book data
132 ratings,
3.84
average rating, 10 reviews
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published
April 1996
by Thorndike Pr
(first published 1966)
details
Paperback, 335 pages
isbn
0786204648
(isbn13: 9780786204649)
description
Next time someone who doesn't read mysteries asks where they should start, point them toward Ross Macdonald. Luckily, Vintage/Black Lizard is reprinti…more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 175)
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avg 3.84
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
Read in January, 2009
Lew Archer is a detective of the hard-boiled, Californian-type. He's hired by Peter Jamieson, a fat but rich young man of the Montevista set, to investigate Francis Martel. Martel claims to be a French aristocrat who in addition, has run off with Peter's girlfriend, Ginny Fablon.
The resulting story is fast and dense, with characters and lies piled high. There are the complications of Harry Hendrick, used-car salesman turned PI, his wife Kitty and the 7-year old suicide of Roy Fablon...more
The resulting story is fast and dense, with characters and lies piled high. There are the complications of Harry Hendrick, used-car salesman turned PI, his wife Kitty and the 7-year old suicide of Roy Fablon...more
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Read in July, 2009
Solid archetypal noir from the mid-1960s. Ross MacDonald might not have invented anything new when it came to mysteries, but he took what Chandler created and compressed it down to beautiful, minimalist art. Here he's playing in his usual stomping ground: among the unhappy rich in Southern California, uncovering their intricate secrets. Unlike "The Galton Case" or "The Chill", this one doesn't have a real blockbuster surprise ending, but the case is wound up in a way which...more
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A Strict private detective procedural.
No personal problems for the detective.
But great stories of wounded people.
Particularly of daughters who disdain their parents and run off with the worst kind of trash.
No personal problems for the detective.
But great stories of wounded people.
Particularly of daughters who disdain their parents and run off with the worst kind of trash.
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Read in May, 2008
this is a detective novel set in Raymond Chandler territory in California .
Unfortaunately this is all the writer has in common with Raymond Chandler .
If the point of a detective novel is to be a page turner this failed . the only time i was turning pages was at the end when the absurd plot unfolded and i wanted to get it all over with . the characters are moved around like chess pieces and are as wooden .
The author seems to think that by mentioning Sartre a few times he gain s...more
Unfortaunately this is all the writer has in common with Raymond Chandler .
If the point of a detective novel is to be a page turner this failed . the only time i was turning pages was at the end when the absurd plot unfolded and i wanted to get it all over with . the characters are moved around like chess pieces and are as wooden .
The author seems to think that by mentioning Sartre a few times he gain s...more
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Read in January, 2009
first ross mcd book. great read. none of the gimmicks of typical hard-boiled so.cal detective books.
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My first and Ross MacDonald novel. He has few rivals for the use of the
language.
language.
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Read in January, 2009
A young girl from a good background becomes involved with a mysterious Frenchman at the country club, and her ex-fiancee hires Lew Archer to discover whether or not the Frenchman is an impostor. Soon the situation seems to be connected to an earlier death labeled a suicide, the bodies begin to pile up, and Archer must discover what happened in the past in order to understand the evil that continues to ruin lives here and now. Not the best Lew Archer, but still very good.
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Read in December, 2009
I actually put down a Henning Mankell novel with about 50 pages to go -- I needed something tighter, slicker ... more American! I went back to Ross Macdonald -- maybe my favorite noir guy out there. This is my fifth Lew Archer novel and I'm absolutely loving it. I've enjoyed some Mankell books tremendously, but "Firewall" just isn't one of them. (I'll polish it off on the terlet sometime soon, okay?)
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MacDonald is certainly a different style of hard boiled fiction author. This is a complex mystery drama with heavy resonance and languid prose. It's short on the harder aspects of the genre, but it's clearly a completely different approach. However, I really enjoyed it and felt that it was even a comment on the American condition when it was written.
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Read in January, 1995
Overall my favorite Macdonald book. A great inspiration to me.
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mystery (on 8 people's shelves)
fiction (on 4 people's shelves)
crime (on 2 people's shelves)
murder (on 1 person's shelf)
detective (on 1 person's shelf)
whodunit (on 1 person's shelf)
noir---pulp (on 1 person's shelf)
fiction-novels (on 1 person's shelf)
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