asesinar a Luane. Es una novela que me ha gustado mucho por esta forma tan original de estar contada, en cada capítulo te metes en la mente de cada una de estas personas y te cuentan como ellas ven su propia vida, sus problemas, sus secretos ... Y sobre todo como cada uno de ellos ve al resto y como creen que los demás los ven a ellos.
Esta es una historia muy oscura, muy agobiante, todas estas personas tiene una vida aparentemente normal pero realmente todos están al límite y son capaces de hacer cualquier cosa.
Jim Thompson ha sido un gran descubrimiento, ya he leído dos libros suyos y estoy deseando continuar con el resto.
Así es como comienza este libro que continua con 12 capítulos contados desde la perspectiva de cada una de las 12 personas que podrían querer asesinar a Luane. Es una novela que me ha gustado mucho por esta forma tan original de estar contada, en cada capítulo te metes en la mente de cada una de estas personas y te cuentan como ellas ven su propia vida, sus problemas, sus secretos ... Y sobre todo como cada uno de ellos ve al resto y como creen que los demás los ven a ellos.
Esta es una historia muy oscura, muy agobiante, todas estas personas tiene una vida aparentemente normal pero realmente todos están al límite y son capaces de hacer cualquier cosa.
Jim Thompson ha sido un gran descubrimiento, ya he leído dos libros suyos y estoy deseando continuar con el resto.
November 24, 2024
Alışveriş yapıyorum, manavdaki görevli telefonla konuşurken; ‘öldür gitsin!’ deyince gayri ihtiyari dönüp sesin sahibine baktım. Çünkü tam da bu kitabı okurken olay mahallinde miyim acep demekten şahsen kendimi alamadım:))
Ve şahane bir kurgu ki böylesine ben hiç rast gelmemiştim. 12 kişi ve hepsi de kendilerini anlatıyor. Gerekçelerini, öfkelerini ve utançlarını… Kızgınlar, hem de çok. Maktulün üzerlerine attığı dedikodu çamurundan intikamla sıyrılıyorlar.
Ve sonuç, tüm yıldızları hak eden bir anlatı.
İntikamı nasıl alırdınız, soğuk 🥶
Ve şahane bir kurgu ki böylesine ben hiç rast gelmemiştim. 12 kişi ve hepsi de kendilerini anlatıyor. Gerekçelerini, öfkelerini ve utançlarını… Kızgınlar, hem de çok. Maktulün üzerlerine attığı dedikodu çamurundan intikamla sıyrılıyorlar.
Ve sonuç, tüm yıldızları hak eden bir anlatı.
İntikamı nasıl alırdınız, soğuk 🥶
April 2, 2017
I backed toward the door. I thought, Oh, how I hate you! HOW I HATE YOU! I hate you so much that - that - ! I hate you, hate you, hate you! -- It didn't occur to me until later that I must have said what I was thinking. That I'd actually yelled it at him.
I've just found my new favourite Thompson noir. Reading this story got better and better all the time. The story is constructed and built up beautifully. There is a continuous red line through it AND side stories to get you confused. Hey, I was pretty confused even at the very end but it only strenghtened my desire to read this story again.
Best thing about the style how it was written is that every chapter is written from the perspective of another character. They all entwine together, some of them have more to tell than others but not necessarily without the reader's deductions between what they've already read and what is being read at the moment.
This is a reading experience I'm already looking forward to, again!
I've just found my new favourite Thompson noir. Reading this story got better and better all the time. The story is constructed and built up beautifully. There is a continuous red line through it AND side stories to get you confused. Hey, I was pretty confused even at the very end but it only strenghtened my desire to read this story again.
Best thing about the style how it was written is that every chapter is written from the perspective of another character. They all entwine together, some of them have more to tell than others but not necessarily without the reader's deductions between what they've already read and what is being read at the moment.
This is a reading experience I'm already looking forward to, again!
December 1, 2024
Another dark, disturbing tale from the Duke of American noir fiction. Thompson can spin a tale like few others ever. Just be prepared for characters who are dark, nasty, disturbed, and just plain mean. Centering his story around a housebound hypochondriac recluse who delights in spreading malicious gossip, Thompson introduces a world of small resort town characters who literally hate her. Luanne Devore "had a positively fiendish talent for tossing the knife, for plunging it into exactly the right spot to send the crap flying."
There's the town lawyer stuck listening to the old lady. There's the younger husband who was once rumored to be her son and for whom every job in town is drying up. There's the would-be cabaret singer- striptease who the husband fantasizes over. There's the bandleader who takes the singer on as a part of his band, the band members, he notes, didn't have enough talent to wipe a real musician's tail. There's the juvenile delinquent son of the town doctor who rants on about killing people and getting young girls hooked on dope.
Cynism just drips off every page as Thompson explores these intriguing characters. Each chapter is a new viewpoint and it is a psychological portrait of all kinds of folks. This may be unlike anything else Thompson wrote in the backwards way the plot develops, but he hasn't lost his touch or his understanding of the human condition. It is hard to understand why this book isn't better known and more widely appreciated. It really is a brilliant piece of literature and perhaps one of the most literary of his works.
There's a murder here, but it comes later in the story after the reader gets a chance to feel how so many people had a motive to commit the murder. There were so many that hated, but only one could have done it.
There's the town lawyer stuck listening to the old lady. There's the younger husband who was once rumored to be her son and for whom every job in town is drying up. There's the would-be cabaret singer- striptease who the husband fantasizes over. There's the bandleader who takes the singer on as a part of his band, the band members, he notes, didn't have enough talent to wipe a real musician's tail. There's the juvenile delinquent son of the town doctor who rants on about killing people and getting young girls hooked on dope.
Cynism just drips off every page as Thompson explores these intriguing characters. Each chapter is a new viewpoint and it is a psychological portrait of all kinds of folks. This may be unlike anything else Thompson wrote in the backwards way the plot develops, but he hasn't lost his touch or his understanding of the human condition. It is hard to understand why this book isn't better known and more widely appreciated. It really is a brilliant piece of literature and perhaps one of the most literary of his works.
