Roughneck

Incorrigible author Jim Thompson retraces his wild swath across America during the great Depression and World War II. Whether he's getting drunk in a funeral home or drafting a manuscript with the help of a big-hearted prostitute, Thompson is a mesmerizing guide to hard times--his country's and his own.

Library Journal

Another of Thompson's autobiographical titles and supposedly true, fans know that half of this is inseparable from his crime writings. Whether fact or fiction, this 1954 title makes for fun reading. Also look for Thompson's novel The Golden Gizmo (ISBN 0-375-70032-3), now also available from Vintage.

(1906 - 1977) James Meyers Thompson was born in Anadarko, Oklahoma. He began writing fiction at a very young age, selling his first story to True Detective when he was only fourteen. Thompson eventually wrote twenty-nine novels, all but three of which were published as paperback originals. Thompson also wrote two screenplays (for the Stanley Kubrick films “The Killing” and “Paths of Glory”). An outstanding crime writer, the world of his fiction is rife with violence and corruption. In examining the underbelly of human experience and American society in particular, Thompson’s work at its best is both philosophical and experimental. 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).