POP. 1280

What I liked in the book is the simplicity of the Sheriff and the way he tackled the problems. Great reading. Must buy for mystery lovers.

I very disturbing, but interesting look at how the main character thinks and translates his actions.Surprising ending, another book?

LIVRE OUBLIE ET C'EST BIEN DOMMAGE ... UN PUR RÉGAL .... COMME UNE DOUCHE GLACÉE APRÈS UN BAIN CHAUDHN G Libraire

Compré esta novela porque leí en un libro que era un paradigma de la novela negra. Es una novela diferente. Alejada de los tradicionales tópicos del detective urbano y contra todos. Nos encontramos con un sheriff de una pequeña población donde hay asesinatos, ironía, intriga,... Nada es lo que parece. Muy bien escrita.

You could be forgiven for wondering at first if Pop. 1280 isn't an example of Thompson going back to the well; its main character, sheriff Nick Corey, feels very much to be a revisiting of Lou Ford, the main character in The Killer Inside Me. Both characters are sheriffs; both put on a front of simplicity and even stupidity to mask their keen intellects; and, yes, both have some seriously sociopathic tendencies. But the characters are more dissimilar than a first glance might indicate; indeed, Corey's far more complex than Ford in some ways, and he ends up feeling less like Ford's unchecked murderer and more like a truly disturbed individual. Moreover, Pop. 1280 really soars in its complex plotting, which finds Corey juggling a re-election campaign, a hateful wife, a hopeful new love, and lots more. But here's the biggest difference between The Killer Inside Me and Pop. 1280: the latter book is surprisingly, darkly, bracingly funny. I mean, genuinely laugh out loud funny, albeit in such a dark sense that it's going to choke a little bit going down. Pop. 1280 is a beautiful little poison apple of a book, and the best of Thompson's books that I've read so far; it's intricately plotted, amazingly written, acidically funny, and absolutely compelling. More than any of that, it will remind you that, no matter when he wrote, few authors can tap into the darkness, violence, and insanity of human nature better than Thompson, and by the time Pop. 1280 comes to an end, you'll be stunned by how different Nick Corey is from what you originally expected. More importantly, though, you'll also have finished a masterpiece by one of the essential crime thriller writers who ever lived.

The protagonist starts as a hapless fool and gradually is seen to have far more nous than he lets on. Ultimately he takes on satanic guise. All this as he navigates through the unfolding scenarios in a fractured and self righteous community giving folk enough rope to hang themselves by. All of this is told in first person colloquial and despite the sometimes savage goings on there is much humour to be found. This is so readable that I completed it in a day. Great style and panache kept me hooked from start to finish.