The Alcoholics

I suspect Thompson may have revealed more of himself in this book than in any other novel. He was, of course, an alcoholic. He was also a smart, talented writer who thought more deeply about the human condition than most thriller writers. This book reflects that thinking -- the penetrating, often cruel insights of a gifted man who was frustrated at watching less intelligent, less talented people succeed where he failed simply because they were able to remain sober. The book is riven through with this resentful perspective -- but it's a black comedy, not a bitter tragedy. Thompson was able to laugh at himself. As others have pointed out, this book is not a typical Thompson noir thriller. In some respects, it has an almost proto-Bukowski quality in its self-revelatory, let-it-all-hang-out style, and in the somewhat shaggy dog aspect of the story (Post Office and Hollywood come to mind as analogues from the Bukowski canon). Although not a great book, The Alcoholics is a good read, and a particular treat for any Thompson fan with an interest in getting inside the enigmatic author's head.

Jim Thompson is one of the crime novel greats. Author of "The Killer Inside Me," "The Grifters" and many others (quite a few of which have been made into movies), Thompson celebrates the darker side of the petty criminal, the small town sherrif and the down on his luck con man. Usually, that is. In this slim 1953 novel, Thompson turns his attention to alcoholism as a disease and its treatment. Ho-hum? No way. Thompson makes the hero sympathetic and his plight the source of palpable tension and discomfort. The reader really gets drawn into Thompson's portrayal of the depressing, bizarre world of the poor sap who just can't stop drinking, and doesn't know why. Although the book was written over forty years ago, it's extremely modern in many ways. For example, it contains competent, capable black characters, something that's missing in much of modern fiction. Thompson's very recognition and acceptance of alcoholism, in 1953, is quite unusual; he talks about Alcoholics Anonymous before it was the well-known concept it is today. In parts, this book reads like a denunciatory tract against demon liquor, written by an old-timer A.A. man. Then again, as I said, this was exploring new ground when Thomspon wrote it. And aside from those brief (but informative) passages, it was pretty good. Not Thompson's usual stuff, but variety is the spice of life, eh