Pop. 1280 (Mulholland Classic)

On one level this novel can just be dismissed as pulpy noir trash, Thompson's women are always beautiful and oversexed and there is a lot of suggestive narratives and violence. However, there is something else going on here. Thompson sneaks in his negative views on things like American racism, economic inequality, good-old-boy political corruption, and the battle between the sexes. He uses the psychopathic main character as a reverse parody of the American condition and the humor is something Mark Twain would have even chuckled at. If you like French Cinema and are literate enough to read subtitles, check out Bertrand Tavernier's "Coup De Torchon", released in America as "Clean Slate", which is set in French Colonial West Africa in 1938 rather than Thompson's West Texas of 1910.This is the only work of literature that asks the deep philosophical question, "Do we scratch our balls because they itch or because it feels good?" If you can't laugh at the absurdities of life, well then, you just might end up a serial murderer!

From the moment I began reading POP. 1280, the classic crime novel by the late Jim Thompson, I gained a tremendous appreciation for how masterfully the author gave his characters "voice." And if you are a budding author who hasn't grasped the meaning of "voice," then by all means, read this book.Essentially, there are two definitions for the literary term "voice": the first determines what makes a writer's style unique and sets him or her part from others in the same genre; and the second relates to how we experience the story from a character's point of view (POV), as expressed in their singular speech patterns, actions, and thoughts.While POP. 1280--published in 1964--exemplifies Thompson's voice as an author; it serves as an even greater example of how writers should give characters their distinctive voice--and maintain it throughout the novel.POP. 1280 is the first-person story of Nick Corey, a small-town Southern sheriff in the early days of the 20th century. In his own words, Corey tells us--without saying so directly--that he is a lazy, unmotivated fellow who prefers eating and sleeping all day to doing any real law enforcement work. He presents himself to the reader and everyone he meets as a no-account simpleton. But through his own words, we learn that on the contrary, he's quite cunning, clever, and conniving. He cheats on his nagging wife and is adept at covering his tracks, no matter what malfeasance he commits. In one unnerving scene, he confronts a victim with a speech that defies his down-home, awe-shucks persona and exposes to the reader his real self: He's a homicidal sociopath with a flair for twisting words and meanings to deflect suspicion and cast blame for his misdeeds on others.Throughout the novel, Thompson maintains Nick Corey's voice to the point you feel as if you're living inside the man's head. It's that effective.In POP. 1280, Nick Corey speaks and thinks like a yokel; at no point does Thompson betray this characterization by suddenly putting 50-cent words in his mouth. Instead, by giving Nick his individual voice both in word and thought, Jim Thompson made him real--almost too real.

Pop.1280 is about a sheriff in the Town of Potts County. Nick Corey is about the worst sheriff I have ever seen, and keeps getting re-elected. Nick is about the best con man I have seen in a while.I had high hopes for this book, but I never really got all that into it. The story never really seemed to be going anywhere, and the ending was bad. I liked the story enough overall to stick with it, but not sure I would go out of my way to recommend this to anyone. This was the first Jim Thompson book I have read, I may read more, but not going out of my way to purchase another of his books.

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.

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

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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.

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.

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.