The Transgressors
by Jim Thompson
On This Page
Description
Deputy sheriff Tom Lord knows by now that far-west Texas is the place he'll always call home. He's spent too much time in the region's small towns to adapt to another place. And that's all right with him. What's not all right is being a deputy sheriff, where if it weren't for family misfortune, he might have been a doctor instead. Lord's got one ace-in-the-hole -- the land deed that makes him the biggest landowner in the county, just as the oil companies have started to move in. When Tom's show more approached by Aaron McBride of Highlands Oil and Gas with a contract to set up pipelines on his property, he's more than happy to sign on the dotted line with barely more than a cursory glance at the paperwork -- it just might be Lord's way out of a life he never wanted in the first place. But when Lord finds out just what that contract entailed, things start to go sour for Aaron McBride -- and fast. Because in this Texas town, Lord's the law -- and there's nothing more dangerous than a cop with nothing left to lose. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Jim Thompson is always worth the time. However, some of his books hit the ribs and torso stronger than others. While I enjoyed this one while reading it, the afterglow was briefer than classics like THE GRIFTERS, THE KILLER INSIDE, and AFTER DARK, MY SWEET. The morally ambivalent main character, while enjoyable, isn't quite as sharply etched as others by Thompson but was still a good ride. The classic Thompson trait of people doomed to play out the cards dealt to them is in abundant and fun evidence here. The supporting characters aren't quite up to classic either though I would like to have spent more time with the shy toothy deputy than some of the others. Good but others are better.
One of Thompson's better cast of characters. Interesting running commentary on Texan masculinity. Conclusion was a bit unsatisfying.
Brilliant. And it even has a oh, sorry. I really can't say. You'll just have to read the book.
Already read - years ago. Crikey!
Brilliant. And it even has a oh, sorry. I really can't say. You'll just have to read the book.
Brilliant. And it even has a oh, sorry. I really can't say. You'll just have to read the book.
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
58+ Works 14,567 Members
American novelist and screenwriter Jim Thompson was born in Anadarko, Oklahoma on September 27, 1906. In Fort Worth, Texas during prohibition, he worked as a bellboy at the Hotel Texas for two years where he earned up to $300 a week by supplying hotel patrons with bootleg liquor, heroin, and marijuana. During the Depression, he worked with the show more Oklahoma Federal Writers Project and was a member of the Communist Party from 1935 to 1938. During World War II, he worked at an aircraft factory where he was investigated by the FBI for his Communist Party affiliation. His first novel, Now and on Earth, was published in 1942. He wrote more than thirty novels during his lifetime and most of them were paperback pulp crime novels. His best known works are The Killer Inside Me, Savage Night, A Hell of a Woman, and Pop. 1280. In 1955, he moved to Hollywood, California to write screenplays with Stanley Kubrick. Thompson helped write The Killing and Paths of Glory. He died after a series of strokes in Los Angeles, California on April 7, 1977. His long-time alcoholism and recent self-inflicted starvation contributed to his death. His death attracted little attention because none of his novels were in print in the U.S. at that time. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Common Knowledge
- People/Characters
- Tom Lord
- Important places
- Texas, USA; Big Sands, Texas, USA; West Texas, USA; Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 174
- Popularity
- 186,191
- Reviews
- 6
- Rating
- (3.46)
- Languages
- English, French, German
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
- ASINs
- 1
