After Dark, My Sweet

After Dark, My Sweet is a 1955 American crime novel written by Jim Thompson. William Collins is a former boxer now drifter who has broken out of a mental hospital. In a roadhouse he meets a woman who in turn introduces him to her “Uncle” Bud. They lure him into joining them in the kidnapping of a young boy from a wealthyfamily. Collins is neurotic, jumpy and paranoid but, it appears, with good reason. Has he been brought into this to become the fall guy and are they planning on ever returning the child?

Dark and gritty, filled with completely unredeemable characters, After Dark, My Sweet is short, concise and highly readable. Collins is an unreliable narrator and his paranoia and prevalence for violence keeps the reader on edge with show more the knowledge that this story will not end well. Awash in alcohol and double crosses this kidnap-gone-wrong tale is an excellent noir from one of it’s masters. show less

Welcome to Jim Thompson's twisted world. Thompson was one of the greatest of the 1950's pulp writers. But, Thompson wrote differently than almost anyone else at that time. His books are often narrated by grifters, conmen, and psychopaths. Often, as in "Killer Inside Me," the world doesn't realize that their local deputy is the nastiest psychopath they ever dreamed of. In his 1955 novel, "After Dark, My Sweet," the narrator is Kid Collins, a one-time boxing phenom, who left the ring after he punched one opponent so hard that the guy never got up again. Collins drifted from job to job, town to town, prison to prison, psych ward to psych ward, and, as this novel begins, he has escaped from his latest mental hospital. He knows he is nuts show more and can't stand everyone making fun of him (or is he just paranoid). On the way, he meets an older lush who he can't keep his eyes off of (Faye) and a troubled ex-cop (Uncle Bud) who just happen to be planning a kidnapping and need a sucker to play the fall guy.

The plot isn't filled with too many twists and turns, but what is wonderful here is Thompson's writing, which takes you inside the thinking of a guy who hasn't got all his marbles to begin with. There are, of course, those who are convinced the whole thing is a con on Kid Collins' part, but even cuckoos have moments where they think they are sane.

The world in Thompson's novel is dark and dreary. No one is picking up a hitchhiker. The bartender "slops" down a beer in front of Collins. Collins, even sitting in the bar having a drink, feels that old feeling creeping up on him. His eyes begin to burn He can't just walk away, but he can't get them to stop needling him.

As to Fay, Collins says his first impression was that she was just a female barfly who hit the booze too hard. But then he decided she was pretty, she'd just led a hard life for too long. And sometimes she could act as nice as she looked, but that's except when her claws came out and she started needling him and pushing him.

The whole story seems somewhat twisted, including the nutty kidnapping plot and dealing with the sick kidnapped kid, but its all told from Collins point of view and his world is warped and crazy and he doesn't trust anyone at all, not even Fay, not even Uncle Bud, not even the friendly doctor who wants to take him in.

Maybe today there are any number of books told from a warped point of view, but few did it back in the mid-1950's and one can only imagine what it was like back then coming across one of Thompson's books and not knowing what you were getting into. The cover blurb about "twisted lives and tormented loves" doesn't really give an inkling about where this thin volume takes the reader. Enjoy. show less

Jim Thompson is a master of the noir crime novel, and the consensus is that his best work is more serious and harrowing than anything written by Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hamlett. He wrote "After Dark My Sweet" in 1955, when his writing had reached maturity.

The story is told in the first person by the protagonist Bill Collins ("Collie"), an escaped mental patient with violent tendencies. Collie is maneuvered into joining a kidnapping plot by Fay (a femme fatale with a drinking problem) and Uncle Bud, a pleasant but ruthless con artist. But Collie is far smarter than the dim-witted patsy they take him to be. Of course everything goes wrong. This gripping tale holds the reader's interest to its final, unpredictable ending.

One of Jim show more Thompson's best, and that's saying something. show less

Every Thompson book is my favorite while I'm reading it but this one managed to stay near the top when I was done. A trio of hard boiled characters each desperate in their own way hoping for the quick score that will "fix" everything. Except they are incapable of playing nice together. The unfolding of who is playing who for a sucker and how is true Thompson. While devious and unfeeling, you understand completely how each character comes to the conclusions that they do. The delicious trick lies in having good deeds and evil deeds moving along the same street toward the same fate. The dame, the pug and the crooked ex-cop spiral together into the dark.

Thompson writes well, and the atmosphere is strong, but the novel never generated enough curiosity for me. I enjoy noir where a bad decision opens a door onto unknown consequences. Here, the central kidnapping scheme felt doomed from the start, and all three participants seemed to understand they were making a terrible choice. The tension became a question of how things would go wrong rather than whether they would. While I appreciated the writing and characterization, I never became invested in Collie, Fay, or Uncle Bud, and eventually realized I didn't care what happened to them.

