The Killer Inside Me

Written by Jim Thompson

Narrated by Tim Flavin

The Killer Inside Me has been a cult classic since its first publication in 1952. Also a major motion picture starring Casey Affleck, directed by Michael Winterbottom.

Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford is a pillar of the community in his small Texas town, patient and thoughtful. Some people think he's a little slow and boring but that's the worst they say about him. But then nobody knows about what Lou calls his "sickness". It nearly got him put away when he was younger, but his adopted brother took the rap for that.

Now the sickness that has been lying dormant for a while is about to surface again - and the consequences are brutal and devastating. Tense and suspenseful, The Killer Inside Me is a brilliantly sustained noir crime masterpiece.

Read by Tim Flavin

(p) 2015 Orion Publishing Group

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hachette UK Audio
• Release date: Dec 3, 2015
• ISBN: 9781409163671

Jim Thompson

Jim Thompson is an internationally published firearms writer, photographer, and consultant with more than five decades of experience as a serious shooter and experimenter. He purchased his first M1 in 1963. His dedication to precise historical research combined with his practical, empirical insight has yielded significant contributions to the fields of military history and weapons development. He resides in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Reviews for The Killer Inside Me

[samsattler · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Simply put, Jim Thompson’s 1952 novel The Killer Inside Me is a stunner, one of those novels that, once picked up, demand the reader to keep turning pages. Mostly during the 1930s and 1940s, Thompson wrote over thirty novels, and most of those, including The Killer Inside Me, were published as paperback originals. That’s probably why Thompson got so little critical appreciation during his lifetime. He was, however, “rediscovered” during the 1980s, and several of his novels have now been filmed or republished. The Killer Inside Me even opens the Library of America collection titled Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s, a five-novel collection that includes Patricia Highsmith’s remarkable The Talented Mr. Ripley along with works from the classic noir writers Charles Willeford, David Goodis, and Chester Himes. “I grinned, feeling a little sorry for him. It was funny the way these people kept asking for it. Just latching onto you no matter how you tried to brush them off, and almost telling you how they wanted it done. Why’d they all have to come to me to get killed? Why couldn’t they kill themselves?”Twenty-nine-year-old Lou Ford, narrator of The Killer Inside Me, is a cop in the small West Texas town he’s lived in his whole life. Central City, Texas, is an oil boom town that has grown from a population of 4,800 to one of more than 48,000 during Lou’s lifetime, and it is not anything like the quiet little community it had been when his father was the town’s family doctor. Lou is the cop everybody likes, the guy who doesn’t appear to be all that smart but always has the time and good advice for those who need it most. And that’s just the way Lou wants it.The real Lou Ford, however, is nothing like the one people think he is. No, the real Lou Ford is brilliant. He reads in several languages, a feat he taught himself by reading from the extensive library his father left behind in the family home/doctor’s office after he died. He’s read his father’s medical texts — and he’s completely conversant about their contents. With his photographic memory, Lou could have easily become a doctor and taken over his father’s established practice had he wanted to do that. But most importantly, the real Lou Ford is a psychopath who is just as likely to kill you as smile at you and quote some homespun advice he’s memorized from his reading. He’s a man who, entirely for his own amusement, manipulates everyone unfortunate enough to know him. And the really scary thing is what he’s capable of doing to the people he grows tired of — or those who make the mistake of crossing him.Lou Ford is an unforgettable narrator who, despite his mental illness, turns out to be the exact opposite of the unreliable narrator. Instead, Lou wants the reader (often addressing them directly) to know exactly what he is thinking and planning — even to telling them that he is going to kill someone long before he actually does it. He is a brutal, violent man in the midst of losing the self-control that has allowed the killer inside him to remain hidden as long as it has. But that is about to change…and the body-count is mounting.“…the way I see it is, the writer is just too goddam lazy to do his job. And I’m not lazy, whatever else I am. I’ll tell you everything. But I want to get everything in the right order. I want you to understand how it was.”Bottom Line: The Killer Inside Me is a surprisingly disturbing novel, but the disturbance does not necessarily come from the explicitness of Lou Ford’s murders. I was much more taken aback by —the ease with which a man like Lou Ford (and his real life versions) is so easily able to lure innocent victims into his web of murder and abuse. The horror of that ability is magnified by the ease — and pleasure — that Ford takes in giving his readers such a revealing account of how easy it is for someone like him to kill — and get away with it.

