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kirstiecat's review against another edition
3.0
The best strengths of the book lie within its ability to be satirical and completely outlandish while looking for all kinds of clues regarding who Constance really is and the mysterious deaths that have been taken place (a book with names and addresses, some of which are crossed out, appears in the beginning of the book, setting forth the remaining plot.) At it's height, it provides an excellent argument for the idea of escaping into various forms of people and characters, ultimately to escape yourself. At it's lowest, it's slightly above drivel. I think the book can be an exciting and engaging read but I'd much more highly recommend Bradbury's short stories any day of the week.
quoththegirl's review against another edition
2.0
I was reading Let’s Kill Constance in the AAA office, which sparked a conversation with another poor car-less soul. He hadn’t heard of this one, and I only recently did myself. It’s the third in a loose detective story trilogy even more loosely based on Bradbury’s experiences working as a writer at a film story. Even bad Bradbury is usually pretty good, but this trilogy drives me a little nuts. Behold, to illustrate, here is an excerpt of an old man talking about the title character:
“Here are six different address in twelve different summers. Maybe she drowned in deep grass. Years are a great hiding place. God hides you. Duck! What’s my name?!”
He did a flip-flop cartwheel across the room. I heard his old bones scream.
“Ta-ta!” He grinned in pain.
“Mr. Metaphor!”
“You got it!” He dropped cold.
I leaned over him, terrified. He popped one eye wide.
“That was a close one. Prop me up.”
It does not make any more sense in context, I assure you. Did he have a heart attack? Is he just a crazy old man? Who knows! There are the usual excellent Bradburian turns of phrase and the occasional flash of insight, but the rest is just complete pandemonium. I have vague ideas about what happened, but I still don’t know how much of it was real. It wouldn’t greatly surprise me to hear that Bradbury wrote this trilogy while under the influence of something or other, possibly drunk on his own creativity.
“Here are six different address in twelve different summers. Maybe she drowned in deep grass. Years are a great hiding place. God hides you. Duck! What’s my name?!”
He did a flip-flop cartwheel across the room. I heard his old bones scream.
“Ta-ta!” He grinned in pain.
“Mr. Metaphor!”
“You got it!” He dropped cold.
I leaned over him, terrified. He popped one eye wide.
“That was a close one. Prop me up.”
It does not make any more sense in context, I assure you. Did he have a heart attack? Is he just a crazy old man? Who knows! There are the usual excellent Bradburian turns of phrase and the occasional flash of insight, but the rest is just complete pandemonium. I have vague ideas about what happened, but I still don’t know how much of it was real. It wouldn’t greatly surprise me to hear that Bradbury wrote this trilogy while under the influence of something or other, possibly drunk on his own creativity.
yoana_misirkova's review against another edition
4.0
Contrary to the general opinion that Bradbury's attempt at writing mystery novels is not quite successful I absolutely fell inlove with the Crumley series. "Let's all kill Constance" was just as magical, mysterious and meaningful as the first two parts. I'm giving it four and not five stars only because it did get a little bit confusing in certain places. Overall great and really different detective-mystery novel, which combines all the stuff I like about Bradbury and classic detective mysteries.
aneides's review against another edition
2.0
Bradbury's forays into noir are always... badly surreal.
bev_reads_mysteries's review
2.0
Well....you might find Ray Bradbury's Let's All Kill Constance shelved at your local library or bookstore under "mystery" but let me tell you, this ain't your usual detective novel. This is Bradbury channeling Faulkner or some other stream-of-consciousness writer and throwing all his lovely language and metaphors into a mixer and spewing out craziness. Seriously.
As if it's not crazy enough that our unnamed hero has an aging, has-been Hollywood star, Constance Rattigan (Is that a glamorous, star-studded name or what....makes me think of Disney's The Great Mouse Detective. Sorry, got distracted there for a minute.)...where was I? Oh, yeah. An aging, has-been Hollywood star, Constance Rattigan, pounding on his door one "dark and stormy night" swearing that Death is following her. Literally. He's left his calling card on her her doorstep in the form of two "books of death": an old phone book where everyone she knows is dead (except her) and her old, discarded "little black book" where nearly everyone is dead and the ones who aren't (including her) seem to be marked for the grave. She begs for his help, dumps the books, and vanishes. He spends the rest of the book hunting down ghosts. Ghosts of Hollywood past. Ghosts of Contance's past. Ghosts that seem to be dogging his footsteps. With his sidekick, Crumley, he takes off in a dilapidated old car and visits characters from Tinseltown's glory days. Each one leading him further on the trail of secrets. Is everyone really out to kill Constance or is she the one leaving a path of destruction in her wake?
And this doesn't even touch the strangeness that passes for dialogue in this novel. I'm quite sure there are all sorts of in-jokes and references that have gone right over my head. But I was so lost in the stream that I'm not sure I would have recognized any that I did know. Bradbury can write. You'll get no argument from me on that one. But I like it a lot better when I feel like I've got solid ground under my feet. I spent most of the book feeling like I was in one of those Fun Houses at the Carnival where the floor suddenly tips or bounce or slides or you-name-it. I couldn't get a grip on any of it.
