Tag Archives: noir
The Burglar by David Goodis
“Look at the way he moves around. This is a trace artist. It’s a very special gift. One in a million has it. Like a mind reader, a dealer in some kind of magic.” The Library of America edition of … Continue reading
Filed under Fiction, Goodis David
The Grifters by Jim Thompson
Perhaps watching the film version of The Killer Inside Me drove my interest when earlier this year I decided to hold a Jim Thompson noirfest. It was time to dust off those copies and actually read them, so I committed … Continue reading
Filed under Fiction, Thompson Jim
Pop 1280 by Jim Thompson
“I’d been chasing females all my life, not paying no mind to the fact that whatever’s got tail at one end has teeth at the other, and now I was getting chomped on.” The Jim Thompson noirfest continues with the … Continue reading
Filed under Fiction, Thompson Jim
The Getaway by Jim Thompson
“Flight is many things. Something clean and swift, like a bird skimming across the sky. Or something filthy and crawling; a series of crablike movements through figurative and literal slime, a process of creeping ahead, jumping sideways, running backward.” A … Continue reading
Filed under Fiction, Thompson Jim
A Hell of a Woman by Jim Thompson
Jim Thompson’s A Hell of a Woman (originally called How Now Brown Cow) is the fourth selection for the Thompson Noir fest. I chose this title thanks to a strong recommendation from Journey to Perplexity. The recommendation was spot-on, and … Continue reading
Filed under Fiction, Thompson Jim
A Swell-Looking Dame by Jim Thompson
“She’s been around, she knows what the score is, she ain’t some punk bobby-soxer with the mood in her eyes. Dames in her racket, kid–bouncing around in these nightclubs with everything showing but their appetite–they all belong to the same club. The … Continue reading
Filed under Fiction, Thompson Jim
Savage Night by Jim Thompson
“With a dame like her, if she really liked you, you could practically throw away the brakes.” Savage Night is the second title in the Jim Thompson noir fest. Although it’s not as successful a novel as The Killer Inside … Continue reading
Filed under Fiction, Thompson Jim
The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson
“I guess I kind of got a foot on both fences, Johnnie. I planted them there early and now they’ve taken root, and I can’t move either way and I can’t jump. All I can do is wait until I … Continue reading
Filed under Fiction
Detour by Martin M. Goldsmith
“There ought to be a law against women with sharp nails.” Recently I’ve decided to read the books behind some of my favourite classic noir films. The cheap, vicious B noir film Detour is a masterpiece and it makes my top … Continue reading
Filed under Fiction, Goldsmith Martin M.