[ken5me5old5mate · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson A great book!

I just loved the understated monologue about killing people and the matter of factness about the necessity to do so. I also really liked how the main protagonist Deputy Ford, never got it quite right.What is it about a book that can capture the atmosphere and essence of small town life so well. I almost felt like I was there. I just loved the myopic ineluctable journey to the very end of things.I kinda understand that this was one of the earliest examples of the genre but I never let that spoil it for me.Bloody good read.

[tomdonaghey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Killer Inside Me (1952) by Jim Thompson. This is one of Mr. Thompson’s more intense novels, not that any of the others will let you breathe easy. This is a simple story of revenge when the person who feels wrong is a sociopathic killer.Lou Ford is a deputy sheriff in a small west Texas town. The townsfolk look up to him and are thankful that he is the law out there in the late 40’s and early 50’s. With him around they all feel safe from whatever might blow into town. But there is that psycho killer lurking in plain sight. He is cruel, a true killer, and worse yet, he slaps around women and uses them as sex toys. He is just plain evil. And Lou Ford has to contend with him.This is truly a novel that is a mind worm, slowly eating away at your gray matter. Hard to read, harder yet to stop reading, this book will get inside you and not let you go. Someone mentioned that after reading this you mind want to wash your brain in bleach. Or as another killer psycho, the Donald said, inject some other disinfectant into yourself to kill the virus “in a minute.” Either way, this is one story that is hard to get rid of.

[fothpaul · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book in the end. It read quite quickly, despite me finding the style quite difficult at first. I enjoyed the ending and the way in which the cause of the events was revealed throughout the book. I also found it interesting the way in which I was rooting for the killer, even though he had obviously done terrible things. The first person style really meant a lot of detachment from the actions of Lou Ford. Elements reminded me a lot of American Psycho. =

[borrows0n0wants · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was slow starting and didn't really hook me from the beginning. It took me over sixty pages to become engrossed, but once I became involved, it was fast reading from there. This book is incredibly disturbing. You find yourself sympathizing and agreeing with a schizophrenic murderer. The book was great and the way that Thompson let the events unfold in front of you, never letting you know too much at a time, was absolutely phenomenal. If you can make it through those initial chapters, trust me, you're in for a hell of a book.

[electrascaife · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dexter meets 1950's Texas, which seems on the surface like it might be pretty good, but it just didn't click for me. I got too hung up on the misogyny, and the audio narrator wasn't fabulous, either.

[csdaley-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a dark book. It holds up pretty well but I am not always a fan of some of the noir conventions. Not a feel good book in any way. Don't read this if you need something light and peppy. I will admit I am surprised it took me so long to read it. This is the type of mystery I would have swallowed whole as a kid.

[mrgan-2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a darker, slightly loopier granddaddy of TV's Dexter. Stop me if this sounds familiar: a law-enforcement officer, traumatized in childhood and subsequently watched closely by his father, splits his adult days between being a beloved community cornball and sadistically murdering people… and, in the most interesting twist here, we get to see it all from his perspective. It's to Thompson's credit that he mostly pulls this off—I found myself nearly agreeing with the deranged murderer that yes, this person in front of him totally needed to die. What might drag down the book for you a bit are Thompson's excesses. He gets carried away with beat-style passages, his plot is needlessly complicated in the classic noir fashion, and his characters are often painted so broadly you'll roll your eyes. If you think of it as genre writing, you'll forgive these flaws, as they're par for the course. It's up to you to decide if Thompson's violent, unapologetically evil story is a weak noir novel, or an interestingly twisted one. I'm still not fully decided myself.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson is the story of a crime as seen through the eyes of the perpetrator. His depravity is laid out for the reader to absorb and as the lies and bloodshed escalate, we are drawn deeper into how the mind of a sociopath works. Lou Ford is a fascinating character and author Jim Thompson has captured his twisted personality perfectly.Before the book is through he is responsible for a number of deaths, some directly and some by association. This is a deeply damaged misogynist who kills men who are in his way, but he beats women to death for pure pleasure. Lou Ford has spent many years suppressing his violent wants and needs but when he meets prostitute Joyce Lakeland, he unleashes his inner feelings and allows his sickness to see the light of day. Although he tries to explain and justify his crimes, the reader can feel his pleasure and pride in his vicious murders. The Killer Inside Me is both creative and original, and has been imitated many times since it’s original publication in 1952. Jim Thompson has created an unforgettable character in Lou Ford with his good ol’ boy mask that isn’t quite able to hide the monster underneath.