There's a murder here, but it comes later in the story after the reader gets a chance to feel how so many people had a motive to commit the murder. There were so many that hated, but only one could have done it.
February 2, 2024
11/2015
I was reading the first couple pages, thinking, "this feels like his Pop. 1280," when I read, on the third or fourth page, "According to the last census, the population was 1,280." The two novels are not connected, and The Kill-Off is from 1957 but Pop.1280 is from 1964. Maybe if I read the very long Jim Thompson biography I'll understand the significance of this. But, overall, I didn't think this experiment in multiple perspectives was that great.
I was reading the first couple pages, thinking, "this feels like his Pop. 1280," when I read, on the third or fourth page, "According to the last census, the population was 1,280." The two novels are not connected, and The Kill-Off is from 1957 but Pop.1280 is from 1964. Maybe if I read the very long Jim Thompson biography I'll understand the significance of this. But, overall, I didn't think this experiment in multiple perspectives was that great.
November 20, 2012
By sheer coincidence, today's Merriam-Webster "Word of the Day" (2/15/08) is whodunit ("a detective story or mystery story"). Coincidence, because just yesterday I finished reading Jim Thompson's The Kill-Off, from 1957. Thompson's novels rarely, if ever, traffic in "who done it" - instead, many of his protagonists are psychopathic killers who leave behind multiple victims in their remorseless wakes. There is little doubt over who the murderer is. And when the protagonist isn't a cold-blooded murderer, it's a con man or some other two-bit hood perpetrating petty crimes. What little mystery there is to Thompson's stories is limited to the sane and socially well-adjusted reader's wonderment over how people like those protagonists could behave so unspeakably.
Which made The Kill-Off a very unexpected and pleasant surprise. Set in an unnamed, dying resort town on the Jersey shore, the story centers on Luane Devore, a middle-aged woman of the fading gentry who spends her days as a self-imposed invalid in her big house on the edge of town, endlessly gossiping on the phone and spreading vicious rumors about pretty much everyone in town. And, in doing so, giving all of them a compelling motive to murder her. Thompson makes it clear, from the very first chapter, that Luane will ultimately be murdered, but he takes his own sweet time getting around to killing her off. Instead, he slowly builds to that climax by presenting each chapter in a different character's voice, establishing each person's place in the town's rather deplorable social milieu. It's very quickly made clear that most of these people had reasons, many of them seemingly justifiable, for doing Luane in. So in introducing each of the characters in such a detailed manner, and clearly signaling Luane's impending demise, the book isn't a "whodunit" so much as a "whowilldoit." The narrative is a very interesting twist on the conventions of crime fiction, one which shows why Thompson was one of the true giants of the art.
Which made The Kill-Off a very unexpected and pleasant surprise. Set in an unnamed, dying resort town on the Jersey shore, the story centers on Luane Devore, a middle-aged woman of the fading gentry who spends her days as a self-imposed invalid in her big house on the edge of town, endlessly gossiping on the phone and spreading vicious rumors about pretty much everyone in town. And, in doing so, giving all of them a compelling motive to murder her. Thompson makes it clear, from the very first chapter, that Luane will ultimately be murdered, but he takes his own sweet time getting around to killing her off. Instead, he slowly builds to that climax by presenting each chapter in a different character's voice, establishing each person's place in the town's rather deplorable social milieu. It's very quickly made clear that most of these people had reasons, many of them seemingly justifiable, for doing Luane in. So in introducing each of the characters in such a detailed manner, and clearly signaling Luane's impending demise, the book isn't a "whodunit" so much as a "whowilldoit." The narrative is a very interesting twist on the conventions of crime fiction, one which shows why Thompson was one of the true giants of the art.
June 30, 2017
The most convoluted, drifting, unidentifiable, plot absent book I've ever read. Quite possibly the product of a too frequent indulgence in illicit pharmaceuticals. Brutal
September 15, 2011
Thompson! again a fabulous book. a story with switching perspectives and voices as each character takes their turn telling the story. the story isn't a mystery about who did it- but who will as everyone seems to have a motive. Curiously enough one character the first you meet is 5 feet tall just like Carl Bigelow from "Savage Night" what is with Thompson and 5 foot men?
it is a oft times funny and great absorbing title again. everyone read this and his other works you won't be disappointed.
it is a oft times funny and great absorbing title again. everyone read this and his other works you won't be disappointed.
May 27, 2014
The first few pages really turned me off. It's written in the very old style as if you're reading someone's journal. But it's Jim Thompson, one of my favorites, so I grudgingly stuck with it. I was further deterred because it's a story told from multiple perspectives. "What the fuck is this, goddamn Clue?" I said to myself.
But I ended up getting hooked by Jim's ability to change into different characters with genuine authenticity. It was like watching someone do magic tricks. Each chapter takes you into a different character's head, and so another piece of the mystery is revealed. To be honest I hardly gave a shit about the plot. It's about some old bitch who's worried some wants to kill her. Good, fuck her, who gives a shit? The real gold is the psychological voyeurism.
This book is awesome for any writers interested in character design. Keep an eye out for this lesser known pulp.
But I ended up getting hooked by Jim's ability to change into different characters with genuine authenticity. It was like watching someone do magic tricks. Each chapter takes you into a different character's head, and so another piece of the mystery is revealed. To be honest I hardly gave a shit about the plot. It's about some old bitch who's worried some wants to kill her. Good, fuck her, who gives a shit? The real gold is the psychological voyeurism.
This book is awesome for any writers interested in character design. Keep an eye out for this lesser known pulp.
January 7, 2023
Thompson really captured the cliche of a small town with large secrets here and he presents it in an unorthodox, engagin way. Each chapter is told from the point of view of the people affected by the central character; a reclusive small minded gossip. What makes it effective is that each "testimony" clears more motivations up.
