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Jim Thompson
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Wild Town (Mulholland Classic) Kindle Edition

by Jim Thompson (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 95 ratings
See all formats and editions
In trouble more often than not, guilty of assault, manslaughter, and honorably discharged from the military by the skin of his teeth, David "Bugs" McKenna can't seem to help doing the right thing at the wrong time--or the wrong thing, every chance he gets.

But when he drifts his way into Ragtown, Texas, things seem to finally be turning around for Bugs. He gets his first job in years as the hotel detective of the landmark Hanlon Hotel. But now that Bugs owes deputy sheriff Lou Ford a favor, things are likely to get ugly, fast--and odds are, it'll have something to do with the bombshell wife of his Bugs' new employer...

In WILD TOWN, Jim Thompson returns to the characters from THE KILLER INSIDE ME that made his reputation, in a virtuoso, multi-character portrait of how one man's life can take a turn for the worse.
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  1. Print length
    244 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Mulholland Books
  5. Publication date
    December 25, 2011
  6. File size
    1339 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

a frontier boom town where the graft gets collected more regularly than the trash. The hero is Bugs McKenna, slow-witted, hot-tempered man with manslaughter in his past and much worse in his immediate future. The much worse begins the moment McKenna gets promoted from ex-con to hotel detective without bothering to ask why. Because in Wild Town nobody does you any favors--and the price of advancement is always a little higher than what you can afford.

About the Author

Jim Thompson was born in Anadarko, Oklahoma. He began writing fiction at a very young age, selling his first story to True Detectivewhen he was only fourteen. Thompson eventually wrote twenty-nine novels, all but three of which were published as paperback originals. Thompson also co-wrote two screenplays (for the Stanley Kubrick films The Killing and Paths of Glory). Several of his novels have been filmed by American and French directors, resulting in classic noir including The Killer Inside Me (1952), After Dark My Sweet(1955), and The Grifters (1963).

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B005IGV82K
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mulholland Books (December 25, 2011)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 25, 2011
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1339 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 244 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0316404047
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 95 ratings

About the author

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Jim Thompson

Jim Thompson

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Jim Thompson was born in Anadarko, Oklahoma. He began writing fiction at a very young age, selling his first story to True Detectivewhen he was only fourteen. Thompson eventually wrote twenty-nine novels, all but three of which were published as paperback originals. Thompson also co-wrote two screenplays (for the Stanley Kubrick films The Killing and Paths of Glory). Several of his novels have been filmed by American and French directors, resulting in classic noir including The Killer Inside Me (1952), After Dark My Sweet(1955), and The Grifters (1963).

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
95 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

shafter_bare
5.0 out of 5 stars Great characters and so-so plot
Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2013
Verified Purchase
I love Jim Thompson books and this one is similar to most of his average ones. Not a great story but the characters, and the dialog, are just so good. Overall, a good read.
2 people found this helpful
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FemmeNoir
4.0 out of 5 stars Better than most reviews give credit for
Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2011
Verified Purchase
After reading most of the Jim Thompson oeuvre, I wasn't expecting much from "Wild Town", given the reviews on this site. It definitely suprised me. I liked the recurrence of Lou Ford and Amy from "The Killer Inside Me" and how their characters were given a nobler twist in this novel. I also enjoyed the protoganist Bugs, who seems along with Doc McCoy to be one of only a few Thompson anti-heroes who is free from any considerable physical or psychological pathology. The two femme fatales, as well as most of the minor characters are very well thought out and entertaining. Any mysteries or loose ends surrounding them, or the plot in total, just add to the fascination of Wild Town. The story and the characters really hooked me and drew me in. I've read all of Thompson's Noir/Crime novels and after Pop.1280, The Grifters, Farewell my Lovely, The Kill-Off, and the Killer Inside Me, Wildtown is tied with The Nothing Man for #6. In my opinion, Wild Town, is more intriguing and fun than The Getaway, A Swell Looking Babe, Savage Nights, The Criminal, His Kind of Woman etc. But, I'm just a girl ;)
10 people found this helpful
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Joel E. Mitchell
3.0 out of 5 stars Alternate Sociopath
Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2024
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This book shares a couple characters with "The Killer Inside Me." Rather than a prequel or sequel, it offers an alternate take on the characters. Lou Ford is still a sociopathic deputy, son of a respectable deceased doctor, and abusive boyfriend to schoolteacher Amy, but most of the other details don’t quite match up (and Lou is not the first-person narrator). It was kind of interesting to see the same characters in different circumstances, but without Lou’s sociopathic inner thoughts it’s just really average crime fiction where we follow some loser of a house detective through a bunch of crime and morally gross behavior. Meh.
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David S. Tester
5.0 out of 5 stars Jim Thompson
Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2018
Verified Purchase
Great condition. Great book.
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SLW
4.0 out of 5 stars good read
Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2018
Verified Purchase
Love Jim Thompson stories they are all very good especially the stories that take place in the south west like this one. The time period and characters are the best.
2 people found this helpful
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Original American Queen
5.0 out of 5 stars Takes you away and keeps your interest
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2018
Verified Purchase
Enjoyed this book by Jim Thompson immensely. I did not see the ending coming at all. Everyone was crooked but the crook.
2 people found this helpful
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Stephen W. Dennie
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2015
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An interesting read, as are nearly all Jim Thompson books.
One person found this helpful
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Ravanagh Allan
5.0 out of 5 stars As Good As
Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2020
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J. T. in top form -- what else to say!
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Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 2, 2018
Verified Purchase
Excellent
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Dylan35
3.0 out of 5 stars Everyone has something to hide
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 25, 2015
Verified Purchase
Not the best Thompson (see The Criminal for a perfectly formed noir), but still a sizzling, hot little thriller. Hard to engage with the characters here, and they are almost caricatures, drawn without the usual Thompson eye for subtle shades of colour. The plot is rather thin, but plot was never really the point of Thompson's work - it's the zingy one liners, the oppressive noir atmosphere, and his Dostoevsky like ability to draw complex, layered and morally compromised characters. Everyone in Wild Town has something to hide, but it's made pretty obvious pretty quickly what it is. Jim Thompson was incapable of writing a bad book, and this is still worth reading, just not up there with his best.
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