[arubabookwoman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In a word (or two): Essential noir.The narrator, Lou, is a sheriff's deputy in a small west Texas oil town. He appears to be affable, eager to help, and somewhat dim-witted. He is actually a psychopathic killer. The question is, when will the people around him discover what he really is.This book is fast-paced, well written, and utterly believable.

[untraveller · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Good, easy read. Moves at a fast pace w/ the ending somewhat predictable, yet still very, very good.

[chewingpencils · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lovely and horrendous.

[bridgey_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Killer Inside - Jim Thompson ***I had never heard of Jim Thompson, but browsing in a bookshop came across this. Stephen King recommended the author on the cover so I decided to pick it up and give it a try. I was surprised that it was written so long ago (1952) but I am quite a fan of the Noir period. James M Cain has to be one of most recently discovered favourite authors.What is it about?The book is told through the eyes of a small town deputy by the name of Lou Ford, a man who has created a fake persona as a slightly slow but lovable member of the community. We experience his paranoia and disturbed view of the world that leads him into a killing spree. Fuelled by past events from his childhood Ford meticulously plans each murder, but how long will it be before he is found out? What did I like?The action when it comes is very vivid, Thompson leaves very little to the imagination as we are described blow by blow the injuries inflicted on Ford's victims. I enjoyed the way that we are only allowed to experience Ford's own thoughts, this left me second guessing along with him whether or not the other characters were believing his stories or not. It was interesting to see how he perceived each situation and as his mental disease became more apparent to the reader, I also found myself looking at past events in a new light.What didn't I like?I understand the whole noir genre, and the need to keep language short and direct, but for me the novel was just a little too extreme. At times I lost myself in the plot and wasn't entirely sure what was happening. I admit, maybe this was just as much down to me as the author, but for me it spoilt the flow of the novel. Also I wish the author had explored Lou's early life a little more especially as the events directly related to his present day frame of mind. I love the character of Lou, but can't but help wonder what more have become if Cormac McCarthy had got his hands on him. Reminds me more than little of Child of God.Anyway, by no means a poor read, just didn't hit enough buttons for me to be able to give it more than 3 stars. Looking at Amazon it has more than it's fair share of 5 star reviews so I am willing to accept that the fault is likely to be with me. I don't think I will actively seek out any more of Thompson's works, but if one 'fell' into my lap I would possibly give it a try.

[seriousgrace · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lou Ford is a young deputy sheriff with a big secret. He has what he calls a "sickness." In truth, he is a sexual sadist and a homicidal sociopath. After having rough sex with a prostitute he finds all of his urges have come back. Years earlier he attacked a child. When his foster brother took the blame for the crime, Lou thought his secret was safe, especially when his brother died in a construction "accident." He got away with it until he decided to blackmail the men who supposedly murdered his brother. Things get complicated and the bodies start piling up. Ford is a strange man (never mind the fact he's a killer). He speaks in cliches all the time and he has an ego the size of Alaska. He thinks that he has covered up each and every crime and hasn't left a shred of evidence that could implicate him in any way. It's strange to read this in the 21st century. So many different forensic techniques we take for granted today (DNA, for one) were not available back in the 1950s. Even methods like the polygraph and fingerprinting have been greatly improved since their invention.

