The Kill-Off - Softcover

(1906 - 1977) James Meyers Thompson was born in Anadarko, Oklahoma. He began writing fiction at a very young age, selling his first story to True Detective when he was only fourteen. Thompson eventually wrote twenty-nine novels, all but three of which were published as paperback originals. Thompson also wrote two screenplays (for the Stanley Kubrick films “The Killing” and “Paths of Glory”). An outstanding crime writer, the world of his fiction is rife with violence and corruption. In examining the underbelly of human experience and American society in particular, Thompson’s work at its best is both philosophical and experimental. Several of his novels have been filmed by American and French directors, resulting in classic noir including The Killer Inside Me (1952), After Dark My Sweet (1955), and The Grifters (1963).

Thompson throws readers a curve in these two titles. Written in his signature tough-guy style, The Kill-Off (1957) is about a murder before it actually happens as protagonist Luane Devore is waiting to be knocked off by any number of likely assassins from among her friends and relatives. Published posthumously in 1985, The Rip-Off has a comedic tilt as Britt Rainstar's life is turned upside down after meeting the luscious Manuela Aloe. Thompson is always a fun ride.
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