Rate this book

A Swell-Looking Babe (1954)

by Jim Thompson(Favorite Author)

3.82 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

031640392X (ISBN13: 9780316403924)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Mulholland Books

review 1: Maybe it's the era this was written. Maybe it's that I'm too far removed from the time in which this gritty tale takes place. I don't know. The writing is punchy and solid. The story engaging. However, the babes are babes and a cigarette in every mouth thing got old. Reminded me of afternoon movies on TV where I wished it was Humphrey Bogart and I got some no-name actor in a bad drama trying to be a low-budget version of the thin man. "A Swell-Looking Babe" takes place in an aging hotel staffed by down-on-their luck people catering to a low-rent clientele. A woman comes in late. She's pretty. She's startlingly hot. The two hotel workers drool. She's bad news. Of course. But Jim Thompson's prose makes it clear that his characters are too stupid or predestined by the events ... morethat overshadow their lives to avoid making catastrophic decisions clearly not in their best interest. I need this? My opinion was, "Not really." Life is crappy enough without having to some moron bellhop into dingbat land. I did like the writing. Thompson knows how to set a scene and draw on the emotions of his readers. In my case, that emotion was negative. My best friend loves Thompson and so do many famous contemporary authors. I don't share their enthusiasm. If I want something of this genre, I'll go to Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer.
review 2: Jim Thompson has always been one of my favorite hardboiled crime writers. His is a world of assured damnation, without hope of escape, redemption, or innocence. A Swell-Looking Babe is one of his earlier books, but ended up as a solid read with all the master's halmarks: a damned hero with a Freudian ax to grind; a duplicitous, beautiful woman or questionable moral fiber; double-crosses, unrequited desires and sudden violence. If you like Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and Ross McDonald but want to venture a little deeper into the darkness, give Thompson a try. less

Download links for: A Swell-Looking Babe

Advertising