The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson – Reviewed by Guy Portman
Twenty-nine-year-old Lou Ford is a Deputy Sheriff from the West Texas town of Central City. Lou is a hard-working and simple character with a fondness for clichés; at least this is how he is perceived by his community. In reality Lou is a sociopath with a dark secret that he has been hiding since childhood.
Written from the first-person perspective, this book offers a chilling yet compelling insight into the mind of a sadomasochistic sociopath. Although deeply disturbed and devious, Lou is prone to pithy and at times humorous observations about others.
The author succeeds in engrossing and disturbing the reader. This is achieved through the utilisation of realistic, simple prose and a raw writing style. Widely acclaimed as 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.
