Order of Book Series
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Jim Thompson Books in Order

Jim Thompson has written 33 books, published between 1942 and 1989. The first book is Now and on Earth (1942) and the newest is The Rip-Off (1989). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
33
Published
1942–1989
Pages on record
5,669 in 28 of 33 books
Reading time
94–142 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 5,669 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 28 of 33 titles with a page count on record.

See all 33 books in order Printable Jim Thompson checklist

Hardboiled crime fiction is Jim Thompson's territory. Born James Myers Thompson in 1906 and died in 1977, Thompson wrote more than 30 novels, most of them original paperbacks issued from the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, about swindlers, criminals, alcoholics and murderers in Oklahoma and Los Angeles. Recognition arrived late: little noticed in his lifetime beyond Anthony Boucher's reviews in The New York Times, Thompson was rediscovered when the Black Lizard imprint reissued his novels in the late 1980s. The Killer Inside Me, Savage Night, A Hell of a Woman and Pop. 1280 are his best-regarded books, among 33 catalogued titles dated 1942 to 1989.

How many Jim Thompson books are there?

Jim Thompson has 33 books, released between 1942 and 1989.

Jim Thompson Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 33 Jim Thompson books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.

  1. Cover of Now and on Earth by Jim Thompson (1942)
  2. Cover of Heed the Thunder by Jim Thompson (1946)
  3. Cover of Nothing More Than Murder / Murder at the Bijou by Jim Thompson (1949)
  4. Cover of Cropper's Cabin / Sharecropper Hell by Jim Thompson (1952)
  5. Cover of The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson (1952)
  6. Cover of The Criminal by Jim Thompson (1953)
  7. Cover of Recoil by Jim Thompson (1953)
  8. Cover of The Alcoholics by Jim Thompson (1953)
  9. Cover of Savage Night by Jim Thompson (1953)
  10. Cover of The Golden Gizmo by Jim Thompson (1954)
  11. Cover of A Swell-Looking Babe by Jim Thompson (1954)
  12. Cover of The Nothing Man by Jim Thompson (1954)
  13. Cover of A Hell of a Woman by Jim Thompson (1954)
  14. Cover of Roughneck by Jim Thompson (1954)
  15. Cover of King Blood by Jim Thompson (1954)
  16. Cover of After Dark, My Sweet by Jim Thompson (1955)
  17. Cover of The Kill-Off by Jim Thompson (1957)
  18. Cover of Wild Town by Jim Thompson (1957)
  19. Cover of The Getaway by Jim Thompson (1958)
  20. Cover of The Transgressors by Jim Thompson (1961)
  21. Cover of The Grifters by Jim Thompson (1963)
  22. Cover of Pop. 1280 by Jim Thompson (1964)
  23. Cover of Texas by the Tail by Jim Thompson (1965)
  24. Cover of South of Heaven by Jim Thompson (1967)
  1. 1
    Now and on Earth1942 · 306 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1942306
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    Heed the Thunder1946 · 297 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1946297
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    Nothing More Than Murder / Murder at the Bijou1949 · 212 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1949212
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    Cropper's Cabin / Sharecropper Hell1952 · 146 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1952146
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    The Killer Inside Me1952 · 244 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1952244
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    Bad Boy1953 · 224 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1953224
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    The Criminal1953 · 120 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1953120
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    Recoil1953 · 178 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1953178
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 9
    The Alcoholics1953 · 122 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1953122
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 10
    Savage Night1953 · 149 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1953149
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 11
    The Golden Gizmo1954 · 185 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1954185
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 12
    A Swell-Looking Babe1954 · 145 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1954145
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 13
    The Nothing Man1954 · 219 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1954219
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 14
    A Hell of a Woman1954 · 185 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1954185
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  15. 15
    Roughneck1954 · 185 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1954185
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  16. 16
    King Blood1954 · 224 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1954224
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  17. 17
    After Dark, My Sweet1955 · 133 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1955133
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  18. 18
    The Kill-Off1957 · 215 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1957215
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  19. 19
    Flint (As: Gil Dodge)1957 · confirmed 2/4
    1957–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  20. 20
    Wild Town1957 · 165 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1957165
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  21. 21
    The Getaway1958 · 185 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1958185
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  22. 22
    The Transgressors1961 · 248 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1961248
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  23. 23
    The Grifters1963 · 189 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1963189
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  24. 24
    Pop. 12801964 · 197 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1964197
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  25. 25
    Texas by the Tail1965 · 211 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1965211
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  26. 26
    South of Heaven1967 · 229 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1967229
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  27. 27
    Ironside1967 · confirmed 2/4
    1967–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  28. 28
    The Undefeated1969 · confirmed 2/4
    1969–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  29. 29
    Nothing But a Man1970 · confirmed 2/4
    1970–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  30. 30
    Child of Rage1972 · 288 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1972288
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  31. 31
    ireworks: The Lost Writings1988 · 252 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1988252
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  32. 32
    The Cellini Chalice1988 · confirmed 2/4
    1988–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  33. 33
    The Rip-Off1989 · 216 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1989216
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Jim Thompson books grouped by series

Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.

Standalone books

33 books

33 Jim Thompson titles here are not listed as part of any series.

Do you have to read Jim Thompson books in order?

No. No source lists any of the 33 Jim Thompson books here as part of a series. The numbered table above gives them by publication date.

Where to start with Jim Thompson

Start with Now and on Earth (1942), the earliest published title.

What is the newest Jim Thompson book?

The Rip-Off (1989) is the newest Jim Thompson book released so far.

Is there a new Jim Thompson book coming?

No next Jim Thompson book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Jim Thompson at a glance

No recent titles
The newest Jim Thompson title on record dates from 1989, 37 years ago. No later title is catalogued.
Release pace
Jim Thompson books have appeared about one every 2 years on average.
Length
5,669 pages across the 28 of 33 books with a recorded length, a median of 204 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Jim Thompson books, 18 of 33, were published in the 1950s.

What the Jim Thompson books are about

26 of the 33 Jim Thompson books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: mystery & detective is tagged on 14 of 26. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.