The Killer Inside Me

This book was ahead of its time and of its time. Jim Thompson is an excellent writer with much insight.

Very well done and hugely disturbing, this was as difficult-to-read as any book I can recall. "Intense" does not do it justice. Strange as this novel was, and shocking as it was, the character of the narrator-protagonist was believable ... frighteningly so. He was a well-respected member of his small town community who people believed was kind, caring and without guile. I will go no further w/o spoilers.

What makes Jim Thompson unique in his novels is that he takes the side of the sinister, the wrong side, that is, on the side of the killer, and here there is something new, in addition to knowing how to maintain the tension. Here is a killer who kills out of obligation, the circumstances lead him to murder, circumstances that stem from the war, that is, prior to the novel, and besides, the killer is smart and manipulative, or not so much? Good description of the atmosphere in the novel and, except for some lucky breaks for the protagonist, no flaws, good ending, turning things around, or not so much? (Translated from Spanish)

The rage that seizes Lou Ford, a sheriff's deputy in a remote Texas town, from an early age is unleashed after a mundane event, turning into an Apocalypse, a macabre Dance of Death filled with blood and murders, all orchestrated by his dark half housed in the body of this psychopath who justifies all his actions as necessary evils. The fog that envelops his mind like a curse leads him to embark on an expedition, a long march of murders from which he will not find redemption, although he harbors dreams of escape, believing himself to be a fugitive who cannot be discovered.

A noir novel written from the perspective of the killer clearly demonstrates his disturbances as if they were justified motives, fully aware that what he seeks is merely to cause harm and inflict pain. A great pretender who abuses his ability to feign empathy to facilitate the commission of crimes, making his victims trust him. A psychopath who begins his blood-red spiral at an early age and does not hesitate to let others bear the blame. With the misery of his desperation to appear as a normal person, but with a secret window into the curse of his twisted soul, there is no dark tower, only the darkness of his thoughts that masterfully outline the personality of a murderer devoid of remorse. This is not a monster coming to see us; it is the monster within us.

King defined him as one of his most recurrent writers in his youth. There must be a reason for that. (In his magnificent prologue to the reissue of "Here and Now," he mentions - he is a true maniac, an expert on the dark side of human nature - Thompson has taken from me much more than just a few hours of what I consider good reading, though with a disturbing sense of unreality (or reality) and it makes me go after 1280 souls. Though in France they reduce it to 1275.

Watching the movie is another overwhelming experience; forget that it is based on the book; there is no comparison, nor is it possible to lean towards either (in Spanish it is called "the devil under the skin"). (Translated from Spanish)

A story as tough as it is essential... a must-read for readers with a strong stomach. (Translated from Spanish)

I found it quite entertaining. You don't get bored at any moment, and it's a book you could read in one go. It has some scenes that I think are difficult to understand, but overall, I recommend it. (Translated from Spanish)

Simply put, Jim Thompson’s 1952 novel The Killer Inside Me is a stunner, one of those novels that, once picked up, demand the reader to keep turning pages. Mostly during the 1930s and 1940s, Thompson wrote over thirty novels, and most of those, including The Killer Inside Me, were published as paperback originals. That’s probably why Thompson got so little critical appreciation during his lifetime. He was, however, “rediscovered” during the 1980s, and several of his novels have now been filmed or republished. The Killer Inside Me even opens the Library of America collection titled Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s, a five-novel collection that includes Patricia Highsmith’s remarkable The Talented Mr. Ripley along with works from the classic noir writers Charles Willeford, David Goodis, and Chester Himes.

“I grinned, feeling a little sorry for him. It was funny the way these people kept asking for it. Just latching onto you no matter how you tried to brush them off, and almost telling you how they wanted it done. Why’d they all have to come to me to get killed? Why couldn’t they kill themselves?”

Twenty-nine-year-old Lou Ford, narrator of The Killer Inside Me, is a cop in the small West Texas town he’s lived in his whole life. Central City, Texas, is an oil boom town that has grown from a population of 4,800 to one of more than 48,000 during Lou’s lifetime, and it is not anything like the quiet little community it had been when his father was the town’s family doctor. Lou is the cop everybody likes, the guy who doesn’t appear to be all that smart but always has the time and good advice for those who need it most. And that’s just the way Lou wants it.

