by Jim Thompson What I loved was myself, and I was willing to do anything I god-dang had to to go on lying and cheating and drinking whiskey and screwing women and going to church on Sunday with all the other respectable people. The apparently slow-witted sheriff in the 47th largest county in a state... Continue Reading →

by Jim Thompson Where had it all started? she wondered. Where the beginning of this detour which had sidetracked civilization into mixing drinks with one hand and stirring up bombs with the other? Roy’s a grifter, born to a 14-year-old mother and a world where thinking fast and moving faster isn’t a con, it’s just... Continue Reading →

by Jim Thompson That had been almost a year ago, back before he had lost his capacity for being insulted, before he had learned  simply to accept... and hate. Dusty Rhodes is a bellhop at a high end hotel, a job that has him involved in all manner of hijinks and pays well, and he needs... Continue Reading →

by Jim Thompson I told her the world was full of nice people. I'd have hated to try to prove it to her, but I said it, anyway. Dolly, a man who’s been mistreated by life and can never catch an even break, hustles through his life as a bottom rung door-to-door salesman in a... Continue Reading →