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Jim Thompson
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Savage Night (Mulholland Classic) Kindle Edition

by Jim Thompson (Author), Mark Winegardner (Foreword) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 308 ratings
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Jake Winroy had no looks, no education, and little else before he'd worked his way to the top of a million-dollar-a-month horse-betting ring. But when the state's latched onto his game, the feds take a bite and the lawyer fees eat away at the rest, all Jake's got left is the bottle and a beautiful wife whose every word is ugly.

Jake's to be the top witness in a major case against organized crime -- if he hasn't already kicked the bucket before the trial has its day in court. But an enigmatic mafioso known only as The Man has a plan to make dead certain Jake never gets the chance to testify.

The Man's hired Charlie "Little" Bigger, a hit man barely five feet tall, to infiltrate the Winroy residence as a tenant and murder Winroy in cold blood. To Little, it seems like the easiest job on Earth. Until he lays eyes on the beautiful and dangerous Fay and the Winroy's young housemaid Ruth, a woman as sensual as she is vulnerable. Savage Night is Jim Thompson at his most unpredictable and deeply suspenseful, in a claustrophobic thriller of one man's fractured mind.
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  1. Print length
    248 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Mulholland Books
  5. Publication date
    May 1, 2012
  6. File size
    1457 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The best suspense writer going, bar none."―The New York Times

"My favorite crime novelist-often imitated but never duplicated."―Stephen King

"If Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and Cornell Woolrich would have joined together in some ungodly union and produced a literary offspring, Jim Thompson would be it...His work...casts a dazzling light on the human condition."―Washington Post

"Like Clint Eastwood's pictures it's the stuff for rednecks, truckers, failures, psychopaths and professors ... one of the finest American writers and the most frightening, [Thompson] is on best terms with the devil. Read Jim Thompson and take a tour of hell."―The New Republic

"The master of the American groin-kick novel."―Vanity Fair

"The most hard-boiled of all the American writers of crime fiction."―Chicago Tribune

