A Hell of a Woman [Paperback]

Jim Thompson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 3, 1990

Young, beautiful, and fearfully abused, Mona was the kind of girl even a hard man like Dillon couldn't bring himself to use. But when Mona told him about the vicious aunt who had turned her into something little better than a prostitute--and about the money the old lady has stashed away--Dillon found it surprisingly easy to kill for her.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Young, beautiful, and fearfully abused, Mona was the kind of girl even a hard man like Dillon couldn't bring himself to use. But when Mona told him about the vicious aunt who had turned her into something little better than a prostitute--and about the money the old lady has stashed away--Dillon found it surprisingly easy to kill for her.

About the Author

(1906 - 1977) James Meyers Thompson was born in Anadarko, Oklahoma. He began writing fiction at a very young age, selling his first story to True Detective when he was only fourteen. Thompson eventually wrote twenty-nine novels, all but three of which were published as paperback originals. Thompson also wrote two screenplays (for the Stanley Kubrick films “The Killing” and “Paths of Glory”). An outstanding crime writer, the world of his fiction is rife with violence and corruption. In examining the underbelly of human experience and American society in particular, Thompson’s work at its best is both philosophical and experimental. Several of his novels have been filmed by American and French directors, resulting in classic noir including The Killer Inside Me (1952), After Dark My Sweet (1955), and The Grifters (1963).

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (October 3, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679732519
• ISBN-13: 978-0679732518
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.5 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #190,475 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a hard & fast suspense jewel, September 23, 1999

By 

Johnny Roulette ([e-mail]) (Atlanta,GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Hell of a Woman (Paperback)

Jim Thompson & Larry Brown have at least one thing in common...happy endings and classic good guys are almost impossible to find in their books. In the hit or miss world of Jim Thompson novels this one certainly hits...hard! Hell Of A Woman is an ugly story that features characters with few, if any, redeeming qualities. This has surpassed The Killer Inside as my favorite Thompson novel. The suspense and surprise twists that books like The Alcoholics lack can be found here in spades. Thompson seems a little too at home in this setting of paranoia, sex & crime. Its one shortcoming is typical of Thompson stories...it does occasionally come unwravelled, though not often enough to matter. I honestly didn't know how this one was going to turn out. You have the general idea of what's going down, but you can never be sure who's going to fall and who's going to get away with it. Thompson is a master of this hard-boiled genre and this is surely a highlight in an up and down career. Curl up around an ashtray and enjoy!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it! The book that made me a Jim Thompson fan!, July 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Hell of a Woman (Paperback)

I'd heard high-praise for Mr. Thompson's books--from Stephen King to James Ellroy--but it wasn't until I read A Hell of a Woman that I became a believer. It's not only dark, like you'd expect, but alive! The book gets inside your head and won't leave, even after you've finished the last page. Images you will never shake! Read it!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Crime and Punishment, March 1, 2002

By 

Paul Miller "___[_]D___" (Memphis) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Hell of a Woman (Paperback)

Frank Dillon is working outside sales in the rain when a flash of lightening illuminates a woman in a window and thus begins one of Thompson's wildest novels.
Dillon in A Hell of a Woman sees his whole life as having been squandered on one worthless woman after another, so much so that all women become a blur. But just as they are crowding into one person, Frank is turning into two; halfway through the book he creates a new persona, and by the end he's speaking out of both sides of his mouth.
The text at the end splits into lines of alternating type one italic and the other regular print, so that we actually read
two stories at once. One is a fantasty version of events and the other is what is really happening. I read
the last two pages seperating out the italics and the print and reading them seperately and I understood the ending better. Thompson has made a killer duet or killer in stereo with this novel and it is one wild ride.