Jim Thompson - A Swell-Looking Babe

Of all the Jim Thompson novels I've read so far, A Swell-Looking Babe is the one I've enjoyed the most.

Written from an omniscient point of view, the novel takes us into the world of a young man named Dusty, who seems to be wasting his life working the night shift as a bellboy in a hotel. He has a boss who despises him and a senile father he has to support, while still hoping to finish his studies and become a doctor.

Everything begins to change when he meets Marcia Hillis, a woman renting an apartment at the hotel. She appears to be flirting with him, but Dusty remains cautious because relationships between hotel employees and guests are strictly forbidden.

Then a gangster named Tug and his associates enter the picture. Together with Dusty, they come up with a plan to rob the hotel. Needless to say, things don't go quite as planned.

The novel also features Kosmeyer, the lawyer who appears in several of Thompson's books.

The plot itself is perhaps less important than the novel's dense atmosphere, which constantly evokes old film noir movies: the endless night, the sense of doom and an almost Lynchian atmosphere of unease and strangeness. It's this oppressive atmosphere, more than anything else, that makes A Swell-Looking Babe such a memorable read for me.

Vintage Crime/Black Lizard edition is nicely packed with a gorgeous photograph on front cover.