[guyportman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Twenty-nine-year-old Lou Ford is a Deputy Sheriff from the West Texas town of Central City. Lou, who is in a long-term relationship with childhood sweetheart Amy Stanton, is a hard-working, trustworthy, simple character with a keenness for clichés; at least this is how he is perceived to be by his community. In reality Lou is a sociopath with a dark secret that he has been hiding since childhood.The story follows the highly intelligent, manipulative and cold-blooded psychopathic killer Lou. Written from the first-person perspective, the book offers a chilling yet compelling insight into the mind of a psychopath. A deranged, deeply disturbed mind capable of meticulous, deviant planning. A mind acutely aware of its sociopathic nature and sadomasochistic tendencies, but also on occasion prone to pithy and at times humorous observations about others.The author both engrosses and disturbs the reader through the utilisation of realistic, simple prose, a raw writing style and an engaging plot. Widely acclaimed as something of a master of suspense, Thompson expertly escalates the tension with a quick moving plot and by providing only enough detail for context.Unrelenting in its bleakness, pessimism and ruthlessness, The Killer Inside Me is a thought-provoking and suspenseful book that has transcended pulp fiction to become a widely acclaimed literary work.

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Lou is a deputy sheriff in small town Texas. He appears slow but actually quite smart. This story of a socialpath is told in the first person. It is considered to be vintage crime novel in the US, written in 1952. The movie of this would be very gruesome.

[ecw0647 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson describes the obsession of a small-town deputy sheriff. He is beloved by the community for his uncommon ability to calm violent prisoners. Told in the first-person, we soon learn of the narrator's dark past and even more foreboding future.

[datrappert · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Like most of Thompson's books, this one is a real downer, but watching this bad sheriff's deputy as he goes his merry way is certainly compelling. Even his indisputable intelligence can't humanize him in light of the cold-blooded way he treats others. Certainly one of the essential noir experiences, but not an altogether pleasant one.

[sturlington_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An early first-person account of a serial-killer schizophrenic hiding inside an “aw shucks” small-town Texas sheriff’s deputy, billed as a classic of roman noir, is marred only I think by the same thing that makes it groundbreaking: the time in which it was written. This novel, with its lurid depictions of sexual violence, and its attempt to understand a very modern disease from the inside out, is very much ahead of its time. But because only so much can be said outright, and the rest has to be hinted at, I was often a little confused as to what exactly was going on. Still, there were scenes that I even found shocking, half a century later.

[heikem_13 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a wonderful story. Much liked pillar of the community Sheriff Lou Ford is a little bit slow and boring but the people of the Texas town like him. But they don't know about the sickness that nearly got him put away when he was young. And now Lou is loosing control to the sickness again and nobody is there to keep an eye on him. And when too many people of the town end up dead his colleagues and friends begin to wonder.This brilliantly written suspense story takes you into the mind of Lou so you are with him at all times and slowly come to understand his way of thinking. You start believing his logic, following his warped path of justification until you want him to succeed and come out the winner. That's what I liked most about this novel, because really you should detest this person, want him put away - I found my self agreeing with his way of reasoning way too often. Well written, fantastic story, very interesting characters.

[jbrubacher_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A psychopath narrates the events as those around him who've trusted him their whole lives start to understand what he is. He murders, he lies, he puts on a terrific act, but it all starts to catch up to him. And this is no Dexter Morgan. This is a killer who is really disturbing, and who is obviously shaped by awful events in his childhood.The way the book is written you can see the cracks forming in his facade, and the lies he tells himself to stop himself from seeing them. You witness the way he tries to manipulate those around him, when it works and when it doesn't. Although it's not very fun to experience these things with the guy, it's very well written. Because it's so subtle it feels true. And the book ends in a way that you could interpret a few ways. Maybe he paid his dues, or maybe he won. As the psychopath might say, it all depends on where you're standing.I wouldn't recommend this book unless you're interested in this kind of mental illness, or interested in very realistically disturbing protagonists. I'm glad I read it, but it's a difficult thing to read. It gets four stars from me because it does what it does so well.