From the Inside Flap

low a fresh-faced college kid looking for a room, or is he a poised hit man tracking down his victim? And if Carl is really two people, what about everyone around him? Savage Night is Thompson at his best, with plot reversals and nightmarish shifts of identity.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0078XGU2E
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mulholland Books (May 1, 2012)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 1, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1457 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 ‏ : ‎ 248 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0316403822
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 308 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
308 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Josh Mauthe
5.0 out of 5 stars Not what you expect from this plot and this author - and I mean that in a GOOD way
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2023
Verified Purchase
One of the things that keeps surprising me about Jim Thompson is the way he sometimes veers into a world far more stylized and impressionistic than you expect, being willing to leave behind his grimy, violent world in favor of something more surreal and vaguely artificial. It's something he did to wild effect at the end of The Getaway, and that same trick comes again at the end of Savage Night, which until that point shows no signs of leaving behind its small town vibe, amoral main character, femme fatales, ominous threats, and looming violence in favor of an ending that's surreal, unsettling, and even a little nightmarish - and with a knockout last line. But even before that ending, Savage Night is a typically nasty, tight little read, telling the tale of a hired killer who comes into a small town to live incognito as he lays the groundwork for his mission. As is typical with Thompson, our narrator isn't the most reliable conveyer of the plot, and it's clear early on that he's damaged in some ways that he himself doesn't seem fully cognizant of - nor, it would seem, the mistakes that he's clearly making along the way in a way that can't help but feel like a self-destructive streak that can't end well. Savage Night is an odd little book, mainly in the way it keeps subverting your expectations; based off of the plot I just laid out for you and any exposure you have to Thompson, you'll have a sense of where you think Savage Night is going, but this is a book whose character doesn't have the ruthless cunning of The Killer Inside Me's Lou Ford or Pop 1280's Nick Corey; instead, this is a tale of a man whose time is running out, and he may just be helping it along more than he realizes. It's nasty, it's darkly funny, it's unexpectedly weird, it's grimy - in other words, it's all Jim Thompson.
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R.L.H.
4.0 out of 5 stars Anti-hero seemingly on a bad LSD trip
Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2018
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A very strange and fascinating 'noir' classic. Anti-hero seemingly on a bad LSD trip...or maybe its everything and everyone around him on the bad trip and he gets swept up in the whirlpool. Last few chapters are 'off the charts' hallucinogenic', in a nightmarish way. This book is not going to be everyone's cup of tea. I is not your usual 'noir' type story. Almost too bizarre to be categorized in a genre. But its unforgettable.
4 people found this helpful
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Least Most Wanted
3.0 out of 5 stars Odd one
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2020
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Depressing turns into surreal. Not my favorite Thompson by a long shot.
One person found this helpful
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AndMooreAgain
5.0 out of 5 stars Jim Thompson can make you forget you just slit your throat
Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2019
Verified Purchase
I am in the midst of a particularly lousy time. I am being unjustly evicted from my San Francisco home. I have been there 50 years.
I have no where to go. I am a bit preoccupied. I wish i could buy every one of Jim Thompson's book and I will if I win out in eviction court. What a true test for good escapist literature!! yes I do mean literature. Thompson surpasses them all. He can make you forget everything including that your life is threatened, you forget you have gone or went crazy maybe you even forget what you wished you could do to your rich landlord, yes even that you can forget, maybe. you cannot put one of his books down however
12 people found this helpful
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warrick v
4.0 out of 5 stars Head Scratcher
Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2021
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Really weird but well written.
Great characters and plot development for a short read.
Just a little hard to follow at points.
The ending ....?
.
One person found this helpful
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granny artemis
5.0 out of 5 stars Savage nightmare
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2021
Verified Purchase
It starts off quirky and darkish. Winds around, spinning its wheels a fair bit. If the old fashioned gender roles and rambling plot bug you, skip the middle. The ending is worth it — a series of gorgeously hellish prose poems.
3 people found this helpful
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McSabbyD
4.0 out of 5 stars Like New
Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2014
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Jim Thompson is a great American writer in the order of the hard boiled, hard luck, noir type stories. He wrote After dark My Sweet, The Grifters etc....many of his books have been turned into dark, atmospheric thrillers. This book was in superb condition and came on the last day of the stated due time. So to be fair, it was delivered within the time line. But it was a long wait and if I were in a rush I would not necessarily order thru them again. But the book was like new.
One person found this helpful
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ann isbert
5.0 out of 5 stars A good hard slap in the face
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2020
Verified Purchase
Damn good read. Paints a colorful picture of the 40s. I grew up watching old black and white films so that era was not new to me, but the Hays Code made it seem like a more moral time. Thompson does not abide by the Hays Code. Thompson's world Is gritty. Morality does not override survival & sometimes you have to get dirty to survive.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Warren Stalley
5.0 out of 5 stars Knockout
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 12, 2015
Verified Purchase
Under strict orders from The Man, downtrodden boyish assassin Carl Bigelow arrives in small town Peardale to kill court informer Jake Winroy, even going so far as to stay at the Winroy guest house. But the plan begins to go awry due to conflicts with the local townspeople – Jake’s scheming wife Fay, the crippled house maid Ruth, dubious baker Kendall and suspicious Sheriff Summers. Before long the job becomes even more complicated and confused as Carl gets tangled in a love triangle between the two women while he slowly starts to lose his grip on reality. As usual with Jim Thompson the delicate balance of life slowly starts to disintegrate as Carl realises that he’s in a tight spot with nowhere to turn. Savage Night is another typical twisted crime novel with a knockout ending, from the one of those rare authors who turns pulp fiction into literary magic. Although for me not as powerful or spellbinding as The Killer Inside Me, this novel still manages to shock and impress like so much of Jim Thompson’s dark crime work.
3 people found this helpful
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cester
5.0 out of 5 stars exellent
Reviewed in France on August 29, 2015
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tres bon livre par un des maitres incontesté du roman noir americain des annes cinquantes dont certains livres ont eté adaptés au cinema
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E. Bayerschen
5.0 out of 5 stars Simply great
Reviewed in Germany on January 6, 2013
Verified Purchase
It's the first book from Jim Thompson I read and it was great. Especially, the sudden attacks of humor in his writing, even during dark passages, were fun. I also liked the weirdness in some passages of the book and the characters were all very interesting and well designed. Since I am not a native speaker I thought it would be hard to read due to vocabulary issues, but it wasn't at all.
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terry dabbs
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 24, 2016
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Excellent read
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S. J. Hannaway
3.0 out of 5 stars Like a Curates egg, good in parts ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 12, 2022
Verified Purchase
I haven’t actually finished the book, I’ve started to get bored with it, I didn’t find the main character very interesting & he is also unconvincing, the same went for the storyline, I’ve given it about 12 chapters & it’s not perked up much so I’ve shelved it, I might go back to it, if I can be bothered ?
One person found this helpful
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