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Jim Thompson
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Pop. 1280 (Mulholland Classic) Kindle Edition

by Jim Thompson (Author), Daniel Woodrell (Foreword) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 1,237 ratings
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Nick Corey is a terrible sheriff on purpose. He doesn't solve problems, enforce rules or arrest criminals. He knows that nobody in tiny Potts County actually wants to follow the law and he is perfectly content lazing about, eating five meals a day, and sleeping with all the eligible women.

Still, Nick has some very complex problems to deal with. Two local pimps have been sassing him, ruining his already tattered reputation. His girlfriend Rose is being terrorized by her husband. And then, there's his wife and her brother Lenny who won't stop troubling Nick's already stressed mind. Are they a little too close for a brother and a sister?

With an election coming up, Nick needs to fix his problems and fast. Because the one thing Nick does know is that he will do anything to stay sheriff. Because, as it turns out, Sheriff Nick Corey is not nearly as dumb as he seems.

In Pop. 1280, widely regarded as a classic of mid-20th century crime, Thompson offers up one of his best, in a tale of lust, murder, and betrayal in the Deep South that was the basis for the critically acclaimed French film Coup de Torchon.
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  1. Print length
    238 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Mulholland Books
  5. Publication date
    December 25, 2011
  6. File size
    1987 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
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Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

As high sheriff of Potts County, Nick Corey spends most of his time eating, sleeping and avoiding trouble. If only people--especially some troublesome pimps, his foul-tempered wife, and his half-witted brother-in-law--would stop pushing him around. Because when Nick is pushed, he begins to kill . . . or to make others do his killing for him!

About the Author

(1906 - 1977) James Meyers 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 wrote two screenplays (for the Stanley Kubrick films “The Killing” and “Paths of Glory”). An outstanding crime writer, the world of his fiction is rife with violence and corruption. In examining the underbelly of human experience and American society in particular, Thompson’s work at its best is both philosophical and experimental. 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

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004RD85AI
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mulholland Books (December 25, 2011)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 25, 2011
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1987 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 238 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 1,237 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

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
1,237 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Josh Mauthe
5.0 out of 5 stars Ignore the similaries to other work; this one stands on its own and stuns you
Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2013
Verified Purchase
You could be forgiven for wondering at first if Pop. 1280 isn't an example of Thompson going back to the well; its main character, sheriff Nick Corey, feels very much to be a revisiting of Lou Ford, the main character in The Killer Inside Me. Both characters are sheriffs; both put on a front of simplicity and even stupidity to mask their keen intellects; and, yes, both have some seriously sociopathic tendencies. But the characters are more dissimilar than a first glance might indicate; indeed, Corey's far more complex than Ford in some ways, and he ends up feeling less like Ford's unchecked murderer and more like a truly disturbed individual. Moreover, Pop. 1280 really soars in its complex plotting, which finds Corey juggling a re-election campaign, a hateful wife, a hopeful new love, and lots more. But here's the biggest difference between The Killer Inside Me and Pop. 1280: the latter book is surprisingly, darkly, bracingly funny. I mean, genuinely laugh out loud funny, albeit in such a dark sense that it's going to choke a little bit going down. Pop. 1280 is a beautiful little poison apple of a book, and the best of Thompson's books that I've read so far; it's intricately plotted, amazingly written, acidically funny, and absolutely compelling. More than any of that, it will remind you that, no matter when he wrote, few authors can tap into the darkness, violence, and insanity of human nature better than Thompson, and by the time Pop. 1280 comes to an end, you'll be stunned by how different Nick Corey is from what you originally expected. More importantly, though, you'll also have finished a masterpiece by one of the essential crime thriller writers who ever lived.
19 people found this helpful
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Thomas E. Bradley Jr.
4.0 out of 5 stars An anti-hero who is almost TOO real
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2014
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From the moment I began reading POP. 1280, the classic crime novel by the late Jim Thompson, I gained a tremendous appreciation for how masterfully the author gave his characters "voice." And if you are a budding author who hasn't grasped the meaning of "voice," then by all means, read this book.

Essentially, there are two definitions for the literary term "voice": the first determines what makes a writer's style unique and sets him or her part from others in the same genre; and the second relates to how we experience the story from a character's point of view (POV), as expressed in their singular speech patterns, actions, and thoughts.

While POP. 1280--published in 1964--exemplifies Thompson's voice as an author; it serves as an even greater example of how writers should give characters their distinctive voice--and maintain it throughout the novel.