Some of these stink as why does a girl in a seaside New York town, despite how skittish she is, seem to speak with a southern accent? And I generally couldn't put together the motive of her boyfriend either. His story is novel, with his suspicion that his mother is his fathers black mistress, and both parents fled to cover up the fact. Which led to him not being shown motherly love and as a result is cold and calculating (thompson uses this a lot, and kudos to him setting up his miscreants with believable personal trauma, full of nasty details. that take guts). The town drunk is bizzare and clearly dealing with mental issues which most of the town tolerate as eccenticity. Each tale has connective tissue that believably binds all together and makes it more difficult to discern who actually committed the crime.
The ending I found maybe too ambiguous. You are left with a much more narrow field of suspects but none of them know the truth entirely. You simply hear their side of the story. Sometimes when all the rats get tangled together, it's hard to discern the king. I can buy that.
Some of these stink as why does a girl in a seaside New York town, despite how skittish she is, seem to speak with a southern accent? And I generally couldn't put together the motive of her boyfriend either. His story is novel, with his suspicion that his mother is his fathers black mistress, and both parents fled to cover up the fact. Which led to him not being shown motherly love and as a result is cold and calculating (thompson uses this a lot, and kudos to him setting up his miscreants with believable personal trauma, full of nasty details. that take guts). The town drunk is bizzare and clearly dealing with mental issues which most of the town tolerate as eccenticity. Each tale has connective tissue that believably binds all together and makes it more difficult to discern who actually committed the crime.
The ending I found maybe too ambiguous. You are left with a much more narrow field of suspects but none of them know the truth entirely. You simply hear their side of the story. Sometimes when all the rats get tangled together, it's hard to discern the king. I can buy that.
November 4, 2013
I'll admit it; as a whodunnit, this is a mediocre affair. I didn't guess who the killer was, as I usually do, because it just kind of comes out of nowhere, plot-wise.
But as a snap shot of small-town life, and a glimpse at the interior lives of the apparently small-town/small-lives people who live there, this is Thompson at his best. Unlike so many popular books with alternating character narrations where every character has the exact same voice so that the reader is constantly flipping back to see just who is talking [Goon Gir1], each of the twelve narrating characters here has his or her own, very distinctive, voice.
When you read one character's story, you actually hear that person's voice in your head. And of course they are rarely thinking or being what everyone else assumes they are thinking, or being. Layers. Thompson told amazingly layered, droll, violent, sexy stories despite (or perhaps because of) the constraints of 1950's and 1960's censorship.
I am so glad Jim Thompson's work is finally getting the readership it deserves.
But as a snap shot of small-town life, and a glimpse at the interior lives of the apparently small-town/small-lives people who live there, this is Thompson at his best. Unlike so many popular books with alternating character narrations where every character has the exact same voice so that the reader is constantly flipping back to see just who is talking [Goon Gir1], each of the twelve narrating characters here has his or her own, very distinctive, voice.
When you read one character's story, you actually hear that person's voice in your head. And of course they are rarely thinking or being what everyone else assumes they are thinking, or being. Layers. Thompson told amazingly layered, droll, violent, sexy stories despite (or perhaps because of) the constraints of 1950's and 1960's censorship.
I am so glad Jim Thompson's work is finally getting the readership it deserves.
November 11, 2008
Thompson puts the pulp-crime hatchet away and writes a "Peyton Place" style soap opera about a rich gossip who crushes her neighbors in the safety of her sick bed. Everybody harbors plans to snuff her, but who carries it out? Is it the slutty big band singer, the kept gigolo handyman husband, is it the junk-sick teenage girl or the half-caste Juvenile Delinquent? Very sordid goings on in this book. A decent time waster.
December 23, 2025
This Thompson nightmare has multiple narrators, all of them undependable. The catch is that, in this dying resort town, everyone is pretty much wise to the shortcomings of everyone else, so the truth about a murder is something of a nested puzzle box and self-deception seems to be a community trait. Kossmeyer again plays the role of “justice,” though even his prowess may not be up to this challenge.
June 2, 2015
The One. The man.
«Noche salvaje » ya comenzaba en clave de género negro, pronto derivaba a lo kafkiano y terminaba a lo Carretera Perdida de Lynch. Aquí Thompson vuelve a escribir, con la excusa o la etiqueta del noir, lo que da la gana. 12 capítulos para 12 puntos de vista de 12 personajes, a cual más cafre y solitario. Si lo firmara Carrión y lo publicara Galaxia, los blogs y los suplementos se pasarían el año hablando de «El exterminio».
«Noche salvaje » ya comenzaba en clave de género negro, pronto derivaba a lo kafkiano y terminaba a lo Carretera Perdida de Lynch. Aquí Thompson vuelve a escribir, con la excusa o la etiqueta del noir, lo que da la gana. 12 capítulos para 12 puntos de vista de 12 personajes, a cual más cafre y solitario. Si lo firmara Carrión y lo publicara Galaxia, los blogs y los suplementos se pasarían el año hablando de «El exterminio».
December 23, 2014
great--until the last 10pages
April 6, 2018
Jim Thompson is addictive. Start reading him at your own peril (and the peril of your reading list)!
October 19, 2019
"Now, that's better" I said. "Listen closely, because this concerns you. It's my plan for finishing you off, you and my dearly beloved father . . . I am going to take you out to some deserted place, and bind you with chains. I shall so chain you that you will be apart from each other, and yet together. Inseparable, yet touching. And you shall be stripped to your lustful hides. And in winter I shall douse you with ice-water, and in summer I shall smother you with blankets. And you shall shriek and shiver with the cold, and you shall scream and scorch with the heat. Yet you shall be voiceless and unheard.
