By sheer coincidence, today's Merriam-Webster "Word of the Day" (2/15/08) is whodunit ("a detective story or mystery story"). Coincidence, because just yesterday I finished reading Jim Thompson's The Kill-Off, from 1957. Thompson's novels rarely, if ever, traffic in "who done it" - instead, many of his protagonists are psychopathic killers who leave behind multiple victims in their remorseless wakes. There is little doubt over who the murderer is. And when the protagonist isn't a cold-blooded murderer, it's a con man or some other two-bit hood perpetrating petty crimes. What little mystery there is to Thompson's stories is limited to the sane and socially well-adjusted reader's wonderment over how people like those protagonists could behave so unspeakably.Which made The Kill-Off a very unexpected and pleasant surprise. Set in an unnamed, dying resort town on the Jersey shore, the story centers on Luane Devore, a middle-aged woman of the fading gentry who spends her days as a self-imposed invalid in her big house on the edge of town, endlessly gossiping on the phone and spreading vicious rumors about pretty much everyone in town. And, in doing so, giving all of them a compelling motive to murder her. Thompson makes it clear, from the very first chapter, that Luane will ultimately be murdered, but he takes his own sweet time getting around to killing her off. Instead, he slowly builds to that climax by presenting each chapter in a different character's voice, establishing each person's place in the town's rather deplorable social milieu. It's very quickly made clear that most of these people had reasons, many of them seemingly justifiable, for doing Luane in. So in introducing each of the characters in such a detailed manner, and clearly signaling Luane's impending demise, the book isn't a "whodunit" so much as a "whowilldoit." The narrative is a very interesting twist on the conventions of crime fiction, one which shows why Thompson was one of the true giants of the art.
The first few pages really turned me off. It's written in the very old style as if you're reading someone's journal. But it's Jim Thompson, one of my favorites, so I grudgingly stuck with it. I was further deterred because it's a story told from multiple perspectives. "What the fuck is this, goddamn Clue?" I said to myself.But I ended up getting hooked by Jim's ability to change into different characters with genuine authenticity. It was like watching someone do magic tricks. Each chapter takes you into a different character's head, and so another piece of the mystery is revealed. To be honest I hardly gave a shit about the plot. It's about some old bitch who's worried some wants to kill her. Good, fuck her, who gives a shit? The real gold is the psychological voyeurism.This book is awesome for any writers interested in character design. Keep an eye out for this lesser known pulp.
What do You think about The Kill-Off (2014)?
Extraordinaria novela negra en la que se describe, en primera persona, un protagonista por capítulo, las circunstancias en las que se vive el futuro asesinato de una vecina de un pequeño pueblo. Asesinato que se hace realidad en la última parte. Así los capítulos son una mezcla de declaración policial de los sospechosos y diario íntimo. Todo ello en un ambiente opresivo, oscuro y cerrado.Todos tienen motivos para el asesinato, pero sólo uno se confiesa autor de él, aunque duda de que haya sido é
—Raro de Concurso
Thompson is in experimental mode, giving us a rather post-modern novel that unwinds backwards and in which each chapter is told from the perspective of a different character, each of whom is a suspect in the murder. His command of voice and usual themes and tones are present--though with far less overt violence than many of his books--but the novel is a bit of a mixed bag. It doesn't really succeed as something well plotted, and it gives us a very unsatisfying ending that suggests that a character who barely appears in the book has done the crime. That undercuts the original premise a bit and makes it one of the lesser works by a great writer, something that is only satisfying on a certain level already well known to his fan. It is a noble effort to break the mold, but ultimately deeply flawed.
—Ron
I'll admit it; as a whodunnit, this is a mediocre affair. I didn't guess who the killer was, as I usually do, because it just kind of comes out of nowhere, plot-wise. But as a snap shot of small-town life, and a glimpse at the interior lives of the apparently small-town/small-lives people who live there, this is Thompson at his best. Unlike so many popular books with alternating character narrations where every character has the exact same voice so that the reader is constantly flipping back to see just who is talking [Goon Gir1], each of the twelve narrating characters here has his or her own, very distinctive, voice. When you read one character's story, you actually hear that person's voice in your head. And of course they are rarely thinking or being what everyone else assumes they are thinking, or being. Layers. Thompson told amazingly layered, droll, violent, sexy stories despite (or perhaps because of) the constraints of 1950's and 1960's censorship. I am so glad Jim Thompson's work is finally getting the readership it deserves.
—Julie