The real Lou Ford, however, is nothing like the one people think he is. No, the real Lou Ford is brilliant. He reads in several languages, a feat he taught himself by reading from the extensive library his father left behind in the family home/doctor’s office after he died. He’s read his father’s medical texts — and he’s completely conversant about their contents. With his photographic memory, Lou could have easily become a doctor and taken over his father’s established practice had he wanted to do that. But most importantly, the real Lou Ford is a psychopath who is just as likely to kill you as smile at you and quote some homespun advice he’s memorized from his reading. He’s a man who, entirely for his own amusement, manipulates everyone unfortunate enough to know him. And the really scary thing is what he’s capable of doing to the people he grows tired of — or those who make the mistake of crossing him.

Lou Ford is an unforgettable narrator who, despite his mental illness, turns out to be the exact opposite of the unreliable narrator. Instead, Lou wants the reader (often addressing them directly) to know exactly what he is thinking and planning — even to telling them that he is going to kill someone long before he actually does it. He is a brutal, violent man in the midst of losing the self-control that has allowed the killer inside him to remain hidden as long as it has. But that is about to change…and the body-count is mounting.

“…the way I see it is, the writer is just too goddam lazy to do his job. And I’m not lazy, whatever else I am. I’ll tell you everything. But I want to get everything in the right order. I want you to understand how it was.”

Bottom Line: The Killer Inside Me is a surprisingly disturbing novel, but the disturbance does not necessarily come from the explicitness of Lou Ford’s murders. I was much more taken aback by —the ease with which a man like Lou Ford (and his real life versions) is so easily able to lure innocent victims into his web of murder and abuse. The horror of that ability is magnified by the ease — and pleasure — that Ford takes in giving his readers such a revealing account of how easy it is for someone like him to kill — and get away with it.

The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson A great book!

I just loved the understated monologue about killing people and the matter of factness about the necessity to do so. I also really liked how the main protagonist Deputy Ford, never got it quite right.What is it about a book that can capture the atmosphere and essence of small town life so well. I almost felt like I was there. I just loved the myopic ineluctable journey to the very end of things.I kinda understand that this was one of the earliest examples of the genre but I never let that spoil it for me.Bloody good read.

It is a great classic of the noir novel. Its author is considered one of the great writers within this genre.
Lo Ford is the sheriff's deputy in a small town in Texas, a man with the image of a bland and good-natured person, incapable of doing anything wrong even if he wanted to, very patient, very affable, with a friendly, sympathetic, and somewhat stupid air, for whom everyone would stand up to vouch, but all of it is an act he has been honing all his life that forces him to keep playing along. He is a psychopathic serial killer.
He experienced a traumatic episode in his adolescence that pushes him to become a killer, a side that awakens when he receives the order to expel a prostitute from the town, and from that event, a series of murders will unfold.
It is a hypnotic and very well-set novel. It is very light and very good. I liked it and enjoyed it a lot.
Another point that I liked is the ambiguity between good and evil. That you think you know a person and you don't know them at all, each person has multiple facets and we are unable to know them all; each person is a world, and we should not be misled by first impressions.
I recommend it for those who want to start reading stories of this genre. (Translated from Spanish)

Tremendous, the psychology of the protagonist, on par with the most famous criminals in the history of noir fiction. A captivating book where horror is served in small doses by Lou Ford, a charismatic killer. To be read alongside "1280 Souls," another masterpiece by Jim Thompson. (Translated from Spanish)

The Killer Inside Me (1952) by Jim Thompson. This is one of Mr. Thompson’s more intense novels, not that any of the others will let you breathe easy. This is a simple story of revenge when the person who feels wrong is a sociopathic killer.
Lou Ford is a deputy sheriff in a small west Texas town. The townsfolk look up to him and are thankful that he is the law out there in the late 40’s and early 50’s. With him around they all feel safe from whatever might blow into town. But there is that psycho killer lurking in plain sight. He is cruel, a true killer, and worse yet, he slaps around women and uses them as sex toys. He is just plain evil. And Lou Ford has to contend with him.
This is truly a novel that is a mind worm, slowly eating away at your gray matter. Hard to read, harder yet to stop reading, this book will get inside you and not let you go. Someone mentioned that after reading this you mind want to wash your brain in bleach. Or as another killer psycho, the Donald said, inject some other disinfectant into yourself to kill the virus “in a minute.” Either way, this is one story that is hard to get rid of.

It is a reading that I have not enjoyed, nor has it conveyed anything to me, and at many moments, I couldn't make heads or tails of it. (Translated from Spanish)

The book is brutal. Cold and shocking.

