I've just read Jim Thompson's The Rip Off (good lord that man
wrote a lot). It's the first of what you might call the
non-classic Thompson's I've read but
was enjoyable nonetheless. It has the requisite
self-contained insanity of his work - what the hell is going
on?!? Who are these people?!? And tells the tale of
easy-going loser Britt Rainstarr's persecution after meeting
a hell of a swell good looking babe. It's billed on the blurb
as something of a comedy and Rainstarr is at times laughable
(infuriating at times too). Interestingly, he's a Native
American in the current parlance. Rollicking would be the
ideal description I think, nice ending and, yes, that real
Thompson feeling of heightened unreality and paranoia. In
deferrence to the recent length debate I can report it's
about 200 pages with bugger all padding. New Thompson readers
should certainly not start here but fans will enjoy it I
think.
Cheers,
Colin
Join my Church:
www.myspace.com/thereverendspadgedooley
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