Introduction: Bestselling Author of Riveting Novels
Meet Jim Thompson, the prolific author whose compelling narrative and distinct style of writing has gifted literature with some of the most profound hardboiled crime fiction. Born in 1906 and continuing his literary journey until 1977, Thompson’s work, though somewhat underappreciated during his lifetime, has grown to gain substantial acclaim posthumously.
Thompson’s dynamic writing style found a new wave of readers in the 1980s, following the re-publication of his novels under the Black Lizard imprint. As a result, several of his novels, including ‘The Getaway’ and ‘The Grifters’, were made into major motion pictures, further elevating his posthumous popularity.
An Overview of Thompson’s Distinct Writing Style
Thompson’s unique writing style often plunges the reader deep into the psyches of his protagonists. His characters, mostly unreliable narrators, possess an air of unpredictability which keeps the audience glued to the pages.
Books in Order: Thompson’s Literary Masterpieces
The literary journey of Thompson started in 1942 with his breakthrough novel, ‘Now and On Earth’. Since then, Thompson has written a plethora of novels, garnering a dedicated fan base and critical acclaim. To help both new readers and longtime fans, here is a compiled list of books in order of their original release dates:
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
| Now and on Earth | (1942) |    |
| Heed the Thunder | (1946) | |
| Nothing More Than Murder / Murder at the Bijou | (1949) | |
| Cropper’s Cabin / Sharecropper Hell | (1952) | |
| The Killer Inside Me | (1952) | |
| Bad Boy | (1953) | |
| The Criminal | (1953) | |
| Recoil | (1953) | |
| The Alcoholics | (1953) | |
| Savage Night | (1953) | |
| The Golden Gizmo | (1954) | |
| A Swell-Looking Babe | (1954) | |
| The Nothing Man | (1954) | |
| A Hell of a Woman | (1954) | |
| Roughneck | (1954) | |
| King Blood | (1954) | |
| After Dark, My Sweet | (1955) | |
| The Kill-Off | (1957) | |
| Wild Town | (1957) | |
| The Getaway | (1958) | |
| The Transgressors | (1961) | |
| The Grifters | (1963) | |
| Pop. 1280 | (1964) | |
| Texas by the Tail | (1965) | |
| South of Heaven | (1967) | |
| Ironside | (1967) | |
| The Undefeated | (1969) | |
| Nothing But a Man | (1970) | |
| Child of Rage | (1972) | |
| The Rip-Off | (1989) | |