Bad Boy

by Jim Thompson

Book Overview

From the beginning, Jim Thompson knew he was going to catch hell no matter what he did. And during a childhood spent at the mercy of a father whose schemes put him on the wrong side of the law as... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0445407131
• ISBN13: 9780445407138
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Warner Books (NY)
• Length: 204 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 4.1" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Laugh-out-loud funny

As others have said, definitely read other Thompson books first ("The Killer Inside Me" or "The Criminal" would be excellent choices), but this is a great book. By modern standards, it's tame. The title seems an exageration, given Thompson's self-censoring repression of anything truly ribald, profane or shocking ... though maybe this is more a reflection of where pop culture has come today than of Thompson. That said, the book is extremely funny in places & a great insight into the writer. For the truth behind Thompson's stories, try Robert Polito's excellent biography, "Savage Art," which is a must for anyone who gets really interested in Thompson anyway. If you read many Thompson books, there's a good chance you'll get seriously interested.

more of an autiobiographical novel than an autobiography

I don't think anyone could dispute that Thompson has taken many liberties in retelling his own story. Even so, the stories are well-written and wildly entertaining. The fabrications don't detract from the overall enjoyment, they enhance it. You find in these pages the roots of many Thompson characters. That is a large part of the fun. The chapters are very short, giving Bad Boy an addictive quality. You'll likely finish it quickly and wish that there was more(there is: Rough Neck). Bad Boy is funny, twisted, ugfly and occasionally tender. Jim Thompson created an image for himself. This is merely the autobiography of that self-made image. If you want more fact than fiction you should check out one of his biographies. I wouldn't recommend this as a first Thompson book. Get familiar with him first...and then check out this wonderful book.

Get to know Thompson first!

This is a good book, but you get more out of it if you've read a couple of his other novels before this one. It's kind of slow paced in the beginning(his childhood)but picks up with his bellhopping and bootlegging.Solid.

Excellent, a wild and intense life

Hard to believe he survived all he went through

Rough sketch of the Killer inside me Sheriff

For the most part this Thompson book examines the menial jobs of his youth and is as colorful as his books tend to be, with characters of questionable moral focus. Besides his obvious flare for the genre this book includes a real gem in the description of the author's first encounter with a texas officier who would provide Thompson with the model for the main character in the killer inside, for this reason alone the book is well worth the read.