Nothing More Than Murder

Not my favorite Jim Thompson, but with a kind of standard mystery ending. Not his usual extreme noir self. Still good, with a rather improbable ending regarding Carol.

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.

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.

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.