Sharecropper Hell (Illustrated)

Nineteen-year-old Tommy Carver desperately wants to make something of himself, but he's got some mighty tall odds stacked against him—a brutal sharecropper father, a secret love affair with his wealthy landowner's daughter, a step-mother devoid of maternal instincts, and even his own short-tempered, prideful ways. The odds only get worse when Tommy is fingered for murder in this shocking, twisting tale that explores sex, American Indian rituals, simmering race politics in mid-20th century Oklahoma and, of course, crime. "Sharecropper Hell" was written and originally released as "Cropper's Cabin" by gritty crime novelist Jim Thompson, who often spun his tales from the first-person perspective of the criminal. Stephen King has called Jim Thompson "my favorite crime novelist—often imitated but never duplicated." Chalk Line Books presents "Sharecropper Hell" unedited, uncensored, and unexpurgated as it was meant to be read. The Chalk Line Books version of "Sharecropper Hell" also features the evocative illustrations of artist Martha Kelly.

Nineteen-year-old Tommy Carver desperately wants to make something of himself, but he's got some mighty tall odds stacked against him—a brutal sharecropper father, a secret love affair with his wealthy landowner's daughter, a step-mother devoid of maternal instincts, and even his own short-tempered, prideful ways. The odds only get worse when Tommy is fingered for murder in this shocking, twisting tale that explores sex, American Indian rituals, simmering race politics in mid-20th century Oklahoma and, of course, crime. "Sharecropper Hell" was written and originally released as "Cropper's Cabin" by gritty crime novelist Jim Thompson, who often spun his tales from the first-person perspective of the criminal. Stephen King has called Jim Thompson "my favorite crime novelist—often imitated but never duplicated." Chalk Line Books presents "Sharecropper Hell" unedited, uncensored, and unexpurgated as it was meant to be read. The Chalk Line Books version of "Sharecropper Hell" also features the evocative illustrations of artist Martha Kelly.

Jim Thompson, born in Anadarko, Oklahoma in 1906, is considered by many the king of the pulp writers. Vintage crime fiction never had a more inventive creator of psychopathic mayhem than Thompson, whose peak period of writing was during the 1950s. His two best-known novels, "The Killer Inside Me" and "Pop. 1280," are masterpieces of first-person voice, showcasing criminal minds that at first seem normal then become progressively more warped and dangerous. Thompson was also a favored screenwriter for director Stanley Kubrick who partnered with him on the films "The Killing" and "Paths of Glory." The New Republic said about Thompson's work, "Read Jim Thompson and take a tour of hell."