[darrol_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is not a nice book. Indeed, I think Stanley Kubrick blurb gets it that this is a very good "first-person story of a criminally warped mind". The narrative breaks down a little near the end, and I am not sure what to make of the ending.

[jose9_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A masterpiece. Short and straight to the guts and the brains. This book is a masterclass on how to explore a character's mind. Not one single line is cliched or stereotipical and it makes the character and his broken mind so much more real for that. I never felt the "hand of the author" for one single page. This was the main character talking to me all the way through.

[schatzi_5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I don't know how I managed to read so many books about fictional serial killers without ever hearing about Jim Thompson until now. This book is a classic, and for good reason: this is one of the first books of its kind. Jim Thompson was wading into mostly unexplored waters when he authored this book.Today, with Hannibal Lecter and Dexter Morgan and other well-known fictional sociopaths, readers might find this book rather simplistic and dated. Probably hindered by the time's sensibilities, Thompson doesn't go into gory detail, which does make things a bit confusing at times. But I thought the book was well-worth sticking with, especially after about page 70, when the story really started to grow on me.I won't say much about the plot, since I don't want to spoil anyone. The main character, Lou Ford, is a small-town sheriff's deputy who has a dark secret that has been lying dormant inside of him for years. But now, having the chance for revenge, he acts upon the "sickness" that he has kept hidden from the world for so long, which makes his carefully-constructed world start to unravel. I usually guess endings pretty easily, but I didn't guess this one (perhaps I should have, but I was just so caught up in wondering whether Lou would get away with his crimes or not).I'd recommend this to anyone who likes fiction about serial killers.

[cwflatt · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Really good, simple book that kept drawing you in more and more into the twisted mind of a killer and he spiralled down a path of dispare trying to clean up the mess he created anlong the way and justifing every move at the right thing to do.

[miro_4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Deputy sheriff Lou Ford actually is a nice successful person. He's not fooling anybody. But sometimes he has a psychological need to torment and kill which he does in a calculating matter of fact sort of way. Hannibal Lecter has nothing on this character and its the best crime novel I've ever read. It's got a frightening realism that's missing from Lehane's Shutter Island or Harris's Silence of the Lambs and the way small town social judgements protect him right to the end is completely convincing.

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A stunning portrait of a psychopath from the psychopath's point of view. Even as the horrifying details of his "sickness" and the killing that results are narrated you somehow understand the logic of his crimes. Thompson manages to make you forget how scary this man really is.

[rrbob_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Jim Thompson's rough life in small towns gives him the perfect platform to write this book. “The Killer Inside Me” is filled with enough psychological drama, creepy people, losers, and criminals to satisfy anyone who enjoys a well spun tale. The plot is complex but easy to follow allowing the reader to form attachments to characters and a stake in the outcome. This is a great book.

[magadri-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was slow starting and didn't really hook me from the beginning. It took me over sixty pages to become engrossed, but once I became involved, it was fast reading from there. This book is incredibly disturbing. You find yourself sympathizing and agreeing with a schizophrenic murderer. The book was great and the way that Thompson let the events unfold in front of you, never letting you know too much at a time, was absolutely phenomenal. If you can make it through those initial chapters, trust me, you're in for a hell of a book.

[bruderbane · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Creepy...yeah creepy is the appropriate adjective I'm looking for to accurately describe Jim Thompson's thriller "The Killer Inside of Me." This tale resonated with me perhaps due to my closeness to someone (also a murderer) who compartmentalizes eerily similar to the antihero Lou Ford. I've personally witnessed many of the same logical and seemingly cogent arguments to justify horrible actions that have harmed and destroyed the lives of too many people. That Mr. Thompson was able to capture this internal dialogue so accurately was outstanding. I can't help but think that Mr. Thompson must have had some first-hand experience with victimizers. In any case, I look forward to getting another chilling novel from Mr. Thompson.