POP. 1280

Jim Thompson (1906-1977) was born in Anadarko, Oklahoma. After an itinerant childhood during which his sheriff father was driven from office for embezzlement; and as a roughneck in the Texan oil fields of the 1920s, Thompson became successful as a writer with the pulp fiction houses of the 1950s, writing a dozen of his more enduring novels in just 19 months. Among his many novels are THE KILLER INSIDE ME, THE GRIFTERS, THE GETAWAY and AFTER DARK, MY SWEET. He also wrote two screenplays (for the Stanley Kubrick films THE KILLING and PATHS OF GLORY). pop. 1280 was an acclaimed French film under the title COUP DE TORCHON.

Fantastic ... in my book Jim Thompson is still the greatest crime writer
The best suspense writer going bar none
I don't read many books twice but Jim Thompson novels - due to their concise, dirty power, their relentless violence and purity - can always draw me in for a second time. Some of the most psychological crime writing ever done. I love James M Cain and Elmore Leonard but Jim Thompson holds a special place in my heart
My favourite crime novelist - often imitated but never duplicated
Jim Thompson must be ranked in the top bracket. I strongly urge you not to miss one of his books
If Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and Cornell Woolrich would have joined together in some ungodly union and produced a literary offspring Jim Thompson would be it ... His work casts a dazzling light on the human condition
The master of the American groin-kick novel
One of the finest American writers and the most frightening, Thompson is on best terms with the devil. Read Jim Thompson and take a tour of hell