''The Killer Inside Me'' is a 1952

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

by American writer Jim Thompson published by

Fawcett Publications Fawcett Publications was an American publishing company founded in 1919 in Robbinsdale, Minnesota by Wilford Fawcett, Wilford Hamilton "Captain Billy" Fawcett (1885–1940). It kicked off with the publication of the bawdy humor magazine ''Captai ...

. In the introduction to the anthology ''Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s'', it is described as "one of the most blistering and uncompromising crime novels ever written."

Plot summary

Lou Ford appears to be an unremarkable

deputy sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

in a small

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

town; beneath this facade, however, he is a cunning, depraved

sociopath Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits. Different conceptions of psychopathy have been u ...

with

sadistic Sadism may refer to: * Sadomasochism, the giving or receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation * Sadistic personality disorder, an obsolete term proposed for individuals who derive pleasure from the s ...

sexual tastes. His main outlet for his dark urges is the relatively benign habit of deliberately needling people with clichés and platitudes despite their obvious boredom: "If there's anything worse than a bore," says Lou, "it's a corny bore." Despite having a steady girlfriend, schoolteacher Amy Stanton, Ford falls into a passionate,

sadomasochistic Sadomasochism ( ) is the giving and receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation. Practitioners of sadomasochism may seek sexual pleasure from their acts. While the terms sadist and masochist refer ...

relationship with a prostitute named Joyce Lakeland. He describes their affair as unlocking "the sickness" that has plagued him since adolescence, when he sexually abused a little girl, a crime for which his elder foster brother Mike took the blame to spare Lou from prison. After serving a jail term, Mike died at a construction site. Lou blamed a local construction magnate, Chester Conway, for his death, suspecting he was murdered for refusing to help further Conway's schemes. To exact revenge, Lou and Joyce

blackmail Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to fa ...

Conway to avoid exposing Joyce's affair with his son, Elmer. However, Lou double-crosses Joyce: he ferociously batters her and shoots Elmer, hoping to make the crimes appear to be a lovers' spat gone wrong. Elmer is killed instantly and Sheriff Bob Maples, Lou's mentor, reports that Joyce died after a short stay in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

. Though Lou believes he has gotten away with the crime, county attorney Howard Hendricks becomes suspicious of his version of events, as well as his

alibi An alibi (from the Latin, '' alibī'', meaning "somewhere else") is a statement by a person, who is a possible perpetrator of a crime, of where they were at the time a particular offence was committed, which is somewhere other than where the crim ...

, and a third person is suspected to be involved. Suspicion soon falls on Johnnie Pappas, a young criminal who Lou has befriended and to whom he gave some of Conway's money, which is revealed to have been marked. Lou is allowed to enter the distressed Johnnie's cell alone in order to reason with him, only to murder him and stage the scene as a

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...

. Though many accept that the case is closed, more people begin to suspect Lou of being involved, including Jeff Plummer, another deputy, and Amy, who presses marriage even after a sadomasochistic encounter with Lou begins to convince her that he is hiding a dark side. A drifter whom Lou injured earlier attempts to blackmail him, revealing that he eavesdropped on a suspicious conversation Lou was involved in. Lou, seeing a way to tie up multiple loose ends, agrees to pay his blackmailer; he also agrees to

elope Elopement is a term that is used in reference to a marriage which is conducted in a sudden and secretive fashion, usually involving a hurried flight away from one's place of residence together with one's beloved with the intention of getting m ...

with Amy, who he is planning to kill. On the night the drifter returns, Lou beats Amy to death, intending to frame the blackmailer for her murder. Plummer kills the drifter after Lou chases him through town, and Lou is sedated and put in a hospital. Lou is visited by Plummer and Hendricks in the hospital, and senses that they both suspect him in the murders. Plummer also reveals that Maples killed himself, convinced of Lou's guilt. They show him a letter that Amy had written and intended to give him during their elopement, one which subtly urges him to confess. Lou denies that the letter is incriminating, but Plummer and Hendricks force him into a jail cell, where they try unsuccessfully to provoke a confession with audio of Johnnie's voice and pictures of Amy. Eventually, Lou's attorney arrives and secures his release, though he admits that he cannot help Lou leave town. Lou ruminates on his past, concluding that his hatred and violence, especially towards women, stemmed from a childhood incident involving his old housekeeper molesting him in order to get back at his father, with whom she was unhappily involved; Lou realizes that his female victims were substitutes for her. Accepting his fate, he covers his house in alcohol and candles, intending to kill himself by setting the building on fire. Eventually, Plummer and Hendricks arrive with a team of police, as well as Joyce, who is revealed to be alive, albeit badly injured. Joyce assures Lou that she did not sell him out, and he affirms his affection for her before stabbing her to death. The police fire on Lou, killing him, but destroying the house in the process.

