Dusty Rhodes is one seriously screwed-up dude. Of course when this book was first published in 1954, no one would have thought to call him a "dude," but no one would have disputed the fact that he was a young man with some pretty nasty problems--in other words, just the sort of protagonist that you'd expect to find in a novel by Jim Thompson.Dusty has a little bit of college behind him--how much is not exactly clear--and he had once hoped to go to medical school. But he had to drop out of school after his mother died and his father lost his job at the local high school. This is back in the days of the Red Scare, and the local crusaders have accused the elder Mr. Rhodes of signing a petition upholding the right of free speech in America. And back in that day and age, such an accusation was more than enough to get one fired from a position of such responsibility, at least in a small conservative town in Texas where the story is apparently set.Dusty thus takes a job as the night bell boy at the Manton Hotel. He could have chosen another job at the hotel, but figuring the tips involved, this is the one that pays the most money and Dusty needs all he can get now that he's the sole support of both himself and his father who, in addition to being unemployed, is also in failing health.Dusty is a very attractive young man, but he's only ever loved one woman and that relationship turned out very badly. He's convinced that there will never be another woman in his life but then, early one morning, Marcia Hillis checks into the hotel. She's the most beautiful woman Dusty has ever seen and he concludes fairly quickly that she is now the only woman in whom he will ever be interested again.The Manton is a high class hotel, and they have very strict rules about bell boys fraternizing with the female guests. Up to this point, Dusty has never been tempted to chance breaking the rule, but he might make an exception in this case, especially after the delectable Ms. Hillis indicates an interest in him. Also residing in the hotel is a small-time gangster named Tug Trowbridge. Trowbridge befriends Dusty and tips him handsomely, and any well-seasoned crime fiction reader understands that the combination of the arrival of Marcia Hillis along with the friendship of Tug Trowbridge is bound to mean trouble for poor Dusty. Dusty ultimately realizes it too, but not before he takes that fatal first step down the wrong path that always spells doom for the poor mope who finds himself the main character in a noir novel.This book is not the equal of some of Thompson's better-known work like Pop. 1280 or The Killer Inside Me, but it's a lot of fun nonetheless. Watching poor Dusty unravel is as gripping as watching the evil schemes that some of the characters have plotted unfold, and to no one's great surprise, before long Dusty Rhodes may well rue the day he ever encountered a swell-looking babe like Marcia Hillis.
"...Where nothing is what it seems," is cliched hyperbole when pitching crime/mystery thrillers, though few authors so consistently, brain-scramblingly make good on that claim as Thompson does. His favorite protagonists are deeply confused, disturbed, unreliable narrators, in the middle of narratives initially presented as a matter-of-fact presentation of events, where the slimy secrets and hidden agendas of all participants bubble little by little to the surface, and by the time you realize you've fallen into a trap, it's too late and all you can do is keep turning the pages like a fly on the wall. By the time it's over, you're often still no more certain of the objective reality of what you've just witnessed than the protagonist, so the tale lingers uncomfortably with you, leaving you going, "What the hell just happened?" This one is Thompson in (mostly) top form. It's by far the bleakest, cruelest thing I recall reading by him, and from an artistic standpoint, that's a high compliment. Thompson's antiheroes typically eschew the typical noir tough-guy mold in their all-too-human, pathetically frenzied confusion, though Dusty the hapless bellboy, by the end, is a particularly sad case, pitiable and repellent in equal measure by the end, and the revelations we learn along the way - about both him and the rest of the shady cast of characters - are appropriately squirm-inducing. Knocked an extra star off this one, just because the femme fatale character feels more than a little too half-baked first-draft, even in the intentionally murky context of Dusty's skewed point of view...not up to par with the far better fleshed-out, convincing female characters I remember from Thompson's After Dark, My Sweet and Pop 1280.
What do You think about A Swell-Looking Babe (2014)?
Thompson is a great writer. However this is not one of his best IMO. His best work is in characters -- most notably in making nasty characters sympathetic. This story just doesn’t do that -- or even try to. The plot itself is very cliche noir genre and the characters have little interesting happening. Furthermore, the main character is kind of wimpy and whiney throughout, I had a hard time enjoying him. He was an Everyman, not a Jim Thompson character... maybe even an idealized version of himself. Furthermore, the ending was flat and kind of abrupt. Thompson is one of my favorite writers. This was written right after his biggest commercial success with The Killer Inside Me. It kinda feels like he just puked out a quick payday here for an anxious publisher... I'm sorry to say.
—Ryan Hathaway
This book opens strong. Dusty Rhodes is a bellhop but only until he can save enough money to go to med school. While working at the Manton he makes big money, but he is warned to stay away from women. That's been no problem until she walked in. Now he's willing to do anything to get her, even to his own detriment. Thompson's writing flows very well so this is a quick and entertaining read. This is quite a feat because our hero is anything but the ideal subject of idolatry. The more we learn, the more dispicable he becomes but once you're hooked, you're in for the long haul.
—Samantha Glasser
I can't say I particularly enjoyed watching Thompson usher this character into complete oblivion. The final judgment made on the protagonist of this book is made with such masochistic fervor, it makes one's stomach turn - Fascinating and upsetting, considering Thompson must've identified with this character at least a little, since it was informed by his experience as a night bellboy in a Fort Worth hotel.Every authority and every relative and every colleague of the bellboy in this book thrives on suspicion and hatred. The bellboy's mother is dead, the bellboy gives nearly all of his earnings to a semi-invalid father. Every time the family doctor visits he unleashes seething condemnation on the bellboy, for the father needs a shave! His clothes look unkempt! A lawyer hounds the bellboy for legal expenses his father has gathered. The bellboy's coworker berates him constantly. We are meant to feel sorry for the bellboy, of course he does not deserve such treatment. As a reader I resent being manipulated so clearly. Thompson almost pulls it off, he almost provides believable motivation for all the sadism, but it goes off the rails too soon.Then there are the women. The swell-looking babe. If manipulative, incestuous head-games turn you on, than this is the book for you! (A real class dame right? What could a guy like me? Huh? Choking on resentment her curves want to make me explode in a rage! Snarling authority, always trying to maintain my authority, but then collapsing at her breast and weeping.) Some of these men and women from these 1950s books, every second of affection they receive comes at the price of such pain and guilt! A kiss is your ticket to hell! It's horrifying. It's very hard for me to read.Also, these characters don't drink water or breathe air, they guzzle coffee and inhale cigarette smoke, despite constant references to the heat wave and sweating! Just funny to note.In spite of the agony this book documents, I found it fascinating.
—Matthew
