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The Grifters (1963)

by Jim Thompson(Favorite Author)

4.01 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0316404055 (ISBN13: 9780316404051)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Mulholland Books

review 1: (Think of me as a cantankerous old man - you may be right. But then:)A murder MYSTERY ... this is not: the first death - a suicide which, a few pages later, and most predictably,turns out not to be a suicide - does not occur until page 168 of this 187-page novel; the second murder - which,again, you knew was coming- on the one-but-last page. A crime THRILLER ... this is not: although all three protagonists are criminals, their crime (con art or grift) gets depicted, nowhere elucidated - you read about swindle with dimes or dice or a punch board, or at the races, you still haven't a clue at to how it is done - so much for this novel title's theme. What that first 90% of this book IS all about is the sexual tension between the main character, a young man (a small-time grift... moreer), his youthful, dishy mother (a big-time grifter), and her rival, his a dozen-or-so-years older girl-friend, who is his mother's lookalike (and, you guessed it, a grifter). But this ain't no "Lolita" - vacuous, lifeless, boring stuff. Unless, like me, you're a non-native English speaker/reader, and would like to brush up on some American slang (the pages are overflowing with it), I would disadvise you to waste time on this one. (Recommend one? Pick up Ira Levin's "A Kiss Before Dying" - now THERE ...)
review 2: First copyright in 1963, this is a short dark novel about con artists, grifters--a mother Lily, her son Roy Dillon, his girlfriend Moria and Carol Roberg, Roy's nurse. Thompson's style of writing is compelling. He gets right to the point. I love stories with great plot twists and interesting characters. Like Gone Girl, this book ended with such a shock, I wanted to reread the book immediately. Unforgettable losers--I loved this book. Is there a sequel? I'd read it in a heartbeat. less

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