That will go on for seventeen years, mother. No, I'll be fair--deduct a couple of years. Then I'll bring you back here, pile you into bed together, and give you a sample of the hell that could never be hot enough for you. Set you on fire. Set the house on fire. Set the whole goddamned town on fire. Think of it, mammy! The whole population. Whole families, infants, children, mothers and fathers, grandparents and great-grandparents--all burning, all stacked together in lewd juxtaposition. And it shall come to pass, mammy. Yeah, verily. For to each thing there is season, mammy, and a time--"
Ask around about Jim Thompson, and I have a lot lately, and all you'll likely hear is a variation on, "Yeah, he wrote about one or two great crime books." This is false. Case in point: "The Kill-Off".
Here is another Thompson novel written in the 50's involving the usual list of plot elements, themes, and characters associated with his work: desperate people acting desperate to make it, gloomy characters not of their time and place, mentally disturbed plotters of murder and sadistic violence, incestuous relationships, small town backdrop with more dark secrets than it has paved roads, an addictive narrative that's as easy to put down as it is quitting opiates cold turkey, familial violence acted on and left unsaid, dialogue that pulses off the page, crisp prose with hardly an extra word or phrase that's not required, a desolate landscape as a setting, and on and on. As far as I'm concerned, and I still have a good number of his novels to read, "The Kill-Off" is Thompson's finest work. If you loved the mentally unhinged characters in "The Killer Inside Me" and "Pop. 1280" well then you're going to be perplexed and taken aback here when faced with Doctor Aston's young son. If it's the despair-filled mood of his characters that are still young but most assuredly are going nowhere in life and their older counterparts, already failures, well you'll have more than enough characters to dig into here. If it's the twisted relationships formed out of poverty and mental illness, this book couldn't possibly contain any more of it. If it's the narrative inventiveness of "The Killer Inside Me", again, here we have a story told from every single character we meet in the book, unfolding in a suspenseful fashion that's the reading equivalent of a master slowly twisting a knife in deeper and deeper until that unexpected ending hits and, strangely, you're wanting more. This novel has it all and then some--by using each character to narrate the story, Thompson avoids the plot getting stuck in one extreme emotion for a sustained period of time and yet he still manages to have each character's view a punishing experience. I get, I guess, why "The Killer Inside Me" is so well known and loved, but I haven't the faintest idea why "The Kill-Off" is relatively unknown. This is the king of gruelling crime fiction doing what he does best, with plenty of surprises, at the height of his literary talent, with each character not only being intriguing but also distinct and believable--there's not a hint of this being as plotted as it is. Run to your used bookstore and search for this one, you won't be disappointed if you've enjoyed the Thompson books you've already consumed. "The Kill-Off", despite its innumerable competition, may just be my favourite crime-fiction novel ever written.
That will go on for seventeen years, mother. No, I'll be fair--deduct a couple of years. Then I'll bring you back here, pile you into bed together, and give you a sample of the hell that could never be hot enough for you. Set you on fire. Set the house on fire. Set the whole goddamned town on fire. Think of it, mammy! The whole population. Whole families, infants, children, mothers and fathers, grandparents and great-grandparents--all burning, all stacked together in lewd juxtaposition. And it shall come to pass, mammy. Yeah, verily. For to each thing there is season, mammy, and a time--"
Ask around about Jim Thompson, and I have a lot lately, and all you'll likely hear is a variation on, "Yeah, he wrote about one or two great crime books." This is false. Case in point: "The Kill-Off".
Here is another Thompson novel written in the 50's involving the usual list of plot elements, themes, and characters associated with his work: desperate people acting desperate to make it, gloomy characters not of their time and place, mentally disturbed plotters of murder and sadistic violence, incestuous relationships, small town backdrop with more dark secrets than it has paved roads, an addictive narrative that's as easy to put down as it is quitting opiates cold turkey, familial violence acted on and left unsaid, dialogue that pulses off the page, crisp prose with hardly an extra word or phrase that's not required, a desolate landscape as a setting, and on and on. As far as I'm concerned, and I still have a good number of his novels to read, "The Kill-Off" is Thompson's finest work. If you loved the mentally unhinged characters in "The Killer Inside Me" and "Pop. 1280" well then you're going to be perplexed and taken aback here when faced with Doctor Aston's young son. If it's the despair-filled mood of his characters that are still young but most assuredly are going nowhere in life and their older counterparts, already failures, well you'll have more than enough characters to dig into here. If it's the twisted relationships formed out of poverty and mental illness, this book couldn't possibly contain any more of it. If it's the narrative inventiveness of "The Killer Inside Me", again, here we have a story told from every single character we meet in the book, unfolding in a suspenseful fashion that's the reading equivalent of a master slowly twisting a knife in deeper and deeper until that unexpected ending hits and, strangely, you're wanting more. This novel has it all and then some--by using each character to narrate the story, Thompson avoids the plot getting stuck in one extreme emotion for a sustained period of time and yet he still manages to have each character's view a punishing experience. I get, I guess, why "The Killer Inside Me" is so well known and loved, but I haven't the faintest idea why "The Kill-Off" is relatively unknown. This is the king of gruelling crime fiction doing what he does best, with plenty of surprises, at the height of his literary talent, with each character not only being intriguing but also distinct and believable--there's not a hint of this being as plotted as it is. Run to your used bookstore and search for this one, you won't be disappointed if you've enjoyed the Thompson books you've already consumed. "The Kill-Off", despite its innumerable competition, may just be my favourite crime-fiction novel ever written.
April 5, 2021
Nasty, nasty, nasty. There's something about Jim Thompson's writing, and certainly in his novel The Kill-Off, that shows us an America of people who are not comfortable in their own skin. They hook up with people as dissatisfied as they are, and before you know it, the bodies start showing up.
Manduwoc is a coastal New England town that caters to vacationing city people. In this book, there are twelve chapters, each seen from the point of view of a different local character. About the only thing most of them agree on is that the aging local scandalmonger, Luane Devore, has got to go for poisoning reputations. In the end, there are three murders, though it is not perfectly clear who offed Luane.