"I would do anything, read a book, for example, or be with her, and suddenly the thought would come to me that I was going to kill her, and it seemed so absurd that I almost burst out laughing. But then I would think about it again, and I saw clearly that I had to do it..." (Translated from Spanish)

I didn't know this writer, but I think he is on par with the greatest of the noir genre. Very good. (Translated from Spanish)

I enjoyed this book in the end. It read quite quickly, despite me finding the style quite difficult at first. I enjoyed the ending and the way in which the cause of the events was revealed throughout the book. I also found it interesting the way in which I was rooting for the killer, even though he had obviously done terrible things. The first person style really meant a lot of detachment from the actions of Lou Ford. Elements reminded me a lot of American Psycho. =

If it stirs you inside (like it does me) to see someone insult, belittle, or mistreat any dog, cat, or little bird... imagine reading about a deputy sheriff controlling the inhabitants of a peaceful town in Texas, roughly in the 1940s; who beats and kills women and men with a chilling coldness that frightens, with a mind that will take you to the dark side and is beyond our logic.
The protagonist, the aforementioned deputy sheriff, does not crouch like a scorpion under the rocks, but rather looks you in the eye and tells you directly what he thinks and how he is going to do it... and then... bang bang boom!!!
For spoilers of the novel, Google is there, the back covers of various editions, and the title "The Killer Inside Me." Intuitive that it is not suitable for sensitive hearts.
I, as an illiterate novice in noir and/or detective novels and without delving into literary perfection; found it very entertaining, which is what I was looking for.
For genre lovers, it's worth mentioning that "Jo Nesbo," when asked for recommendations for someone wanting to start reading detective novels, advises the author "Jim Thompson" and especially this book.
Also highlight what the master "Stephen King" says on the back cover of the book I have in my hands:

"My favorite author of crime and mystery novels (often imitated but never matched) is Jim Thompson." (Translated from Spanish)

This book was slow starting and didn't really hook me from the beginning. It took me over sixty pages to become engrossed, but once I became involved, it was fast reading from there. This book is incredibly disturbing. You find yourself sympathizing and agreeing with a schizophrenic murderer. The book was great and the way that Thompson let the events unfold in front of you, never letting you know too much at a time, was absolutely phenomenal. If you can make it through those initial chapters, trust me, you're in for a hell of a book.

Easily readable. Sometimes a bit convoluted but understandable. A book that, although it didn't disappoint me, I can't say that I like. Difficult to categorize. (Translated from Spanish)

Dexter meets 1950's Texas, which seems on the surface like it might be pretty good, but it just didn't click for me. I got too hung up on the misogyny, and the audio narrator wasn't fabulous, either.

This is a darker, slightly loopier granddaddy of TV's Dexter. Stop me if this sounds familiar: a law-enforcement officer, traumatized in childhood and subsequently watched closely by his father, splits his adult days between being a beloved community cornball and sadistically murdering people… and, in the most interesting twist here, we get to see it all from his perspective. It's to Thompson's credit that he mostly pulls this off—I found myself nearly agreeing with the deranged murderer that yes, this person in front of him totally needed to die. What might drag down the book for you a bit are Thompson's excesses. He gets carried away with beat-style passages, his plot is needlessly complicated in the classic noir fashion, and his characters are often painted so broadly you'll roll your eyes. If you think of it as genre writing, you'll forgive these flaws, as they're par for the course. It's up to you to decide if Thompson's violent, unapologetically evil story is a weak noir novel, or an interestingly twisted one. I'm still not fully decided myself.

The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson is the story of a crime as seen through the eyes of the perpetrator. His depravity is laid out for the reader to absorb and as the lies and bloodshed escalate, we are drawn deeper into how the mind of a sociopath works. Lou Ford is a fascinating character and author Jim Thompson has captured his twisted personality perfectly.

Before the book is through he is responsible for a number of deaths, some directly and some by association. This is a deeply damaged misogynist who kills men who are in his way, but he beats women to death for pure pleasure. Lou Ford has spent many years suppressing his violent wants and needs but when he meets prostitute Joyce Lakeland, he unleashes his inner feelings and allows his sickness to see the light of day. Although he tries to explain and justify his crimes, the reader can feel his pleasure and pride in his vicious murders.

The Killer Inside Me is both creative and original, and has been imitated many times since it’s original publication in 1952. Jim Thompson has created an unforgettable character in Lou Ford with his good ol’ boy mask that isn’t quite able to hide the monster underneath.

In a word (or two): Essential noir.

The narrator, Lou, is a sheriff's deputy in a small west Texas oil town. He appears to be affable, eager to help, and somewhat dim-witted. He is actually a psychopathic killer. The question is, when will the people around him discover what he really is.

This book is fast-paced, well written, and utterly believable.

Good, easy read. Moves at a fast pace w/ the ending somewhat predictable, yet still very, very good.

Lovely and horrendous.

