6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Exceeds expectations., September 4, 2004
Heed the Thunder takes place in rural Nebraska over a period of several years starting somewhere around 1910. Civil War veteran Lincoln Fargo presides over his extended family with the help of his God fearing wife, Pearl. As the story begins, their daughter Edie Dillon and her young son Robert arrive from Oklahoma to live with them. It seems that Edie's husband has deserted her and Robert, leaving the two of them in dire financial straits. Readers familiar with Thompson's early life will recognize the autobiographical underpinnings of this book. Young Robert Dillon is a stand-in for the author and Edie is a dead ringer for Thompson's mother, Birdie.
First published in 1946, Heed the Thunder predates the many dark, disturbing, noirish paperbacks that would secure Jim Thompson his status as a cult hero. Because it is billed as "perhaps the most mainstream of Thompson's novels", I was expecting it to lack the tough edginess one usually associates with Thompson's work. I was wrong. Here are just three of the many examples of brutality and depravity to be found in this book:
A dishonest preacher is unceremoniously tarred and feathered.
A misbehaving schoolboy receives a harsh beating and is permanently disfigured.
There's an incestuous affair between cousins. As shocking then as it would be now.
Heed the Thunder has a large cast of very interesting and richly drawn characters and several intriguing subplots that unfold as the narrative progresses. There is much humor of the kind that will remind readers of Mark Twain. Like when an impoverished lawyer makes a name for himself by bringing a lawsuit against God. And there's plenty of social criticism, especially when it comes to the subject of inhumane working conditions.
In fact, there's so much material here, Thompson could easily have written Heed the Thunder as a 600+ page epic. Instead, he wisely opted to keep the length down to half that.
This novel gives an intriguing account of life on the plains of Nebraska in the early years of the 20th century. The hardscrabble lives lived by most of the characters are presented in an unvarnished manner. The humiliating poverty, the appalling ignorance and the inescapable cruelty which pervaded everyday existence are all unapologetically exposed. All in all, this is an intriguing and substantive book which forshadows the frighteningly disturbing, brutally stark type of novel which would soon become Jim Thompson's trademark.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This is scary stuff................, October 13, 2007
Jim Thompson was a crime writer, maybe THE crime writer of his day. He wrote books that perhaps were not literary masterpieces but contained a certain kind of fear that seems to be lacking in todays crime books.
This is his most mainstream book and it takes some getting used to as it is a bit slow at places but it really does pick up at points throughout the book and contains the quiet horror of people making mistakes that change their lives forever.
Worth a read.
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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Nebraska about 1915, gritty noir with elements of horror., October 21, 1999
This is a noir classic. The whole town of Verdon in Nebraska is filled with conflicts, and everyone has a vendetta.This book is also horrific as well, as Thompson at times tries his hand at horrifying the reader. I don't believe this novel is for everyone, but as the back cover suggests, everyone who enters this town should carry a .45.
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