POP. 1280 is the first-person story of Nick Corey, a small-town Southern sheriff in the early days of the 20th century. In his own words, Corey tells us--without saying so directly--that he is a lazy, unmotivated fellow who prefers eating and sleeping all day to doing any real law enforcement work. He presents himself to the reader and everyone he meets as a no-account simpleton. But through his own words, we learn that on the contrary, he's quite cunning, clever, and conniving. He cheats on his nagging wife and is adept at covering his tracks, no matter what malfeasance he commits. In one unnerving scene, he confronts a victim with a speech that defies his down-home, awe-shucks persona and exposes to the reader his real self: He's a homicidal sociopath with a flair for twisting words and meanings to deflect suspicion and cast blame for his misdeeds on others.

Throughout the novel, Thompson maintains Nick Corey's voice to the point you feel as if you're living inside the man's head. It's that effective.

In POP. 1280, Nick Corey speaks and thinks like a yokel; at no point does Thompson betray this characterization by suddenly putting 50-cent words in his mouth. Instead, by giving Nick his individual voice both in word and thought, Jim Thompson made him real--almost too real.
9 people found this helpful
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Dierdra McGill
3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as I had hoped.
Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2013
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Pop.1280 is about a sheriff in the Town of Potts County. Nick Corey is about the worst sheriff I have ever seen, and keeps getting re-elected. Nick is about the best con man I have seen in a while.
I had high hopes for this book, but I never really got all that into it. The story never really seemed to be going anywhere, and the ending was bad. I liked the story enough overall to stick with it, but not sure I would go out of my way to recommend this to anyone. This was the first Jim Thompson book I have read, I may read more, but not going out of my way to purchase another of his books.
2 people found this helpful
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Lochlan Longstrider
5.0 out of 5 stars Mark Twain like humor narrated by a psychopath
Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2022
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On one level this novel can just be dismissed as pulpy noir trash, Thompson's women are always beautiful and oversexed and there is a lot of suggestive narratives and violence. However, there is something else going on here. Thompson sneaks in his negative views on things like American racism, economic inequality, good-old-boy political corruption, and the battle between the sexes. He uses the psychopathic main character as a reverse parody of the American condition and the humor is something Mark Twain would have even chuckled at. If you like French Cinema and are literate enough to read subtitles, check out Bertrand Tavernier's "Coup De Torchon", released in America as "Clean Slate", which is set in French Colonial West Africa in 1938 rather than Thompson's West Texas of 1910.
This is the only work of literature that asks the deep philosophical question, "Do we scratch our balls because they itch or because it feels good?" If you can't laugh at the absurdities of life, well then, you just might end up a serial murderer!
4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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DecliningPilot
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 7, 2023
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I very disturbing, but interesting look at how the main character thinks and translates his actions.
Surprising ending, another book?
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GELINEAU HENRI NOEL
5.0 out of 5 stars AVIS
Reviewed in France on May 27, 2021
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LIVRE OUBLIE ET C'EST BIEN DOMMAGE ... UN PUR RÉGAL .... COMME UNE DOUCHE GLACÉE APRÈS UN BAIN CHAUD
HN G Libraire
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Tanmoy
5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT, GREAT BOOK.
Reviewed in India on October 19, 2018
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What I liked in the book is the simplicity of the Sheriff and the way he tackled the problems. Great reading. Must buy for mystery lovers.
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Vicente
5.0 out of 5 stars Obra de arte de la novela negra
Reviewed in Spain on May 19, 2017
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Compré esta novela porque leí en un libro que era un paradigma de la novela negra. Es una novela diferente. Alejada de los tradicionales tópicos del detective urbano y contra todos. Nos encontramos con un sheriff de una pequeña población donde hay asesinatos, ironía, intriga,... Nada es lo que parece. Muy bien escrita.
One person found this helpful
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MR. EDMUND LLOYD WEST
5.0 out of 5 stars The Human Condition shown with warts and all
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 27, 2023
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The protagonist starts as a hapless fool and gradually is seen to have far more nous than he lets on. Ultimately he takes on satanic guise. All this as he navigates through the unfolding scenarios in a fractured and self righteous community giving folk enough rope to hang themselves by. All of this is told in first person colloquial and despite the sometimes savage goings on there is much humour to be found. This is so readable that I completed it in a day. Great style and panache kept me hooked from start to finish.
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