A Hell of a Woman by Jim Thompson
From my notion book review template
A Hell of a Woman by Jim Thompson
What It’s About – lowlife surrounded by other lowlife’s meets desperate woman – the lowlife reveals himself to be quite low over the course of the book
How I Discovered It – Amazon sent me an email saying I would like it, and it was on sale
Thoughts – The pacing is the most interesting part – Thompson starts the main character off in the first person as the inner dialogue of a regular guy, then it changes to the dialogue of the average lowlife, then it gets much worse – all very believable though.
Calling Thompson the “Dimestore Dostoevsky” is pretty accurate
What I Liked About It – the character progression as a moral descent, which in hindsight, was obvious. Also the book was a very fast read – I read it in two or three sittings.
What I Didn’t Like About It – the ending had too many new things which hurt the concepts a bit
Who Would Like It? – any hard boiled fiction fans
Related Books – Pop 1280, the Grifters