The Killer Inside - Jim Thompson ***

I had never heard of Jim Thompson, but browsing in a bookshop came across this. Stephen King recommended the author on the cover so I decided to pick it up and give it a try. I was surprised that it was written so long ago (1952) but I am quite a fan of the Noir period. James M Cain has to be one of most recently discovered favourite authors.

What is it about?

The book is told through the eyes of a small town deputy by the name of Lou Ford, a man who has created a fake persona as a slightly slow but lovable member of the community. We experience his paranoia and disturbed view of the world that leads him into a killing spree. Fuelled by past events from his childhood Ford meticulously plans each murder, but how long will it be before he is found out?

What did I like?

The action when it comes is very vivid, Thompson leaves very little to the imagination as we are described blow by blow the injuries inflicted on Ford's victims. I enjoyed the way that we are only allowed to experience Ford's own thoughts, this left me second guessing along with him whether or not the other characters were believing his stories or not. It was interesting to see how he perceived each situation and as his mental disease became more apparent to the reader, I also found myself looking at past events in a new light.

What didn't I like?

I understand the whole noir genre, and the need to keep language short and direct, but for me the novel was just a little too extreme. At times I lost myself in the plot and wasn't entirely sure what was happening. I admit, maybe this was just as much down to me as the author, but for me it spoilt the flow of the novel. Also I wish the author had explored Lou's early life a little more especially as the events directly related to his present day frame of mind. I love the character of Lou, but can't but help wonder what more have become if Cormac McCarthy had got his hands on him. Reminds me more than little of Child of God.


Anyway, by no means a poor read, just didn't hit enough buttons for me to be able to give it more than 3 stars. Looking at Amazon it has more than it's fair share of 5 star reviews so I am willing to accept that the fault is likely to be with me. I don't think I will actively seek out any more of Thompson's works, but if one 'fell' into my lap I would possibly give it a try.

Lou Ford is a young deputy sheriff with a big secret. He has what he calls a "sickness." In truth, he is a sexual sadist and a homicidal sociopath. After having rough sex with a prostitute he finds all of his urges have come back. Years earlier he attacked a child. When his foster brother took the blame for the crime, Lou thought his secret was safe, especially when his brother died in a construction "accident." He got away with it until he decided to blackmail the men who supposedly murdered his brother. Things get complicated and the bodies start piling up. Ford is a strange man (never mind the fact he's a killer). He speaks in cliches all the time and he has an ego the size of Alaska. He thinks that he has covered up each and every crime and hasn't left a shred of evidence that could implicate him in any way. It's strange to read this in the 21st century. So many different forensic techniques we take for granted today (DNA, for one) were not available back in the 1950s. Even methods like the polygraph and fingerprinting have been greatly improved since their invention.

Twenty-nine-year-old Lou Ford is a Deputy Sheriff from the West Texas town of Central City. Lou, who is in a long-term relationship with childhood sweetheart Amy Stanton, is a hard-working, trustworthy, simple character with a keenness for clichés; at least this is how he is perceived to be by his community. In reality Lou is a sociopath with a dark secret that he has been hiding since childhood.

The story follows the highly intelligent, manipulative and cold-blooded psychopathic killer Lou. Written from the first-person perspective, the book offers a chilling yet compelling insight into the mind of a psychopath. A deranged, deeply disturbed mind capable of meticulous, deviant planning. A mind acutely aware of its sociopathic nature and sadomasochistic tendencies, but also on occasion prone to pithy and at times humorous observations about others.

The author both engrosses and disturbs the reader through the utilisation of realistic, simple prose, a raw writing style and an engaging plot. Widely acclaimed as something of a master of suspense, Thompson expertly escalates the tension with a quick moving plot and by providing only enough detail for context.

Unrelenting in its bleakness, pessimism and ruthlessness, The Killer Inside Me is a thought-provoking and suspenseful book that has transcended pulp fiction to become a widely acclaimed literary work.

Lou is a deputy sheriff in small town Texas. He appears slow but actually quite smart. This story of a socialpath is told in the first person. It is considered to be vintage crime novel in the US, written in 1952. The movie of this would be very gruesome.

Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson describes the obsession of a small-town deputy sheriff. He is beloved by the community for his uncommon ability to calm violent prisoners. Told in the first-person, we soon learn of the narrator's dark past and even more foreboding future.

Like most of Thompson's books, this one is a real downer, but watching this bad sheriff's deputy as he goes his merry way is certainly compelling. Even his indisputable intelligence can't humanize him in light of the cold-blooded way he treats others. Certainly one of the essential noir experiences, but not an altogether pleasant one.