Anyone can be nasty, but Jim Thompson is also really good at it. He keeps up the reader's interest, even with all the conflicting points of view -- and that's not an easy thing to do.
Manduwoc is a coastal New England town that caters to vacationing city people. In this book, there are twelve chapters, each seen from the point of view of a different local character. About the only thing most of them agree on is that the aging local scandalmonger, Luane Devore, has got to go for poisoning reputations. In the end, there are three murders, though it is not perfectly clear who offed Luane.
Anyone can be nasty, but Jim Thompson is also really good at it. He keeps up the reader's interest, even with all the conflicting points of view -- and that's not an easy thing to do.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
i-get-the-picture
May 11, 2025Too many false notes..
March 2, 2026
Not one of his best, but even a lesser Thompson novel is worth the read. I have always thought that Stephen King at his scariest owes a major debt to Jim Thompson. The maniacal killer, grinning and highly intelligent. The use of italics and words all capitalized to capture screaming and shouting. Jim Thompson did it first.
I think his best work is The Getaway or After Dark, My Sweet.
I think his best work is The Getaway or After Dark, My Sweet.
April 4, 2022
The Kill-Off is the second Thompson novel I’ve read that employs different perspectives in each chapter (the other is The Criminal). This one is the story of a small resort town in New York and a gossipy monster of a woman who is convinced she’s going to be murdered. But it’s mostly about the various lives of the denizens of this small town, including a band leader, a jazz singer, a doctor’s sociopathic son, and a crazy man whose disparity between his voice (lofty, pretentious language) and station in life (lush who sleeps in a graveyard) is played for comic relief and reminded me of Mitchell & Webb’s Sir Digby Chicken Caesar. Now, as in the Criminal, Thompson is good at making each perspective unique, and this outing does feel more like a crime novel. Unfortunately, the sort of crime novel it most resembles is the gimmicky Agatha Christie variety; Thompson is so interested in showing off his ability to tell a story in a new way, that it seems like he forgot to craft a story worth telling. That said, it’s far from bad; it’s just not essential.
January 17, 2014
Publicado en http://lecturaylocura.com/el-extermin...
Descubrí a Jim Thompson a lo grande, con su obra maestra inapelable “1280 almas” donde su terrorífico y aparentemente bobalicón sheriff Nick Corey me hizo descubrir el mal sin fisuras; el mal más allá de toda comprensión asociado a la naturaleza humana. Esa obra maestra imperecedera me recuerda una y otra vez que hay pocas experiencias como leer cualquier obra del genial autor norteamericano.
De hecho, cada vez que leo una obra suya, el nivel sube tanto que hace parecer a los escritores actuales como niños en patios de colegio con sus mediocridades. Sí, no hace falta que diga sus nombres, son los que venden ahora; los pobres quedan “a la altura del betún” (como vulgarmente se dice) al compararlos con las obras de este coloso o los de los clásicos Hammet, Chandler, Himes, McDonald, etc.
En esta obra el señor Thompson nos describe cada capítulo desde una perspectiva distinta, ya que utiliza un personaje diferente en cada uno de ellos. Todo comienza con la visita del abogado defensor Kossmeyer a su clienta Luane Devore, que le indica que su marido la quiere matar; el punto de vista de “Kossy” con respecto a ella no deja lugar a dudas del tipo de persona que se siente amenazada:
“Luane se las arreglaba durante las largas horas en que Ralph estaba fuera. De hecho, también se las habría arreglado sin todo aquello, ya que no tenía ninguna enfermedad. Se lo había dicho el médico del pueblo. Y también otro médico al que hice venir de la ciudad. El médico local seguía “tratándola”, porque ella insistía en que lo hiciera, pero no estaba enferma en absoluto. Tan solo padecía autoconmiseración y egoísmo, mala intención y miedo: la necesidad de meterse con la gente desde el santuario de su cama de inválida.”
Luane está convencida de que su marido es el que quiere matarla; Thompson nos atrapa desde las primeras líneas del segundo capítulo con los primeros pensamientos de su marido Ralph Devore:
“Empecé a pensar en matar a Luane el primer día de la temporada de verano, que también fue el día en que abrió la sala de baile, y el día en que conocí a Danny Lee, el vocalista en la orquesta de Rags McGuire. Una mujer, por mucho que se llamara Danny. Muchas de las vocalistas femeninas hoy tienen nombres masculinos. Como Janie, la mujer de Rags, quien siempre había sido la cantante de la banda hasta que sufrió aquel terrible accidente… hasta este año, mejor dicho, porque Rags dice que en realidad no sufrió ningún accidente.”
En apenas unas líneas presenta a otros personajes que irán apareciendo sucesivamente en los siguientes capítulos; lo fabuloso es que utiliza cada uno de ellos para realizar una caracterización ejemplar de ellos y, además, avanzar la trama; cada hilo se va uniendo con otros hasta conformar cada parche necesario para entender lo que ha sucedido al final. La caracterización es única, cada voz es personal y, cómo no, la violencia está más que presente, como en todos los libros del gran autor; solo tenemos que ver el trato de Bobbie Ashton a Myra:
“-¡Hablo en serio, por Dios! -Le di un bofetón-. ¡Te arrancaré la cabeza a golpes! ¡Más te vale ser considerada conmigo, maldita zorra retrasada! ¡Más te vale ser cariñosa, putón de tres al cuarto! ¡Más te vale ser cariñosa y tierna conmigo, más te vale quererme…! ¡MALDITA SEA, QUE ME QUIERAS, HE DICHO! Si no, yo… yo…”
No se andaba con tonterías; representa con tal crudeza algunas escenas que duele hasta leerlas.