Film adaptations

In 1976, the novel was adapted into a film of the same title, directed by

Burt Kennedy Burton Raphael Kennedy (September 3, 1922 – February 15, 2001) was an American screenwriter and director known mainly for directing Westerns. Budd Boetticher called him "the best Western writer ever." Biography Kennedy was born in 1922 i ...

and starring

Stacy Keach Walter Stacy Keach Jr. (born June 2, 1941) is an American actor and narrator. He has played mainly dramatic roles throughout his career, often in law enforcement or as a private detective. His most prominent role was as Mickey Spillane's fiction ...

as Lou Ford and Tisha Sterling as Amy Stanton. A 2010 version written by John Curran, directed by

Michael Winterbottom Michael Winterbottom (born 29 March 1961) is an English film director. He began his career working in British television before moving into features. Three of his films—''Welcome to Sarajevo'', ''Wonderland'' and ''24 Hour Party People''—h ...

and starring

Casey Affleck Caleb Casey McGuire Affleck-Boldt (born August 12, 1975) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Satellite Award. He ...

and

Jessica Alba Jessica Marie Alba ( ; born April 28, 1981) is an American actress and businesswoman. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in '' Camp Nowhere'' and '' The Secret World of Alex Mack'' (1994), and rose to prominence at age 19 ...

premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...

in January 2010, and was released in theaters later that year.

In popular culture

The novel is referenced in the

Dead Milkmen The Dead Milkmen is an American punk rock band formed in 1983 in Philadelphia. Their original lineup consisted of vocalist and keyboardist Rodney Linderman ("Rodney Anonymous"), guitarist and vocalist Joe Genaro ("Joe Jack Talcum"), bassist D ...

song "Sri Lanka Sex Hotel", on their 1988 LP, ''

Beelzebubba ''Beelzebubba'' is the fourth studio album by the American satirical punk rock band the Dead Milkmen, released in 1988. It peaked at No. 101 on the ''Billboard'' 200. The album contains perhaps the band's best-known song, " Punk Rock Girl". Fi ...

''. The song " The Killer Inside Me" by experimental hip-hop artist MC 900 Ft. Jesus is based on the novel. Filmmaker

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...

, who worked with Thompson on the script for the 1956 movie '' The Killing'', praised the novel, stating that it was "probably the most chilling and believable first-person story of a criminally warped mind I have ever encountered." The post-punk/alternative-country rock band Green on Red titled their 1987 album '' The Killer Inside Me'' after the book.

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originato ...

has stated that the idea for his 1995 song "My Best Was Never Good Enough" (on the album ''

The Ghost of Tom Joad ''The Ghost of Tom Joad'' is the eleventh studio album, and the second acoustic album, by American recording artist Bruce Springsteen, released on November 21, 1995, by Columbia Records. It reached the Top Ten in two countries, and the Top Twenty ...

'') came from this book, specifically Ford's penchant for speaking in cliches. In 2013, the Norwegian band The Launderettes released their album ''Getaway'', which was inspired by the novel. The band uses the album as a "means to end the story differently." In the 1996 film ''

Normal Life ''Normal Life'' is a 1996 American crime drama film based on the real lives of husband-and-wife bank robbers, Jeffrey and Jill Erickson. The film stars Ashley Judd and Luke Perry and was directed by John McNaughton. The original screenplay was ...

'', the protagonist Chris Anderson, an ex-cop turned criminal, recommends the novel to a police officer and gives him a copy as a present.

Criticism

C. Namwali Serpell has outlined a phenomenological, postcritical reading of ''The Killer Inside Me'' that exposes the limitations of purely ideological interpretations of the novel.

References

External links