South of Heaven

Description

Thompson's classic novel describes the underworld of desperate men that inhabited the part of Texas known as "South of Heaven" in the 1920's. Laying a gas pipeline with a motley work crew of hoboes, alcoholics, jail-birds and petty criminals, Tommy Burwell knows that he isn't doing himself any favors. But he cannot extricate himself from the cycle of violence and ruthlessness that ties him to the six-hundred other transients whose fate he shares.

Description

In the 1920s the worst place you could be was in that part of Texas that some people call "South of Heaven," and the worst thing you could be doing there was laying a gas pipeline, along with six-hundred other hoboes, juice-heads, and jailbirds. But that's exactly what Tommy Burwell was doing, even though he wasn't smart enough to know better. Even though "South of Heaven" is another term for hell. Combining a tale of escalating savagery with a dead-eyed group portrait of men at the edge, Jim Thompson has produced a masterpiece of the American dissolute.

Subjects

Genres

• Fiction

Series Statement

• Vintage Crime

Links

• Contributor biographical information
• Publisher description

Other Editions

• South of HeavenPaperbackVintage Books1994-10-04
• South of HeavenE-bookereads.com2002-01-01