Customer Reviews

Wild Town

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The unlikely protagonist of Wild Town answers to the name Bugs McKenna. An ex-cop and an ex-con, Bugs cannot stay out of trouble because of his hair trigger temper and his inability to cut the other guy any slack. Another major character is Lou Ford, the sinister lawman introduced by Thompson in his 1952 classic work, The Killer Inside Me. As pointed out by Robert Polito in the definitive Thompson biography entitled Savage Art, Wild Town is neither a sequel nor a prequel to The Killer Inside Me. It's best to think of the two books as presenting the Lou Ford character in alternate universes.

Bugs drifts into West Texas' Ragtown and soon meets up with deputy sheriff Ford, who strongly suggests he accept the job of house detective at the Hanlon Hotel. The owner of the hotel is Mike Hanlon, a wealthy oilman who became paraplegic in an industrial accident.

Wild Town is a relatively short book, yet there are a number of intriguing subplots. And Thompson wastes no time in introducing them.

-All is not well between Mike Hanlon and his wife, giving Bugs
and the reader reason to believe murder is in the air.
-Bugs find himself attracted to school marm Amy Standish who just
happens to be Lou Ford's fiancee.
-The Hanlon's auditor is an embezzler and its general manager is
a world class alcoholic.
-Bugs becomes a recipient of an anonymous blackmail threat.

All of this and more plays out under the watchful eye of the omniscient Lou Ford.

Perhaps the strongest aspect of Wild Town is the very engaging dialogue. Especially the fake hayseed utterances of Ford as he dominates and intimidates one and all. Another strong feature of Wild Town is its depiction of hotel life. You'd be hard pressed to find an author more capable than Jim Thompson when it comes to describing the inner workings of hotels.

What keeps this from being a really great novel, at least for me, is the tendency for many of the characters to do things which are....well, out of character. Of course, that particular criticism is a bit unfair. I suspect it was Thompson's intention to have these characters act in unforseeable ways so as to purposely keep the reader completely off balance.

I would rank Wild Town high among Thompson's second tier novels. As you read this entertaining book, remember to expect the unexpected.

Jim Thompson continues to hurt the boundaries of noir fiction. IN this book a man is hired to protect an oil baron in his hotel from somebody. That somebody changes throughout the book leavign you guessing until the final chapter. Of course like any good mystery writer Jim Thompson gives away the person in the first few pages of meeting that person but convinces you that he was only giving you a red herring. The book is normal for Jim THompson since the main character isn't completely psychotic, nor narrating and when the final chapter comes the whole narrative is neatly wrapped up without ambiguity, still it is an enjoyable read and worth recommending

I was torn in rating this book. I am not especially familiar with the genre, so I am not sure how it compares with other novels of its type. However, it was quite entertaining and an extremely quick read, and overall I liked it - I simply couldn't see rating it any higher, in terms of the writing itself.

So, the negatives first. It seems as if it were written in a hurry. Some parts are polished enough, others seem quite raw. There are some inconsistencies (though only one that really bothered me), and a "dirty trick" or two used to keep you from catching on to the plot twists too quickly.

I can't really give a plot synopsis without throwing in spoilers, as the story takes twists and turns at every chapter. The main characters, of course, are not what they seem at first (and you expect this from the beginning). But they are also aware that their circumstances are not what they seem, and in their respective ways are trapped by their own cunning and distrust.

This book really shines in its character development, most of all. The reader sees each character from many different angles, gets to recognize their hidden strengths and flaws, and while they are very different the reader can sympathize with (if not like) almost all of them. This provides no rest, however; the plot twists relentlessly, and each character is all too human and seems fully capable of betrayal for their own reasons.

Tolstoy it's not. But this novel is suspenseful, never boring, and will hold your attention for the day or two it takes to finish it.

After reading most of the Jim Thompson oeuvre, I wasn't expecting much from "Wild Town", given the reviews on this site. It definitely suprised me. I liked the recurrence of Lou Ford and Amy from "The Killer Inside Me" and how their characters were given a nobler twist in this novel. I also enjoyed the protoganist Bugs, who seems along with Doc McCoy to be one of only a few Thompson anti-heroes who is free from any considerable physical or psychological pathology. The two femme fatales, as well as most of the minor characters are very well thought out and entertaining. Any mysteries or loose ends surrounding them, or the plot in total, just add to the fascination of Wild Town. The story and the characters really hooked me and drew me in. I've read all of Thompson's Noir/Crime novels and after Pop.1280, The Grifters, Farewell my Lovely, The Kill-Off, and the Killer Inside Me, Wildtown is tied with The Nothing Man for #6. In my opinion, Wild Town, is more intriguing and fun than The Getaway, A Swell Looking Babe, Savage Nights, The Criminal, His Kind of Woman etc. But, I'm just a girl ;)

This was my intorduction to Jim Thompson. The cover said it was like Dasheil Hammet and Raymond Chadler. It was like neither. Sure it was noirish in the sense the hero (antihero i guess) was a murderer with a police record a mile long, but the sinister story was pretty bland. He didn't seem to care about the mystery very much either, which made me likewise almost not care. The ending was okay, there was a slight tiwst that caught me off guard, which i liked. But having to slosh through 250 pages of stagnant story almost made it not worth it. The character of the police chief was very well done. If he's in other books by thompson, I'll read them.

I think the biggest problem was that it felt like Thompson was just trying to fill up pages sometimes, like he said to himself, "Well, i need to fill up five pages in this chapter somehow," so he just made the hero walk around the hotel for five pages, not doing a whole bunch.

I guess overall, characters were pretty good, plot was slow and boring.