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74th out of 581 books
—
508 voters
The Goodbye Look (Lew Archer #15)
In The Goodbye Look, Lew Archer is hired to investigate a burglary at the mission-style mansion of Irene and Larry Chalmers. The prime suspect, their son Nick, has a talent for disappearing, and the Chalmerses are a family with money and memories to burn. As Archer zeros in on Nick, he discovers a troubled blonde, a stash of wartime letters, a mysterious hobo. Then a stiff...more
Paperback, 256 pages
Published
December 5th 2000
by Vintage
(first published 1969)
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Picture Chandler built with much rougher gin, and not one drop of a vermouth -- not even a vapor.
And no ice.
Picture a room temperature glass of middling gin when what you're after's a martini, and that's sort of what reading this book was like for me.
I don't know, if I could give it an extra half-star I would. MAN, I hate the star system! It just makes me NUTS! To be fair, I'll disclose, I did tear through this book all in a day. I spent an hour with it last night in the heat on my fire escape,...more
And no ice.
Picture a room temperature glass of middling gin when what you're after's a martini, and that's sort of what reading this book was like for me.
I don't know, if I could give it an extra half-star I would. MAN, I hate the star system! It just makes me NUTS! To be fair, I'll disclose, I did tear through this book all in a day. I spent an hour with it last night in the heat on my fire escape,...more
The classic Ross MacDonald plot: a gun, used in a recent murder, is found to be connected to a fifteen-year old homicide, and suspicions swirl around a young person so emotionally scarred by his past that he is convinced he must be guilty of something. (As one of the characters says, "My whole time here, it's been like living in a haunted house." In the Ross McDonald world, she could be speaking about all of us, of every single human life.) Once again the sins of the fathers are visited upon the...more
Having read all Ross MacDonald's Lew Archer novels, I can't remember being disappointed by any of them.
Lately I got the urge to lose myself in Lew Archer's world, which for the most part runs along the coast of southern California between the late '40s and the early '70s.
I found a deal on a hardcover of The Goodbye Look, the plot of which I only vaguely remembered. And now, more than ever, I agree with William Goldman, whose review of the novel included: "The finest series of detective novels e...more
Lately I got the urge to lose myself in Lew Archer's world, which for the most part runs along the coast of southern California between the late '40s and the early '70s.
I found a deal on a hardcover of The Goodbye Look, the plot of which I only vaguely remembered. And now, more than ever, I agree with William Goldman, whose review of the novel included: "The finest series of detective novels e...more
If you want to talk about pure story telling, Ross MacDonald is the man. I hadn't read any early MacDonald, only his later works. [Book:The Goodbye Look] was a revelation to me. For the first time in my reading of mysteries, and that includes old 1920s up to the present day, did a book resolve itself strictly by the reasoning skill, and investigative talents of the main character.
Lew Archer is a wonderful character who not only is a Private Investigator, he is humane, intelligent, compassionate,...more
Lew Archer is a wonderful character who not only is a Private Investigator, he is humane, intelligent, compassionate,...more
Until now I’ve only read two Archer novels (curiously, and coincidentally, the two Paul Newman turned into films) and though I enjoyed them, they didn’t make me whoop with joy. I liked them, thought they had good points, but haven’t rushed on to check out the others.
Having read ‘The Goodbye Look’ I now understand why his fans hold him such high regard. MacDonald’s brilliance – certainly in this novel – lies in taking that Tolstoy maxim that “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is...more
Having read ‘The Goodbye Look’ I now understand why his fans hold him such high regard. MacDonald’s brilliance – certainly in this novel – lies in taking that Tolstoy maxim that “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is...more
I mistakenly reread this Lew Archer novel recently. I originally read it twelve years ago during an all-night book binge at Harvey's Barn Door in Corpus--at that time, I was reading a lot of mysteries.
