John Wilmot, part-owner of a troubled theater, and his estranged wife hatch a scheme to fake her death for the insurance money. The plan seems to go off without a hitch, but pressure mounts as the wolves come after John from every angle...This sojourny into Jim Thompson's cheerful world is much the same as some of the others. A man hatches a plan and then comes apart as the pressure builds. John, his wife Elizabeth, and his pseudo-mistress Carol fake Elizabeth's death, John and Carol having rock solid alibis. Or so it seemed at the time. Most of the rest of the cast are scumbags of varying degrees.Thompson mines the seedy underbelly of the movie theater industry for a rich vein of noir gold in this one. As the wheels come off the plan, you feel for Wilmot as he makes misstep after misstep and can't do anything to stop it. The final twist at the end is what bumped this up to four star territory for me.The writing is stark and powerful, just what you expect from Jim Thompson. I liked that Thompson himself makes a cameo appearance in this story. As usual, Thompson has some great lines, like What smells good in the store may stink in the stewpot.I'd rate this one slightly lower than Hell of a Woman but higher than a lot of Jim Thompson's other books. I'd call it a low 4 or a 3+.
Pulp crime novel from 1949. A married couple despise each other. After she catches him in an affair, the three of them together hatch an insurance scam that involves faking the wife's death. There's little honor among these thieves, and they turn on each other. Meanwhile, the local cops might not be as dumb as the criminals think. The husband owns and operates an independent movie house, and much of the book is intended to give the reader an inside look at that world. Thompson way overdoes that part of the book, and most readers will quickly grow bored of reading of the details of the husband's everyday work. You're not supposed to like the protagonist and you won't, though his mistress is portrayed sympathetically. She's the only remotely interesting character in the book, and she's not nearly enough to carry the novel. The ending is the best part of the story, and I have to admit that it caught me by surprise. It just took too long to get to it, even though the novel is not a terrible lot of pages. Can't recommend this one. I believe most of Thompson's catalogue is better than this, and he's worth reading if you're a fan of the genre. Start elsewhere with him.
Do You like book Nothing More Than Murder (2014)?
They don't get more hardboiled than this. Thompson's novel is breathtakingly plotted with some fantastic characterisation. The prose is razor-sharp and rattles along with the final few pages absolutely gripping. Small-town cinema owner Joe Wilmot racks up a number of quick decisions when making an insurance claim over his wife's death, but a loose word here or there threatens to destroy his house of cards. I won't say more as it might jeopardise the plot, but this is my favourite Thomson novel out of those that I've read and is essential reading.
—Andrew
Joe Wilmot è un piccolo uomo d'affari che gestisce, insieme alla moglie Elizabeth, l'unico cinema della cittadina in cui vive. Un giorno la donna lo vede baciare Carol, la loro giovane cameriera. Elizabeth accetta di togliersi di mezzo in cambio di 25.000 dollari. I tre, per reperire i soldi, decidono di assassinare una sconosciuta per farla poi passare per Elizabeth e riscuotere l'assicurazione...Il romanzo di Thompson (del 1948) è un inno alla disperazione. La cittadina in cui è ambientato è imbevuta di falsità e violenze, coperte solo da un velo di ipocrisia, crudamente squarciato dallo scrittore...
—Roberta
Sólo un asesinato es la tercera novela que escribió Thompson, pero fue la primera de género negro de su carrera, la primera, y es apabullante como teje una trama tan retorcida, cruel y triste en solo su tercera novela. Es verdad que ya en esa época había escrito muchísimo; relatos de crímenes reales, guías, innumerables columnas en diarios, reportajes, etcétera…Se nota en esta novela un potencial brutal para el género negro, un uso de la psicología en los personajes en pos del lector fascinante, una imaginación y una determinación excepcionales. Para mí ha sido una sorpresa el alto nivel de la novela, desde luego de lectura obligada,
—Aramys