When I read his mystery Death Is a Lonely Business, I said:
"The plot line is a bit shaky...disappearing in the mist at times like the shadowy character of Death's friend, but his descriptions are solid and the clues are there if the reader is quick enough to spot them. His characters are real and you feel the unnamed hero's frustration and fear as he tries to figure out who is next on Death's list and unmask the killer before he claims all his victims."
This time I had no clue whatsoever what was going on. Two stars (sortof) out of five.
As if it's not crazy enough that our unnamed hero has an aging, has-been Hollywood star, Constance Rattigan (Is that a glamorous, star-studded name or what....makes me think of Disney's The Great Mouse Detective. Sorry, got distracted there for a minute.)...where was I? Oh, yeah. An aging, has-been Hollywood star, Constance Rattigan, pounding on his door one "dark and stormy night" swearing that Death is following her. Literally. He's left his calling card on her her doorstep in the form of two "books of death": an old phone book where everyone she knows is dead (except her) and her old, discarded "little black book" where nearly everyone is dead and the ones who aren't (including her) seem to be marked for the grave. She begs for his help, dumps the books, and vanishes. He spends the rest of the book hunting down ghosts. Ghosts of Hollywood past. Ghosts of Contance's past. Ghosts that seem to be dogging his footsteps. With his sidekick, Crumley, he takes off in a dilapidated old car and visits characters from Tinseltown's glory days. Each one leading him further on the trail of secrets. Is everyone really out to kill Constance or is she the one leaving a path of destruction in her wake?
And this doesn't even touch the strangeness that passes for dialogue in this novel. I'm quite sure there are all sorts of in-jokes and references that have gone right over my head. But I was so lost in the stream that I'm not sure I would have recognized any that I did know. Bradbury can write. You'll get no argument from me on that one. But I like it a lot better when I feel like I've got solid ground under my feet. I spent most of the book feeling like I was in one of those Fun Houses at the Carnival where the floor suddenly tips or bounce or slides or you-name-it. I couldn't get a grip on any of it.
When I read his mystery Death Is a Lonely Business, I said:
"The plot line is a bit shaky...disappearing in the mist at times like the shadowy character of Death's friend, but his descriptions are solid and the clues are there if the reader is quick enough to spot them. His characters are real and you feel the unnamed hero's frustration and fear as he tries to figure out who is next on Death's list and unmask the killer before he claims all his victims."
This time I had no clue whatsoever what was going on. Two stars (sortof) out of five.
mariannak98's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
uhhlexiconic's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
anemoian's review against another edition
5.0
perhaps, the 1st 2 parts of this trilogy were better. however, things change :)
toastx2's review against another edition
3.0
I have never been one who fancied Ray Bradbury’s mystery novels. Reading “Let’s all kill Constance”, third in this particular series, I was kind of lost.
Essentially, an unnamed protagonist is pulled to his front door on a dark and stormy night by Constance, a wayward movie star who lives just down the beach. She is distraught, pushed over the edge by two “books of the dead”. The dead and nearly dead in these books are all know by her and seem to be harbingers of her own impending doom. the protagonist, along with a detective pal of his begin an informal investigation to help save her life, leading them to a priest, a psychic, a tomb and the ghosts of hollywood past.
all in all it was a decent story. I would suggest it to others and found that it was very enjoyable. The problem was the delay I experienced putting myself in the storyline. The clumsy (yet precise) speech and the conversations the characters had were the problem. The characters are all witty and seem to share constant inside jokes, without the courtesy of letting the reader in.
Once I picked up on the groove of their interactions, I was sitting in a much more comfortable position. Unfortunately, even as I neared the end of the book, I found I was reading and rereading passages to pick up the important details.
In review, it was a fantastic novel but not very accessible, even to an avid reader such as myself. The tongue in cheek humor, and self serving references to Fahrenheit 451 were enough to make the novel worth reading. Pick it up if you find interest in it.
Toastx2
Essentially, an unnamed protagonist is pulled to his front door on a dark and stormy night by Constance, a wayward movie star who lives just down the beach. She is distraught, pushed over the edge by two “books of the dead”. The dead and nearly dead in these books are all know by her and seem to be harbingers of her own impending doom. the protagonist, along with a detective pal of his begin an informal investigation to help save her life, leading them to a priest, a psychic, a tomb and the ghosts of hollywood past.
all in all it was a decent story. I would suggest it to others and found that it was very enjoyable. The problem was the delay I experienced putting myself in the storyline. The clumsy (yet precise) speech and the conversations the characters had were the problem. The characters are all witty and seem to share constant inside jokes, without the courtesy of letting the reader in.
Once I picked up on the groove of their interactions, I was sitting in a much more comfortable position. Unfortunately, even as I neared the end of the book, I found I was reading and rereading passages to pick up the important details.
In review, it was a fantastic novel but not very accessible, even to an avid reader such as myself. The tongue in cheek humor, and self serving references to Fahrenheit 451 were enough to make the novel worth reading. Pick it up if you find interest in it.
Toastx2
readerbot_lu's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Did I like it? No
Do I recommend it? No, unless you want to read something basic
Do I recommend it? No, unless you want to read something basic