Texas by the Tail [Paperback]

Jim Thompson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 4, 1994

Mitch Corley has a girlfriend with expensive tastes and a ruthless wife who refuses to become an "ex" without major compensation. He needs big money and he needs it fast. Which makes Texas Mitch's natural destination, since nowhere are rich men more inclined to stake huge sums on a roll of the dice. The only problem is that Texans are sore losers--and they have cruel and ingenious ways of getting back at anyone who cheats them.

Texas by the Tail is a high-spirited, sexy, and ingeniously plotted novel of the grifting life, by a writer who is a virtual encyclopedia of the con, the scam, and the double cross.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This Thompson duo, first published in 1967 and 1965, respectively, offer the usual bevy of crooked, doublecrossing low-lifes his fans have come to love.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Inside Flap

Mitch Corley has a girlfriend with expensive tastes and a ruthless wife who refuses to become an "ex" without major compensation. He needs big money and he needs it fast. Which makes Texas Mitch's natural destination, since nowhere are rich men more inclined to stake huge sums on a roll of the dice. The only problem is that Texans are sore losers--and they have cruel and ingenious ways of getting back at anyone who cheats them.

Texas by the Tail is a high-spirited, sexy, and ingeniously plotted novel of the grifting life, by a writer who is a virtual encyclopedia of the con, the scam, and the double cross.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (October 4, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679740112
• ISBN-13: 978-0679740117
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #321,062 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A gambler's adventures., May 27, 2010

By 

Michael G. "mikefromrochester" (Rochester, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Texas by the Tail (Paperback)

Texas by the Tail by Jim Thompson chronicles the largely comic adventures of Mitch Corley, a gambling grifter whose theatre of operation is the great state of Texas. Since the plotting is more than a little haphazard, it's useful to view Texas by the Tail as a series of vignettes rather than a conventional novel with a beginning, middle and end.
Published only 2 years after The Grifters, a magnificently well polished Jim Thompson novel with similar subject matter, this book is a bit of a disappointment. Instead of telling a compelling and viscerally engaging story as he did in The Grifters, in Texas by the Tail, Thompson chose to fill the narrative with a series of disparate scenarios. These scenarios are, in many cases, interesting in their own right, but they fail to gel together.
Bottom line: A disappointing misfire by an author capable of much, much better. Probably of interest to diehard Jim Thompson fans only.

3.0 out of 5 stars Frustratingly second-rate Thompson, May 30, 2007

By 

Frank Clover (Columbus, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Texas by the Tail (Paperback)

Although a Jim Thompson book about grifters and gamblers in Texas sounds like a can't-fail combination, Texas By The Tail is a misfire, more of an outline for a novel than an actual novel. The characters are bland and the plot never really gets going before it peters out abruptly. I give it three stars only because even a bad Thompson is better than no Thompson at all.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not his best, August 11, 2000

By 

"lebubba" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Texas by the Tail (Paperback)

Not his best stuff but if you're a serious Thompson fan its worth your time. If you're new to Thompson, go elsewhere.