Nothing More Than Murder [Paperback]

Jim Thompson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 6, 1985

Joe Wilmot has the nicest movie theatre in his area. Sure it wasn't a major city, but it was something he had built up. The Barclay Theatre still carries his wife's maiden name, but it didn't bother him much—not too much at all. His wife Elizabeth was always fouling things up and Joe was always fixing things. Sure, a few people lost out in their dealing with Joe, but what the hey, this was business. And one thing Joe had learned growing up in the orphanage was that you got to look out for number one. But now Joe has fallen, quite inexplicably, for the new housekeeper, Carol. When Elizabeth finds out about Joe and Carol, she devises a plan to give them all what they want. Unfortunately, for the plan to work, it means someone is going to have to pay with their life. And if the plan unravels, they may all have to pay with their lives!

"Suspense in high gear." - New York Times
"Strong Meat." - Boston Globe
"Reminiscent of James Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice, both in style and story." - San Francisco Bulletin

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Full of atmosphere, this has a fabuloulsy old-school feel. But there's nothing cosy about this sharp vision of corrupt small-town life.' -- Andrea Henry DAILY MIRROR 'Thompson is both a brilliant and entirely uncompromising writer, and, here, in place of sentiment and salvation is the real and unflinching, bitter unraveling of the American dream.' GLASGOW HERALD 'The plot twists come thick and fast, right up until the end, in an acceleration of incident and revelation. Nothing More Than Murder isn't simply noir; it is nightmare.' -- Paul Kane WWW.NEWMYSTERYREADER.COM --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

Sometimes a man and woman love and hate each other in equal measure that they can neither stay together nor break apart. Some marriages can only end in murder and some murders only make the ties of love and hatred stronger. This book proves just that. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 210 pages
• Publisher: Creative Arts Book Company; New edition edition (August 6, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 091687091X
• ISBN-13: 978-0916870911
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,909,587 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Details of movie theater trade most intriguing, September 8, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Bloomington, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nothing More Than Murder (Paperback)

Thompson's tale of fraud, murder, and adultery is
unremarkable (compared to Thompson's other works) except in it's presentation of the politics of a small town. Most of all, the presentation of Joe Wilmer's job as an owner of a first-run movie theater and his dealings with the union is fascinating. This is a novel that could have only been written by Jim Thompson.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reviewed By Alan Gerrard, April 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Nothing More Than Murder (Paperback)

This novel is Jim Thompson at his best. A tale of small town fraud, murder, lies and adultery. Joe Wilmot is a part-owner of a small movie house with a passion for conning his employees and talking down the unions. He is a man with it all sewn up, an arrogant man with a deadly fraud in mind. But the final twist in the form of his mistress and a tenacious insurance investigator called Appleton, brings this powerful tale of suspense to a shuddering, disturbing conclusion. Very similar in places to Double Indeminity, but still Thompson at his best.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Touch confusing at times but scary, March 25, 2006

By 

Peter (Melbourne Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nothing More Than Murder (Paperback)

I find that Jim Thompson's novels sometimes have confusing dialogue that throws the reader off trying to work out what was meant.

Originally I thought that this was just a case of the author not being clear enough but the more I read Thompson, the more I get the feeling that he intentionally sought to avoid clarity as this leads the reader to think about the dialogue themselves and with the elements of fear prevalent throughout his books, it is hoped that the reader adds to the fear by their opinions on what was said.

In this book (one of Thompson's earliest), he goes a little bit too indepth into the workings of the 1940's cinema houses but it is an interesting read. As with a lot of his work, the book boils down to the element of lack of trust between two people who (supposedly) love each other.

This is a scary novel and well worth reading.