 Sometimes, as in this novel and "The Killer Inside Me", the sheriff is a psychopath.In the novels "Wild Town" and "The Transgressors", the sheriff is heroic, a highly intelligent man who was forced by circumstances to take a job that didn't allow him to take full advantage of his abilities and who plays at being a clown to fit in to his role and to manipulate people for altruistic ends.In his autobiography "Bad Boy", Thompson wrote that this character was based on an actual deputy who pursued him when he neglected to pay a fine for being drunk and disturbing the peace.