An excellent noir story of a kidnapping gone bad. Kid Collins is a former boxer, felon, and escaped mental patient who gets involved with a woman and a bad situation. He's an intriguing character - a sometimes unhinged yet moral criminal who really wants to do the right things in the end. It just doesn't work out, for him anyway.

Doc goldman, who is having lunch and a cafe where kid Collins got drunk and stumbled into his booth, tries to help collie.
2014, Paperback, Mulholland Books
P.33-4:
" 'I wish I could help you myself, but I just don't have the time and the money. I can only do so much, and I'm already --'
'I'll tell you what I might do,' I broke in. 'Maybe I could get a commitment in this state.'
'A non-resident?' He laughed briefly. 'Not that it would mean much if you were resident. Sometimes, Collins, sometimes I think they take them in the front door here and lead them right on out the back.'
'Yes, sir. I guess it's pretty much that way everywhere.'
'they can't get the money to operate on. There's money for highways and swimming pools and football stadiums. show more For everything but the most important things. And then people wonder. They wonder why, when some terrible tragedy takes place, that --...' "

Collins is supposed to kidnap little Charles Vanderventer III; he's the Patsy for Uncle Bud and Fay. They think because he's got mental illness, that he's a fool: they set him up to kidnap the kid, and then they'll take the ransom money, leaving him with the problem.
People often underestimate people with mental illness. Collie purposely picks up the wrong kid from the playground, one who looks a bit like Charles vandeventer III. But this little kid is wise is wise to the ways of the world. He pulls out a cigarette and smokes it, while he talks to Collie. Faye and Uncle Bud drive up, and just as Collie planned it, they freak out when they see him with the wrong kid.
P.114-5:
"... And if they really planned on having him dead, and if I wouldn't go along with the plan..
maybe. If. If and maybe.
How the hell was I going to know? How could you know what people would do if they go in on a deal like this one? I made myself stop thinking about it. My head just wouldn't take it anymore, all that chasing around and around. So I started thinking about the little boy. Not the one we had, Charles vanderventer iii, but the first one. That little kid who was heading for Paris tonight.
I wonder if he meant what he kind of seemed to mean. Whether, you know, he'd been wise to what I was doing and had deliberately let me get away with it.
I guess he hadn't. It was hard to be sure -- he was such a sharp, fast-talking youngster -- but I guess he hadn't. I mean, he just couldn't have! No kid would have felt like that, felt that another kid would be better off kidnapped.
I turned the radio on low. The newscaster was just winding up his last broadcast for the night:
'...no further developments in the Vanderventer case at this time. And now a few words about that plane disaster I mentioned a moment ago. The deluxe transatlantic airliner crashed at LaGuardia airport, shortly after 11:00 tonight, when two of its motors failed simultaneously during the takeoff. All of the crew and all but three of the passengers were killed. Among the fatalities was 10-year-old Jacques flannagan, son of motion picture actor Howard Flannagan of hollywood, and Margot Flanagan Wentworth D'Arcy Holmes of Paris and london. In accordance with their divorce agreement, the boy spent 6 months a year with each parent. He had left this city earlier tonight, following a brief visit with his grandmother...' "

William 'Kid' Collins sacrifices himself for Charles Vanderventer iii. He and the boy and Fay get away from the train station where Uncle Bud and Bert are killed by the police, when they go to pick up the ransom money. Collie let's Fay know that he was wise to her and Uncle Bud all along, but he rubs it in just a little. He can't avoid hurting her a little, after all that she's hurt him:
P.193:
"I laughed, cutting her off. 'I really had you fooled, didn't i? Well, I guess I should, all the practice I've had. I started in almost 15 years ago - I was up for a murder rap, see, and it was the only thing I could think of. So I went into the act, and it got me out from under. And then I went into the army, and it got me out of that. It looked like such a sweet deal that I started working the act full time.'
'What act?' she said. 'W-What are you saying?'
'this crazy stuff.' I laughed again. 'Hell, it's better than a pension. I could just roam around doing what I pleased -- acting stupid, and cracking down when people fell for it. Then, whenever I got tired, I'd just turn in at some institution for a while. Those places are pretty swell, you know; just like a high class country club. A swell private room and anything you want to eat. Hell, you never tasted anything like it! And you ought to see how people knock themselves out to wait on you. Why, I was in one place where they had a nurse for each patient. Real pretty ones, to keep you cheered up and feeling good...' "

This is one of my favorite Jim Thompson novels. So many of them have disgusting misogynistic characters in them so that it's hard to swallow them. This was misogynistic too, but I liked the way he portrayed mental illness in this book. This hits close to home. show less