Para el final nos deja la sorpresa de un posible final abierto, en un final más postmodernista de lo que es habitual en su obra, en boca del posible asesino nos comenta…
“Luane era un hueso muy duro de roer. Es posible que la caída escaleras abajo simplemente la dejara sin sentido y que alguien entrara después y acabara con ella de todas todas. Es posible que alguien estuviera escondido en la casa durante todo el tiempo que permanecí en su interior.
Sería el crimen perfecto, la verdad. Esa persona podría haber cometido el asesinato, para que yo cargase con la culpa después.”
Si alguien a quien le guste la novela negra, no ha leído a Jim Thompson, que me perdone, pero no tiene ni idea de lo que es novela negra.
Los textos provienen de la traducción del inglés de Antonio Padilla para esta edición de “El Exterminio” de Jim Thompson para la editorial RBA
Descubrí a Jim Thompson a lo grande, con su obra maestra inapelable “1280 almas” donde su terrorífico y aparentemente bobalicón sheriff Nick Corey me hizo descubrir el mal sin fisuras; el mal más allá de toda comprensión asociado a la naturaleza humana. Esa obra maestra imperecedera me recuerda una y otra vez que hay pocas experiencias como leer cualquier obra del genial autor norteamericano.
De hecho, cada vez que leo una obra suya, el nivel sube tanto que hace parecer a los escritores actuales como niños en patios de colegio con sus mediocridades. Sí, no hace falta que diga sus nombres, son los que venden ahora; los pobres quedan “a la altura del betún” (como vulgarmente se dice) al compararlos con las obras de este coloso o los de los clásicos Hammet, Chandler, Himes, McDonald, etc.
En esta obra el señor Thompson nos describe cada capítulo desde una perspectiva distinta, ya que utiliza un personaje diferente en cada uno de ellos. Todo comienza con la visita del abogado defensor Kossmeyer a su clienta Luane Devore, que le indica que su marido la quiere matar; el punto de vista de “Kossy” con respecto a ella no deja lugar a dudas del tipo de persona que se siente amenazada:
“Luane se las arreglaba durante las largas horas en que Ralph estaba fuera. De hecho, también se las habría arreglado sin todo aquello, ya que no tenía ninguna enfermedad. Se lo había dicho el médico del pueblo. Y también otro médico al que hice venir de la ciudad. El médico local seguía “tratándola”, porque ella insistía en que lo hiciera, pero no estaba enferma en absoluto. Tan solo padecía autoconmiseración y egoísmo, mala intención y miedo: la necesidad de meterse con la gente desde el santuario de su cama de inválida.”
Luane está convencida de que su marido es el que quiere matarla; Thompson nos atrapa desde las primeras líneas del segundo capítulo con los primeros pensamientos de su marido Ralph Devore:
“Empecé a pensar en matar a Luane el primer día de la temporada de verano, que también fue el día en que abrió la sala de baile, y el día en que conocí a Danny Lee, el vocalista en la orquesta de Rags McGuire. Una mujer, por mucho que se llamara Danny. Muchas de las vocalistas femeninas hoy tienen nombres masculinos. Como Janie, la mujer de Rags, quien siempre había sido la cantante de la banda hasta que sufrió aquel terrible accidente… hasta este año, mejor dicho, porque Rags dice que en realidad no sufrió ningún accidente.”
En apenas unas líneas presenta a otros personajes que irán apareciendo sucesivamente en los siguientes capítulos; lo fabuloso es que utiliza cada uno de ellos para realizar una caracterización ejemplar de ellos y, además, avanzar la trama; cada hilo se va uniendo con otros hasta conformar cada parche necesario para entender lo que ha sucedido al final. La caracterización es única, cada voz es personal y, cómo no, la violencia está más que presente, como en todos los libros del gran autor; solo tenemos que ver el trato de Bobbie Ashton a Myra:
“-¡Hablo en serio, por Dios! -Le di un bofetón-. ¡Te arrancaré la cabeza a golpes! ¡Más te vale ser considerada conmigo, maldita zorra retrasada! ¡Más te vale ser cariñosa, putón de tres al cuarto! ¡Más te vale ser cariñosa y tierna conmigo, más te vale quererme…! ¡MALDITA SEA, QUE ME QUIERAS, HE DICHO! Si no, yo… yo…”
No se andaba con tonterías; representa con tal crudeza algunas escenas que duele hasta leerlas.
Para el final nos deja la sorpresa de un posible final abierto, en un final más postmodernista de lo que es habitual en su obra, en boca del posible asesino nos comenta…
“Luane era un hueso muy duro de roer. Es posible que la caída escaleras abajo simplemente la dejara sin sentido y que alguien entrara después y acabara con ella de todas todas. Es posible que alguien estuviera escondido en la casa durante todo el tiempo que permanecí en su interior.
Sería el crimen perfecto, la verdad. Esa persona podría haber cometido el asesinato, para que yo cargase con la culpa después.”
Si alguien a quien le guste la novela negra, no ha leído a Jim Thompson, que me perdone, pero no tiene ni idea de lo que es novela negra.
Los textos provienen de la traducción del inglés de Antonio Padilla para esta edición de “El Exterminio” de Jim Thompson para la editorial RBA
October 7, 2018
As the back of this book denotes, this is not so much a who done it as a who will do it. The victim of the murder is alive for two-thirds of the book, though fearful of her impending murder. Through various points of view, Thompson shows that multiple people have reasons to kill the woman, a gossiper who has ruined many a reputation and life among those living in the town. Her younger husband might kill her to get her money (and also the money owed to him that she has confiscated from his work for herself), in part to run off with a new love interest. That love interest might kill her because she's not a very innocent gal and obviously wants to be able to marry her lover. The son of another local might kill her in order to steal money from her to be able to run away with a gal he has an interest in. And so on.
The conceit is an original one, but alas, the characters seem here prisoners to it and to the plot that Thompson has set out. As such, the book doesn't quite live up to its full potential.
The conceit is an original one, but alas, the characters seem here prisoners to it and to the plot that Thompson has set out. As such, the book doesn't quite live up to its full potential.
