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jakekilroy's review
4.0
With Chandler's short stories, you get Marlowe on the move without all the hijinks. The novels allow Marlowe to really sit with the clues and goof around more with all the thugs and brutes who want to slug him, huck him, chat him up, or all of the above. So the short stories are still damn fun, but it's not the full glory of our man about, in and out, and barreling through town. He's the world's greatest detective simply because he always gets there having the most fun while never calling it early or quits. Behold a man with a hundred eyes and a thousand mouths, surveying and dealing with evil and the lesser artifacts of the underworld.
talina's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
I know it’s perhaps a little unfair on the material but I have to rate this book poorly because the blurb makes it sound like these are original stories, or that there are one or two that were later developed into Marlowe novels.
But if you’ve read the Marlowe novels, the main plots are basically exactly the same. I don’t think there was one original story.
Just feels a bit like false advertising.
But if you’ve read the Marlowe novels, the main plots are basically exactly the same. I don’t think there was one original story.
Just feels a bit like false advertising.
mrgale's review
4.0
Not quite as polished as the definitive later Marlowe novels, but a lot of the proto elements that formed many of them, fun to see them concentrated and playing with ideas and character types around them. And a few extra wacky stories including a nazi caper.
dutts_87's review
3.0
I was recommended Raymond Chandler earlier in the week, and this short little novella was a nice little introduction.
Chandler’s style is punchy rather than prosey, mysterious rather than descriptive, and to the point. This allowed for fast paced, no frills action, and made for a good read.
Books like this do have a place stylistically, but with little investment in the characters or their fate, it made this read feel a little pointless.
However, as an intro to Chandler, I would definitely read a longer book of his soon!
2000ace's review
5.0
Including the story in the title, there are eight short stories in this collection. Two of my favorites, The Man Who Liked Dogs, and The Lady in the Lake are included here. Ray Chandler had an ear for dialogue, and a talent for description that grab the reader by the throat and march him off into shamus territory. Consider this little randomly-chosen gem:
"I pushed her back into the house without saying anything, shut the door. We stood looking at each other inside. She dropped her hand slowly and tried to smile. Then all expression went out of her white face and it looked as intelligent as the bottom of a shoe box."
p. 25
These are eight of the very best detective stories ever written.
"I pushed her back into the house without saying anything, shut the door. We stood looking at each other inside. She dropped her hand slowly and tried to smile. Then all expression went out of her white face and it looked as intelligent as the bottom of a shoe box."
p. 25
These are eight of the very best detective stories ever written.
devilstatedan's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A brilliant piece of hardboiled noir in under 100 pages. A detective is hired to find a missing girl, but what he uncovers is a web of underground activity and desperate actions. Written with all the pith and solidly direct language, this is an entertaining way to spend an afternoon - particularly if it's raining outside!
smcleish's review
3.0
Originally published on my blog here in August 2003.
There is one official, authorised, collection of Raymond Chandler short stories, [b:The Simple Art of Murder|2051|The Simple Art of Murder|Raymond Chandler|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320507784s/2051.jpg|1165594], and then there are the eight collected in Killer in the Rain. So why was Chandler against the re-publication of these stories (he was very unhappy when several of them appeared in other, unauthorised collections). They are all early, and the development of the famous Chandler style and of the character who eventually became Philip Marlowe is easy and interesting to trace. The problem is not, though, that the stories betray an apprentice writer; they only appear to do so in relation to Chandler's later work.
When Chandler came to write his first novel, [b:The Big Sleep|2052|The Big Sleep (Philip Marlowe, #1)|Raymond Chandler|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327876070s/2052.jpg|1222673], he turned back to these short stories - not just for inspiration, but for plot and character, and even for the details of description. (he aptly described this process as "cannibalization".) He then did the same for his next three novels, with the result that any fan of Chandler's work will find much that is already familiar in Killer in the Rain.
The result of this is paradoxically that these stories might well appeal to Chandler novices - the stories are good enough in their own right, and authentic examples of his work - and to die-hard fans. The latter will find themselves constantly running into nuggets that they recognise, which is a fascinating experience, and they can start to trace how both Chandler's style and one of the most famous characters in both literature and film developed. And, of course, that would also make the collection indispensable for Chandler scholars.
There is one official, authorised, collection of Raymond Chandler short stories, [b:The Simple Art of Murder|2051|The Simple Art of Murder|Raymond Chandler|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320507784s/2051.jpg|1165594], and then there are the eight collected in Killer in the Rain. So why was Chandler against the re-publication of these stories (he was very unhappy when several of them appeared in other, unauthorised collections). They are all early, and the development of the famous Chandler style and of the character who eventually became Philip Marlowe is easy and interesting to trace. The problem is not, though, that the stories betray an apprentice writer; they only appear to do so in relation to Chandler's later work.
When Chandler came to write his first novel, [b:The Big Sleep|2052|The Big Sleep (Philip Marlowe, #1)|Raymond Chandler|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327876070s/2052.jpg|1222673], he turned back to these short stories - not just for inspiration, but for plot and character, and even for the details of description. (he aptly described this process as "cannibalization".) He then did the same for his next three novels, with the result that any fan of Chandler's work will find much that is already familiar in Killer in the Rain.
The result of this is paradoxically that these stories might well appeal to Chandler novices - the stories are good enough in their own right, and authentic examples of his work - and to die-hard fans. The latter will find themselves constantly running into nuggets that they recognise, which is a fascinating experience, and they can start to trace how both Chandler's style and one of the most famous characters in both literature and film developed. And, of course, that would also make the collection indispensable for Chandler scholars.
bhalpin's review
2.0
Maybe not fair to the book since I picked this up during a reading slump when nothing was really working for me. One of those books that I thought I liked more than I did. Which is to say, I would read a story, think, "that was pretty good," and then put the book down for four days without ever thinking of picking it up again. It's fine, I guess, just not compelling. I do have to say for as much as people praise Chandler's prose style, I found it a bit tough to get through. So heavy on the 30's slang that I kept being pulled out of the story, and sometimes thrown into confusion, because I had no idea what somebody was talking about. Only read 4 of the 8 stories, which was enough for me to conclude that they're pretty much all the same. Contains the expected historically-accurate misogyny and racism.