AIM 104 - The Killer Inside Me Reaction Log

The Killer Inside Me :: Reaction Log

The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson is a very well planned out story about a man who murders and hurts many but gets away with all of it. The killer himself, Lou Ford is a cop from Texas and due to an earlier incident involving his brother, he develops this killer instinct however he was able to control it until now. Throughout his killings, he was never able to get caught because of his reputation as a good cop and a good investigator, no one ever suspects of him as the killer until the end. That makes a good alibi when killing people especially when the killer is the one of the end of the table asking the questions. The story is told through a first person narrative to give readers a better insight about Lou Ford’s real thoughts and feelings.

Lou Ford, as good of a guy he seems, also has some fetishes; he is a sadist, one who likes to inflict pain on others. While doing his job and trying to take care of prostitutes in town, he meets Joyce, a prostitute. It turns out coincidentally that Joyce is the opposite of Lou, which she likes to receive pain, a masochist. During the belt beating incident, Lou beats Joyce with a belt while he tied her up, and she liked it. I don’t know what is wrong with them but apparently it works out between the both of them. Joyce finds love and wants to be with Lou, but Lou doesn’t feel the same way about her.

The killer inside Lou let loose when he tries to get revenge for his brother’s death; he goes after the wealthy Conway family. Elmer, one of the members of the Conway’s family likes Joyce so Lou thinks of a plan to kill them both. This was a very well thought out plan where it involved the revenge that he had been looking for and to kill Joyce at the same time as well. Being the killer that he is, killing two people at a time is better than killing one at a time. So he carries out his plan did not completely kill Joyce, she fell into a coma instead of falling 6 feet under however, Lou was not aware of it at the time. He had also got some money from Elmer Conway before his murder and Lou had given some of it to Johnnie, Lou’s next alibi. The money was marked by Elmer so there was his first problem. Lou had given the marked money to Johnnie therefore Johnnie was taken in for interrogation. It was then a relief to Lou that he was the one chosen to interrogate Johnnie. His next smart move was to make himself seem more innocent by killing Johnnie making it seem if Johnnie had hung himself with a belt. Yet that was another witty escape from his murders. Lou’s tactics were very well planned there was no reason that anyone could suspect him of committing these murders.

Lou’s addiction causes him to commit more murders before his own demise. He kills Amy, his true lover and childhood friend and John a homeless man, both who could provide the evidence to uncover his actions. Therefore, in order to protect himself, he had to get rid of them. Being a sadist, he never kills his victims with a gun or anything quick that will resolve in a quick death, he wanted to prolong the pain before someone could die; he takes pride and pleasure in doing those things. At the end, evidence finally catches up to him and he has no where to run. To end the consequences of his actions, he commits suicide and takes his house with him in a deadly fire.

This story is “the” suspense thriller, seeing him murder through his own eyes makes the slow torturing killings more realistic. At the end, he gets what he deserves.