Deputy Lou Ford is the kind of man who exemplifies the best in small town law enforcement. He doesn’t carry a gun. He prefers to reason with people. He prefers to keep the peace. Except that inside Lou Ford is a raging nut case, a time bomb whose first person narration ticks off the seconds to a horrific explosion.
Jim Thompson’s novel is perhaps slow, not unlike Lou, but it builds steam. The idyllic world of small town life is riven by hidden currents, secret hates that fester until they break into the open. Lou is simply the corruption and madness of his surroundings embodied.
-Dave Hardy
2 comments:
A very fine book. I thought it was truly hardcore.
This was the first Jim Thompson book I'd read. Though I had seen Paths of Glory, an early Kubrick film, which Thompson had a shared writing credit on. Excellent movie.
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