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A Hell of a Woman (Mulholland Classic) Paperback – August 5, 2014

by Jim Thompson (Author), Joe R. Lansdale (Foreword)
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 265 ratings
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Frank "Dolly" Dillon has a job he hates, working sales and collections for Pay-E-Zee Stores, a wife named Joyce he can't stand, and an account balance that barely allows him to pay the bills each month. Working door-to-door one day, trying to eke money out of folk with even less of it than he has, Dolly crosses paths with a beautiful young woman named Mona Farrell. Mona's being forced by her aunt to do things she doesn't like, with men she doesn't know -- she wants out, any way she can get it. And to a man who wants nothing of what he has, Mona sure looks like something he actually does.

Soon Dolly and Mona find themselves involved in a scheme of robbery, murder and mayhem that makes Dolly's blood run cold. As Dolly's plans begin to unravel, his mind soon follows.

In A Hell of a Woman, Jim Thompson offers another arresting portrait of a deviant mind, in an ambitious crime novel that ranks among his best work.
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  1. Print length
    208 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Mulholland Books
  4. Publication date
    August 5, 2014
  5. Dimensions
    5.75 x 0.75 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0316403733
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0316403733
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jim Thompson was born in Anadarko, Oklahoma. He began writing fiction at a very young age, selling his first story to True Detective when he was only fourteen. Thompson eventually wrote twenty-nine novels, all but three of which were published as paperback originals.

Thompson also co-wrote two screenplays (for the Stanley Kubrick films The Killing and Paths of Glory). Several of his novels have been filmed by American and French directors, resulting in classic noir including The Killer Inside Me (1952), After Dark My Sweet (1955), and The Grifters (1963).

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mulholland Books; Reissue edition (August 5, 2014)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0316403733
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316403733
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 0.75 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 265 ratings

About the author

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Jim Thompson

Jim Thompson

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Jim Thompson was born in Anadarko, Oklahoma. He began writing fiction at a very young age, selling his first story to True Detectivewhen he was only fourteen. Thompson eventually wrote twenty-nine novels, all but three of which were published as paperback originals. Thompson also co-wrote two screenplays (for the Stanley Kubrick films The Killing and Paths of Glory). Several of his novels have been filmed by American and French directors, resulting in classic noir including The Killer Inside Me (1952), After Dark My Sweet(1955), and The Grifters (1963).

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
265 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Cowgirl
5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT WRITING AND READING
Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2016
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Just an outstanding read ! I couldn't put it down and bought a few other Thompson books when I finished this one. I don't write spoiler reviews so you'll need to buy the book and enjoy the ride of great writing.
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Josh Mauthe
4.0 out of 5 stars The world's most put-upon man justifies his actions in this hard-boiled knockout
Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2022
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Jim Thompson is the hardest of hard-boiled writers – a man for whom every narrator is an unreliable scumbag, for whom women are fatales or love interests, for whom people who have good intentions are suckers and the world is going to reflect out the worst of things. He’s also a hell of a writer, and one whose unreliable, self-justifying narrators are often the antagonists of their own novel, despite how they see themselves. (The Killer Inside Me and Pop. 1280 are the two best examples of this.) A Hell of a Woman is a fantastic example of this, giving us a door-to-door salesman who’s convinced himself that the world and everyone in it is against him – and that allows him to justify some reprehensible actions along the way.

Like so many Thompson stories, it all starts with a woman – in this case, a young woman who “Dolly” Dillon meets when he’s trying to collect bills. She’s a woman in trouble, and Dillon keeps finding himself thinking about her and how to get her out – and if that means choosing her in favor of his wife, well, no great loss. Such is the kick off here, but one of the great things about Woman is the way that Thompson again and again undercuts his narrator, slowly peeling back the layers to help us see how rotten he is at the core, regardless of his protestations. And yet, we’re so immersed in his perspective that we understand why he’s making the choices that he’s making – we just get to see how he lives with them, too.

Dillon isn’t as blatantly psychotic as the narrators of The Killer Inside Me or Pop. 1280, but he’s no less damaged or self-righteous, which gives the book the glorious tension of the best noir – where we’re torn between wanting to see our protagonist get away with it and also see him be punished for his vileness. I won’t get into which happens here, other than to say that Thompson has at least one blackly comic twist up his sleeve that’s legitimately funny, only to catch us off-guard with a surprisingly nightmarish and slightly experimental final chapter.

