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About This Item
Synopsis
First class criminal Carl Bigelow has a difficult job ahead of him. How can he kill one-time hoodlum Jake Winroy without making it look like a hit? The man is about to turn evidence in to the authorities, threatening to bring the law down on the powerful crime syndicate that runs the city. Allowing Jake Winroy to live could be very bad for the career of Carl's Boss, not to mention several prominent but corrupt Long Island politicians. Luckily for Carl, Winroy's beautiful wife is bored with his drunken behavior and anxious to become a widow. It seems that she could easily be implicated in the plot by her eagerness to take up with Carl, the handsome young hoodlum.
Reviews
I recently enjoyed Jim Thompson's Savage Night.It’s centered around Carl Bigelow, who’s either a hitman sent to kill somebody set to rat out on the mob or a young man going to teacher’s college. Most of the book hinges around on identity: if Bigelow is really somebody else, who else is pretending – and who are they after? Appearance-altering contact lenses and fake teeth play a large role in this novel.This paranoia spills all over the place. Routine events become the setting for a double-cross. A bakery-worker neighbour isn’t just another killer hired for the same purpose, but maybe one planning to kill him, too. The wife wants the husband out, but is she working with the cops? And just why are the cops so friendly, anyway?Savage Night is a short book packed with violence, lying and tons of paranoia. And in between bouts of killing, it’s punctuated with disturbing imagery from biblical verses spelled out of ripped-apart magazines to deformed bodies. The book gradually moves from crime novel to a disturbing horror story, but given Bigelow’s state of mind, it’s fitting. Every corner is a trap, every person out to get him. Whenever he kills someone, it’s not because they needed to, but because of what they could do.It’s vintage Thompson. It’s a somewhat typical story turned on it’s side, then flipped around and back and forth. It builds up to an insane, schizophrenic finish. And it’s a hell of a ride, too. Sure, it occasionally trips over itself as it zigs and zags and it’s occasionally hard to follow, but overall, it’s a fun, disturbing ride. I’m not sure it completely works, but when it does, it really does. Recommended .
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Details
- Bookseller
- Andrew Barnes Booksellers (AU)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- K304107
- Title
- Savage Night
- Author
- Thompson, Jim
- Book Condition
- Used - Fine
- Edition
- 1st thus
- Publisher
- Vintage Crime
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1991
- Size
- small octavo
Terms of Sale
Andrew Barnes Booksellers
BOOKS MAY BE RETURNED FOR ANY REASON. POSTAGE REFUNDED IF IN THE VIEW OF BIBLIO BOOK WAS INACCURATELY DESCRIBED
About the Seller
Andrew Barnes Booksellers
About Andrew Barnes Booksellers
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- 1st Thus
- This indicates that this is not the first appearance of a book in print, but that this is the first appearance in a...
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- Wrappers
- The paper covering on the outside of a paperback. Also see the entry for pictorial wraps, color illustrated coverings for...