Book Review: The Killer Inside Me

The Killer Inside Me - by Jim Thompson

Lou Ford is a bad man. He doesn't care for anyone, even those he says he likes. He is a complete phony. Everything he says and does is purely for effect, solely to convince people that he is a normal, boring, not very funny fellow. Because he is really a brutal killer. He also happens to be the narrator of the story.

The Killer Inside Me is about Lou Ford when he loses control, kills, and then has to try and cover the killing up. He does this by lying, which he has done all of his life, pretty much every minute of the day, and killing more, which he has wanted to do all of his life and which he does with no second thoughts.

Lou is not reliable narrator, though. The story is sometimes hard to follow because what we are being told doesn't seem to match what people are doing or saying. The main character is evidently not telling us everything, because others suspect him for reasons that seem minor. It seems hard to justify the gusto with which they react, the suspicions they clearly have of Lou, who by his own account is well liked and seems normal to everybody else. The ending begs the question: how does Lou manage to write/narrate his story anyway?

The dialog seems awkward, This may be because of the time frame (the 1950's), the setting (West Texas), or the narrative perspective.

Overall, this was an interesting novel. It is also short, so even with its flaws, it makes for a brief, thought provoking diversion.