December 19, 2017
great on so many levels. a thrilling read.
formally, a masterpiece. 12 chapters, each one from p.o.v. of different character, each moves narrative along, adding some twists to previous versions of same core storylines.
contentwise, a complete view of a small town's leading citizens and its outcasts, sometimes one and the same. it's all about unbearable truth and soul-crushing lies.
best character: the town drunk, who sees through everything and everyone.
JT doesn't spell it all out for you, he leaves space for the reader to connect the dots.
spare, engaging prose about sad, shocking disappointments. original characters suffering the sins of the flesh aggravated by society's hypocrisy.
formally, a masterpiece. 12 chapters, each one from p.o.v. of different character, each moves narrative along, adding some twists to previous versions of same core storylines.
contentwise, a complete view of a small town's leading citizens and its outcasts, sometimes one and the same. it's all about unbearable truth and soul-crushing lies.
best character: the town drunk, who sees through everything and everyone.
JT doesn't spell it all out for you, he leaves space for the reader to connect the dots.
spare, engaging prose about sad, shocking disappointments. original characters suffering the sins of the flesh aggravated by society's hypocrisy.
December 1, 2024
The Kill-Off by Jim Thompson, written by Jim Thompson provides the perspective of a dozen perps, [actually Luane is both, perp & victim] each chapter a different view. Within the 12 character profiles of 12 ‘50’s small town folk, Thompson provides the reader a look- captured in time- a diversity of outlooks, but the community equally both -victims & perps. Luane Devore is the prime instigator and prime target 🎯, but each of them have bullseyes attached …
Manduwoc (Pop. 1280) - Long Island Resort Town -
The Perps: A Dirty Dozen:
1 KOSSMEYER - 2 RALPH DEVORE - 3 RAGS MCGUIRE - 4 BOBBIE ASHTON - 5 DR. JAMES ASHTON - 6 MARMADUKE “GOOFY” GANNDER (INCOMPETENT) - 7 HATTIE - 8 LUANE DEVORE - 9 DANNY LEE - 10 HENRY CLAY WILLIAMS - 11 MYRA PAVLOV - 12 PETE PAVLOV
Lawyer Kossmeyer explains. “Mostly, she was a woman who loved scandal—and lived by it. Luane Devore made a specialty of being impetuous, bold, headstrong and—she thought—sultry.”
Town aspirants. “All the office boys want to be company presidents. All the store clerks want to be department heads. All the waitresses and waiters want to be any damned thing but what they are. And
they all let you know it—the the whole lazy, shiftless, indifferent, insolent lot. They’re going to have it or else, and meanwhile it’s a case of do as little as you can and grab as much as you can get.”
Rags time. “I could just about swing it, I thought. A five man combo, including myself, and this girl. I couldn’t make any money with it, not playing the music. I’d be very lucky, in fact, if I could break even. But I could do it—do something, by God, that needed to be done. Give this mixed-up world something that it ought to have, regardless of whether it knew it or wanted it.” — “More than a chance, an absolute certainty. Because I would make something of her; I would not let her fail. I worked with her a couple hours. At the end of that time, she was no longer terrible, but merely bad. Which to her, of course, seemed nothing less than wonderful.” — “Bitch and botch, that was me. In common honesty I ought to start billing myself that way: Bitch And Botch And His Band And Bitch. I could work up a theme song out of it, set it to the melody of—well, Goodie Goodie. Let’s see, now. Tatuh ta ta tum, tatuh… I worked on that for a minute, and then swore softly to myself. I couldn’t do anything right any more. Not the simplest, damnedest ordinary thing.” — “slipping almost immediately into that old familiar dream where everyone in the band was me. I was on the trumpet, the sax-and-clarinet. I was on the trombone, at the drums, and, of course, the piano. All of us were me—the whole combo. And Danny Lee–Janie was the vocalist, but she-they were also me. And it was not perfect, the music was not quite perfect. But it was close, so close, by God! All we-I needed was a little more time—time”
Goofy awakens from a drunkards’ dream. “ I sat up by degrees, shaking and shuddering. I massaged my eyes, wondering, yea, even marveling, over the complete non-wonderment of the situation. For lo! I invariably have a hangover in the morning, even as it is invariably morning when I awaken: and likewise, to complete the sequence of non-marvelousness, I invariably awaken in The City of Wonderful People. ‘Once upon a time, there were two billion and a half bastards who lived in a jungle, which weighed approximately six sextillion, four hundred and fifty quintillion short tons. Though they were all brothers, these bastards, their sole occupation was fratricide. Though the jungle abounded in wondrous fruits, their sole food was dirt. Though their potential for knowledge was unlimited, they knew but one thing. And what they knew was only what they did not know. And what they did not know was what was enough.’ — “That’s no more than you had before.” “It’s all there is,” I repeated. “As I see it, there is nothing more to say.” — “There was nothing else to do now, however; and when there is nothing else to do I do what there is nothing else to do.” Venturing out. “Pour one for yourself,” he snarled, with unaccustomed naivete. “Then you’re gettin’ the hell out of here to a restaurant.” It was a quart bottle, and it was practically full. I picked it up, and ran. I hated to do it, naturally. It was not only ungrateful, but also shortsighted; in eating the golden egg, figuratively speaking, I was destroying a future hen. When a man is drowning, he snatches at bottles.” — “True, I was not very prepossessing, either in appearance or actions. I was not, but neither was he. He was every bit as unreassuring in his way as I was in mine. And as you are in yours. We were both disguised. The materials were different, but they had all come from the same loom.”
Hattie ponders her fate. “he tell me the mind can’t go no farther than a person’s ’cabulary. You got to have the words or you can’t talk, and you got to have ’em or you can’t think. No words, no thinking. Just kind of feeling.”
