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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
I've never read classic hardboiled detective fiction before, and this was a great one.
Philip Marlowe is a private detective hired by a wealthy man to track down his wife, who left a note saying she was getting a Mexican divorce to be with her lover, except, he met her lover later, who claimed he was unaware of the Mexican divorce.
In the course of the investigation, the body of another woman is found in a nearby lake. Plenty of twists and turns reveal how the two murders might be connected, and slowly the killer or killers is/are revealed.
Raymond Chandler has some unique turns of phrase. One character, in telling off Marlowe, tells him to "go climb up your own thumb." In another scene, Chandler describes the sound of a man pocketing money "like caterpillars fighting." Characters sneer and snarl, the dialogue is snappy and snarky (and sometimes the 1940s jargon is a bit unclear), and there's also a bit of dry humor.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story and all it's twists and turns, until Marlowe reveals who did what to whom. It was exciting, suspenseful, and fun to sort of delve a little bit into the dark underbelly of WW2-era America.
Philip Marlowe is a private detective hired by a wealthy man to track down his wife, who left a note saying she was getting a Mexican divorce to be with her lover, except, he met her lover later, who claimed he was unaware of the Mexican divorce.
In the course of the investigation, the body of another woman is found in a nearby lake. Plenty of twists and turns reveal how the two murders might be connected, and slowly the killer or killers is/are revealed.
Raymond Chandler has some unique turns of phrase. One character, in telling off Marlowe, tells him to "go climb up your own thumb." In another scene, Chandler describes the sound of a man pocketing money "like caterpillars fighting." Characters sneer and snarl, the dialogue is snappy and snarky (and sometimes the 1940s jargon is a bit unclear), and there's also a bit of dry humor.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story and all it's twists and turns, until Marlowe reveals who did what to whom. It was exciting, suspenseful, and fun to sort of delve a little bit into the dark underbelly of WW2-era America.
I know it was written in the 40s but the casual racism and sexism was just a turn off. The way he described a Native American character made me stop on my tracks. I finished the book out of spite.
fast-paced
Not my usual fare, but I enjoyed it! A lot of the hooks that the twists/reveals depend on wouldn't work the same way in a modern setting, but that's part of what made it so fun to try to figure out.
One of my favorite Marlowe stories to date. This one is full of diverse scenery and more unique characters than the wild dame, jilted millionaire, and lax cop which come so standard in every snooper page-turner. They're all available her as per usual, but they find occasion to share space with a broader and more eclectic cast. There were a lot of sarcastic and witty one-liners to stop me in my tracks and I even managed to catch on to a few of the plot twists before they were revealed. I don't care to figure everything out ahead of time in a gumshoe book, but it helps with credibility and engagement when the unraveling of the knotty plot can at least be made sense of in the explanation. I was continually surprised by the coarse of this book and delighted at the sweeping vistas around every bend.
Just no. Found it a hard slog despite it being short, and quite predictable.
