::AMAZON REVIEWS::

Play dumb to get even
Thompson's hero tricks everyone into thinking he's a good-natured but ineffectual sheriff. This smokescreen lets him clean up Travis Bickle style. Made into an excellent movie set in Africa by Bertrand Tavernier ("Coup de torchon").

My favorite Jim Thompson
I've read everything I could get my hands on by this author and this remains my absolute favorite of his work. It's also, coincidentally, the first one I read.

Nick Corey is a main character that surprises at every turn. Just when you think you've got him figured out he makes a move that changes everything. I love the first person delivery and all the not-so-sweet characters that populate this particular universe.

Jim Thompson's writing is very dark. Sometimes it's too much -- his book, "Cropper's Cabin" comes to mind -- but he strikes a perfect balance in this effort. I never felt that I was drowning in the gloomy world he was creating.

It's clever and surprising throughout, and I'm glad I read it first. I think it would still remain at the top of my list if I'd read "The Killer Inside Me" (very similar story lines) first. This is just a superior effort by Thompson.

I highly recommend adding this book to your library.

Very overdone, bad ending
Pop. 1280 was published 12 years after Thomspon's classic The Killer Inside Me and tells a very similar story - but not as well. Killer was a serious crime story, Pop. 1280 departs from reality to the point where the people often come across as caricatures. The ending of the book was also very disappointing; it seemed that Thompson just ran out to things to say. The two stars are for the sometimes very witty writing and the intricate manipulations that are woven into the plot.

The High Sheriff of Potts County.
Pop. 1280 is a prime example of Jim Thompson's willingness to explore areas other authors wouldn't dare go anywhere near. Just like Thompson's earlier, more famous novel The Killer Inside Me, Pop. 1280 is about a western sheriff who presents himself as being slow witted but is in actuality a sly, calculating murderer. But there are a number of differences between the two books, starting with the fact Pop. 1280 is a period piece. It takes place circa. 1910. Secondly, there are some subtle differences between the main characters and the narrative tones of the two books.
The Killer Inside Me's Lou Ford is an intellectual genius who pretends to be a hayseed in order to feed his uncontrollable compulsion to kill. By contrast Pop. 1280's Nick Corey is of average intelligence and kills as a matter of convenience, ostensibly because he is too lazy for honest work and too much of a womanizer for an orderly social life. Nick Corey is more of a comedic character than the seemingly darker, more sinister Lou Ford. But of course, with Jim Thompson nothing is that simple. As the narrative to Pop. 1280 unfolds, the reader has the rug pulled out from under him as it shockingly becomes clear that Nick is every bit as malevolent as Lou Ford and in fact is even more psychotic.
Pop. 1280 is a dark comedy to be sure, in that it's both funny and dark. But the term dark comedy does not do this particular book justice since certain aspects of the narrative go beyond being merely dark venturing into the realm of the downright disturbing.
Recommended to those readers who appreciate writing masterfully crafted to defy expectations at every turn.

Very pleasurable...
My first Jim Thompson book....a great quick read. He pulls you in from the first page and keeps it going. My only criticism - the last 2 pages are weak. He tries to wrap up some loose ends (which the reader has forgotten about, so he could have taken another tack), and runs out of options - which is what he has the main character say.

Still..thoroughly enjoyable. I'm getting more of his books..