County Legal Authority. “ Always knowing just what to do and what not to do, and knowing that it would be all right if you made a mistake. Not like it is now, when you mean well but you ain’t real sure of yourself, and there’s no one to come straight out and set you straight. Not like it is now, when people can’t understand that you’re truly sorry about something—and being sorry is about all you can do—and they wouldn’t give a damn if they did understand.”
OK, enough thinking about it. I’m no spoiler. I will not Kill-off for you the surprise ending on who finished Luane.
Manduwoc (Pop. 1280) - Long Island Resort Town -
The Perps: A Dirty Dozen:
1 KOSSMEYER - 2 RALPH DEVORE - 3 RAGS MCGUIRE - 4 BOBBIE ASHTON - 5 DR. JAMES ASHTON - 6 MARMADUKE “GOOFY” GANNDER (INCOMPETENT) - 7 HATTIE - 8 LUANE DEVORE - 9 DANNY LEE - 10 HENRY CLAY WILLIAMS - 11 MYRA PAVLOV - 12 PETE PAVLOV
Lawyer Kossmeyer explains. “Mostly, she was a woman who loved scandal—and lived by it. Luane Devore made a specialty of being impetuous, bold, headstrong and—she thought—sultry.”
Town aspirants. “All the office boys want to be company presidents. All the store clerks want to be department heads. All the waitresses and waiters want to be any damned thing but what they are. And
they all let you know it—the the whole lazy, shiftless, indifferent, insolent lot. They’re going to have it or else, and meanwhile it’s a case of do as little as you can and grab as much as you can get.”
Rags time. “I could just about swing it, I thought. A five man combo, including myself, and this girl. I couldn’t make any money with it, not playing the music. I’d be very lucky, in fact, if I could break even. But I could do it—do something, by God, that needed to be done. Give this mixed-up world something that it ought to have, regardless of whether it knew it or wanted it.” — “More than a chance, an absolute certainty. Because I would make something of her; I would not let her fail. I worked with her a couple hours. At the end of that time, she was no longer terrible, but merely bad. Which to her, of course, seemed nothing less than wonderful.” — “Bitch and botch, that was me. In common honesty I ought to start billing myself that way: Bitch And Botch And His Band And Bitch. I could work up a theme song out of it, set it to the melody of—well, Goodie Goodie. Let’s see, now. Tatuh ta ta tum, tatuh… I worked on that for a minute, and then swore softly to myself. I couldn’t do anything right any more. Not the simplest, damnedest ordinary thing.” — “slipping almost immediately into that old familiar dream where everyone in the band was me. I was on the trumpet, the sax-and-clarinet. I was on the trombone, at the drums, and, of course, the piano. All of us were me—the whole combo. And Danny Lee–Janie was the vocalist, but she-they were also me. And it was not perfect, the music was not quite perfect. But it was close, so close, by God! All we-I needed was a little more time—time”
Goofy awakens from a drunkards’ dream. “ I sat up by degrees, shaking and shuddering. I massaged my eyes, wondering, yea, even marveling, over the complete non-wonderment of the situation. For lo! I invariably have a hangover in the morning, even as it is invariably morning when I awaken: and likewise, to complete the sequence of non-marvelousness, I invariably awaken in The City of Wonderful People. ‘Once upon a time, there were two billion and a half bastards who lived in a jungle, which weighed approximately six sextillion, four hundred and fifty quintillion short tons. Though they were all brothers, these bastards, their sole occupation was fratricide. Though the jungle abounded in wondrous fruits, their sole food was dirt. Though their potential for knowledge was unlimited, they knew but one thing. And what they knew was only what they did not know. And what they did not know was what was enough.’ — “That’s no more than you had before.” “It’s all there is,” I repeated. “As I see it, there is nothing more to say.” — “There was nothing else to do now, however; and when there is nothing else to do I do what there is nothing else to do.” Venturing out. “Pour one for yourself,” he snarled, with unaccustomed naivete. “Then you’re gettin’ the hell out of here to a restaurant.” It was a quart bottle, and it was practically full. I picked it up, and ran. I hated to do it, naturally. It was not only ungrateful, but also shortsighted; in eating the golden egg, figuratively speaking, I was destroying a future hen. When a man is drowning, he snatches at bottles.” — “True, I was not very prepossessing, either in appearance or actions. I was not, but neither was he. He was every bit as unreassuring in his way as I was in mine. And as you are in yours. We were both disguised. The materials were different, but they had all come from the same loom.”
Hattie ponders her fate. “he tell me the mind can’t go no farther than a person’s ’cabulary. You got to have the words or you can’t talk, and you got to have ’em or you can’t think. No words, no thinking. Just kind of feeling.”
County Legal Authority. “ Always knowing just what to do and what not to do, and knowing that it would be all right if you made a mistake. Not like it is now, when you mean well but you ain’t real sure of yourself, and there’s no one to come straight out and set you straight. Not like it is now, when people can’t understand that you’re truly sorry about something—and being sorry is about all you can do—and they wouldn’t give a damn if they did understand.”
OK, enough thinking about it. I’m no spoiler. I will not Kill-off for you the surprise ending on who finished Luane.
November 19, 2008
I am reading a collection of Thompson's more well known novels titled, HARDCORE. Having only read THE KILLER INSIDE ME, I was still unaware of Thompson's overall style but prepared for the inevitable abhorrent violence and unlikable characters. This novel is completely different, and the multiple narrator approach is incredible. Read Jim Thompson.
January 21, 2012
More a literary exercise; an experiment in story telling, and worth a look for that aspect, if you're a fan of Thompson. But it's no The Getaway. For me, someone who looses track of characters, it was especially difficult, and I didn't catch on right away what was going on, so the ending was a bit anti-climatic. I admire the effort.
September 3, 2016
Not peak Thompson by any means. Fun, though, and stylistically bold - like many of his books - for 1950s noir. Structuring the narrative in an AS I LAY DYING style is a good technique to adapt to noir; the only issue is that not all the characters are equally interesting and you only get one chapter of each.
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