sireno8's review against another edition
3.0
A fascinating study in pulp paranoia from one of the masters of the genre. It's slickly paced and peppered with imagery brilliant and disturbing, some of it downright disgusting--but like an accident on the side of the road, it's impossible to turn away. It's a real testament to a writer when they getting you rooting for a character who is completely despicable. What I found particularly surprising was the deft character deliniations drawn largely out of dialogue. Much of it has stayed with me--I keep moving the plot pieces around in my head. Dark but dazzling.
jakewritesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Seems like standard issue noir until the ending, which is crazy and dark. I like Thompson's books and, while this wasn't the best of the bunch, the ending is pretty nuts.
robert1234's review against another edition
2.0
Jim Thompson is usually one of my favorite authors. However, this book fell way short of my expectations. Too much bad poetic indulgence. By the time I got to the garden of woman's body parts and screaming goats, I just wanted to put the book down and go to sleep.....
booksnguitars's review against another edition
3.0
Another gritty thriller from Thompson. Great language at points, this guy was obviously years ahead of the pack, as far as noir thrillers go.
thomasroche's review against another edition
2.0
Great writing marred by discursive and inexplicable subplots, problems with the overall story structure, much too slow a pace, and a murky ending that I found totally incomprehensible. Stylistically, it's great at times, but there are just too many logic problems and weird characterization glitches for me to really think it was a good book. However, there are a few passages that should be textbook examples of building suspense.
cullen_mi's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 stars. Rounded up to 3 because I'll give Jim Thompson the benefit of the doubt.
I've liked every Thompson pulp crime novel I've read so far, but I had to abandon this one with about 50 pages to go. I can't quite articulate why I found it so lacking. The first person protagonists in Thompson's books are usually dark and interesting and satisfying. The delicate and sickly hitman in Savage Night I just found to be annoying and completely uninteresting.
I've liked every Thompson pulp crime novel I've read so far, but I had to abandon this one with about 50 pages to go. I can't quite articulate why I found it so lacking. The first person protagonists in Thompson's books are usually dark and interesting and satisfying. The delicate and sickly hitman in Savage Night I just found to be annoying and completely uninteresting.
idontkaren's review against another edition
5.0
Incredible, read almost the whole thing in one sitting.
chalicotherex's review against another edition
5.0
A hitter for the mob goes undercover as a student in a small college town, I guess because he's short. But he quickly finds out that there ain't no killing your way out of trouble in a Jim Thompson novel.
Also I just realized I'm an idiot and that his I now need to reread this novel.
Also I just realized I'm an idiot and that his
Spoiler
mental breakdown begins a lot earlier than I realized. The baby leg should have been a clue, because there's no way that could happen.madtraveler's review against another edition
3.0
The narrator, a nervous hitman hired for a job by The Man rents a room from the alcoholic paranoid target and settles in to wait for the best time to kill him. The narrator is a bit of a headcase and suffering from TB and by the end he is apparently losing his marbles. He's a fascinating character with flashes of brutality and compassion and you are never sure how much he can be trusted in his story. The ending seems sudden and perplexing, though others found it brilliant. It's good noir, well paced and short with enough twists to keep it moving and that ending that makes you re-read it just to be sure.
nharkins's review against another edition
3.0
typical pulp: weak premise, but the character's plotting/dialogue draws you in.
however this one had an amazing bit of jim thompson thrown in the middle:
the main character reminisces about once hitchhiking, and getting picked
up by an eccentric author heading back upstate after delivering his latest
novel to his publisher in new york, but the author claims to be "a farmer
growing tits and asses, because they're the cash crops" --he "used to grow
faces and expressions and other stuff", but there's just no market for it now.
reminded me somewhat of the talking asshole monologue from Burrough's
Naked Lunch: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102511/quotes?qt0543805
however this one had an amazing bit of jim thompson thrown in the middle:
the main character reminisces about once hitchhiking, and getting picked
up by an eccentric author heading back upstate after delivering his latest
novel to his publisher in new york, but the author claims to be "a farmer
growing tits and asses, because they're the cash crops" --he "used to grow
faces and expressions and other stuff", but there's just no market for it now.
reminded me somewhat of the talking asshole monologue from Burrough's
Naked Lunch: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102511/quotes?qt0543805