At first, I didn't recognize the plot or characters; halfway through, however, I recognized a clumsy sex scene and a line ("something less than love but sweeter than self"). Then I remembered previously liking the book, but I just didn't like it as much now. In some ways, it's generic Ross Macdonal...more
At first, I didn't recognize the plot or characters; halfway through, however, I recognized a clumsy sex scene and a line ("something less than love but sweeter than self"). Then I remembered previously liking the book, but I just didn't like it as much now. In some ways, it's generic Ross Macdonal...more
I began by loving the writing in this book, the understated understanding of the human condition contained within it, and the era. Eventually, I lost interest in all of that. By the end, I couldn't remember who had done what, or why, or why I cared, or whatever. It was a scree against nostalgia, but not a very loud one. I felt bad that I didn't love it, because I think that Macdonald is probably very fine. But I wasn't convinced by the end of the book. I'm glad he never has to read this disappoi...more
While many contemporary mystery writers produce entertaining novels, I like to go back periodically to one of Ross Macdonald’s Lew Archer stories. To me Macdonald's narratives are more engaging than those by other pioneer detective writers, such as those featuring Hammett’s Continental Op or Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe. Macdonald (a pseudonym for the Canadian Donald Millar, who grew up in Vancouver) engages our minds and our emotions with stories that reflect our society as well as show hu...more
This is a good detective novel that has an ending that is hard to figure out. This is another Lew Archer round by the author who calls himself "MacDonald" (I recently leaned that none of the names he is printed with is his actual name). It seemed to me MacDonald worked a little too hard with the complexity of the story and had trouble getting it all to flow together. I believe that is why I had a bit of trouble following just who all the characters are in the book. Maybe that was his intent to m...more
A complicated mystery peopled with complicated people, drawn with a great deal of psychological depth. I thought it was good stuff but it didn't quite wow me because Archer seemed a somewhat stock PI character and also perhaps the blurbs sold Macdonald a little too stridently as 'the natural heir to Hammett and Chandler' etc. I'll probably need to read another in the series to draw a more specific conclusion.
Definitely a great read. A must for any Ross Macdonald/Lew Archer fan.
Lew is hired to investigate a burglary. The suspicion immediately falls on the troubled son, Nick. As Lew investigates, he uncovers much more than a simple stolen jewelry box. Two families are intertwined, and multiple tragedies unfold. True to form, the plot takes some convoluted twists & turns (I had a little difficulty keeping some of the characters straight...who was related to whom, and that sort of thing.)
On a pers...more
Lew is hired to investigate a burglary. The suspicion immediately falls on the troubled son, Nick. As Lew investigates, he uncovers much more than a simple stolen jewelry box. Two families are intertwined, and multiple tragedies unfold. True to form, the plot takes some convoluted twists & turns (I had a little difficulty keeping some of the characters straight...who was related to whom, and that sort of thing.)
On a pers...more
A plot as layered with contrivance as The Big Sleep or The Maltese Falcon, but without the spark that set those others on fire and made them classic. MacDonald gives us sordid noir, but in the most desultory fashion, as if barely feeling it himself. Good enough, but hardly great.
Ross MacDonald is one of the acknowledged masters of the Noir detective genre. This story, set in the stark landscape of Southern California in the late 1960’s, finds his man Lew Archer hired to investigate the simple burglary of a family heirloom. As Archer delves into events he begins to uncover the deep secrets of a wealthy family that involves insanity and multiple murders.
Unfortunately I found the characters other than Archer mostly uninteresting, and the story held various levels as intere...more
Unfortunately I found the characters other than Archer mostly uninteresting, and the story held various levels as intere...more
Drugs, revenge, insanity, and a twisting turning plot - Ross MacDonald was on when he wrote The Goodbye Look. Friends have recommended MacDonald and the one book I read prior to this I wasn't that impressed with. However MacDonald scored with this book.
I didn't love this as much as I love the other Ross Macdonald books I've read, which is utterly and completely. I found this harder to follow, but it could well have been me. The writing was still perfect.
One of his best...if you're looking at all my RM reviews, you'll see a pattern.
DUMB COP AND BAD GUYS STUFF
One complicated story...
Ross MacDonald weaves plot-line baroquery into something staggeringly gorgeous. Not one character is ever introduced who is ever what they seem, no one is not connected. Lew Archer is a unique PI character--hard-boiled, yes, and ready with a dry quip, of course, but sensitive, bleeding for the pain of the world.
This is a pretty somber Archer outing, with a series of interrelated pasts that grow almost too complex to keep track of. MacDonald pulls it together at the end, though, and it's ultimately a rewarding read.
A Lew Archer hard-boiled escapade set in southern California. Archer gets involved with the Chalmers family, ostensibly to investigate a theft, but in reality to solve a murder.
Sep 19, 2009
rabbitprincess
marked it as to-read-own
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
bought-secondhand
Bought at the Friends of Library and Archives Used Book Sale on September 19, 2009.
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Ross Macdonald is the pseudonym of the American-Canadian writer of crime fiction Kenneth Millar. He is best known for his series of hardboiled novels set in southern California and featuring private detective Lew Archer.
Millar was born in Los Gatos, California, and raised in his parents' native Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, where he started college. When his father abandoned his family unexpectedly,...more
More about Ross Macdonald...
Millar was born in Los Gatos, California, and raised in his parents' native Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, where he started college. When his father abandoned his family unexpectedly,...more
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Genius.
Aug 19, 2009 06:16am
Aug 19, 2009 12:19pm