That slight experiment reflects some of the oddness of Woman; between that and the occasional chapters where Dillon takes over the narrative and breaks the fourth wall to deliver his own memoirs, A Hell of a Woman sometimes feels like Thompson pushing the boundaries of hard-boiled noir to become more “literary,” and the results are a mixed bag. (I loved the surreal breakdown of the final chapter, for instance, but I’m not sure the “memoirs” added much.)

Still, I’ve only read one Thompson book that didn’t work for me (Nothing More than Murder), and A Hell of a Woman is no exception. Dolly may be a little less dangerous than Thompson’s worst characters, but his whining and victimhood set him apart, especially as he spirals more and more. Add to that some black comedy that Thompson doesn’t always include and you’ve got another knockout from one of the truest hard-boiled writers who ever wrote.
2 people found this helpful
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Susannah L. Sulzman
3.0 out of 5 stars I enjoyed it, but it could be better
Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2016
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Well, I enjoyed it, but it could be better. I like this writer's blunt style and the pacing of his stories, but this one got slow in spots.
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guillermo
5.0 out of 5 stars A gem of crime noir novel.
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2014
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Who was a hell of a woman?,was it Mona? Or Joyce? or Helene?.Although I think it was the last one, it really doesn't matter as the title suggests.The sordid life of this múltiple character(Dolly, Frank, Fred),the description of a well born middle class person passing saddly through life as a permanent loser due to circumstances that he is not provided to overcame, invariable driving him to an anavoidable end, all written in first person as a confesión of impotence and sorrow .I have enjoyed so much the last chapter(it took a while for me to realize how I should reading it), I consider it a gem of literary work and of crime no ir novel.Having read several books of Jim Thompson, I think he deserves to be put on the same level of Hammet, Chandler, Ross Macdonald,james Ellroy, etc
8 people found this helpful
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A. Diamond
4.0 out of 5 stars Dark and riveting
Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2016
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Although the plot is a bit clumsy and farfetched in places, this is still an excellent book. As usual with Thompson, he wastes no time getting the story started. Frank "Dolly" Dillon spies the woman who will will be his undoing in the first sentence of the book, and by the end of the first chapter, you know that these particular characters meeting under these particular circumstances are bound for trouble.

Thompson is simply brilliant at conveying how character and circumstance combine to form destiny. And he does it in simple, straightforward language, with no wasted words, no precious metaphor or long-winded descriptions. He simply takes you by degrees down into hell, and by the time you realize where you're going, it's too late to turn back.

Frank Dillon seems a pretty reasonable guy at first, and his more colorful comments come off as humorous. Over time, you begin to see his flaws and how they contribute to his undoing. One common element of all Thompson's novels is that the protagonist remains a largely sympathetic character, even when he starts doing horrible things. You understand his thinking and his weakness, even as you cringe at what he's doing.

This one gets very dark at the end.
9 people found this helpful
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Alan Geez
5.0 out of 5 stars Jim Thompson: A Helluva Writer!
Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2012
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Jim Thompson is fast becoming my favorite writer.
His books are unpretentious and move quickly with
that "hit the oxygen dialogue" of his. And it's funny
how I picture his characters living in the same
rundown rat traps Bukowski/Chinaski always occupied
proving to me at least that ol' Buk (buke) was a true
Pulpy at heart and that his poetry is truly "poetry
noir." But back to Thompson. What I love about his
leads is they're undercover crazy, sure some more
than others, but then maybe the ones we think are
passably sane are just better at faking it. Hands
down my favorite is Population 1280. That guy
reminds me of Orton's Mister Sloane.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Warren Stalley
5.0 out of 5 stars Born to Lose
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 25, 2015
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Travelling salesman Frank “Dolly” Dillon thinks he knows all the angles but when he meets shy stunner Mona Farrell and her manipulative aunt then his scheming and dreaming suddenly start to go awry. With the small matter of a hidden stash of 100,000 dollars greed, lust and murder all conspire to drag Frank into his own personal hell, gradually losing his mind. As usual with Jim Thompson the delicate balance of life slowly starts to disintegrate as Frank realises that he’s just born to lose. A Hell of a Woman is another typical twisted crime novel from the one of those rare authors who turns pulp fiction into literary magic. Although for me not as powerful or spellbinding as The Killer Inside Me, this novel still manages to shock and impress like much of Jim Thompson’s dark crime work.
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Hambostein
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 5, 2016
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Great, sleazy and slightly Psychedelic towards the end, loved it.
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Hillu
4.0 out of 5 stars As dark as it gets
Reviewed in Germany on September 24, 2013
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Ein furchtbare Story, immer tiefer und unausweichlich geht es für den Protagonisten tiefer und tiefer in Schuld und Wahnsinn, und der Leser folgt widerstrebend aber zwanghaft,
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