Thompson's most famous novel arguably is The Getaway as it was made into a movie twice, the first time with Steve McQueen and the second with Alex Baldwin in the role of "Doc" who masterminds a bank robbery. The book is quite good I think and I especially like its description of the criminal refuge town known as El Rey. (And I am not the only one: Robert Rodriguez named his production company after this fictional place and it is also the destination of George Clooney's character in From Dusk 'Til Dawn.
But my favorite books are his autobiographical novels which seem at least somewhat fictionalized. There are 3 that I can remember off the top of my head and of those, Roughneck I enjoyed the most. The interesting aspect is he describes his various jobs, as well as periods of searching for work and entrepreneurial schemes, in a very entertaining fashion.
These are not exotic jobs, but they are kinds of work I have never directly experienced. In my post about books about homelessness, I mention his time at a collection agency. He also worked in the oil fields, hence the title and a very good section deals with his partnering with two other workers to try to salvage portions of a failed well on a farmer's property — the pipes that are threaded down the hole are valuable lengths of metal and they use a steam engine (this was long after gasoline engines but I guess steam held on well into the 20th century) to try to extricate the pipes.
But perhaps the most entertaining sections describe being a bellboy at a fairly fancy Texas hotel during the oil boom of the 1920s. The bellboys were called upon to do some things one does not normally associate with modern bellboys and Thompson was making enough money to support his entire family, including his parents.
The job was very sought after during conventions and if there were not enough uniforms for everyone, then the bellboys fought among themselves for the last remaining outfits.
Towards the end of the season, a big craps game was run in the employee locker room and with all the bellboys having a lot of cash from tips, fortunes could be made although leaving winners was frowned up.
I would be very interested in discussing his various works. There are many great stories (including the one that Thompson says inspired The Killer Inside of Me) –doubtless there will be temptation to provide spoilers which does not bother me.
by relesabe