Denae's Reviews > The Long Goodbye

It is rare that I read a book and instantly add it to my favorites list as well as giving it five stars, but that is exactly what happened with The Long Goodbye. Raymond Chandler deserves his place at the top of the noir heap. The book is dark and grim, but never feels like it is being more of those than the story demands. The city itself plays a huge role, which I think is an essential part of the genre. There are beautiful tragic women and confused, doomed men. There are terrible murders. There are lots of cocktails and plenty of backroom dealing. Throughout the book it remained impossible to separate the good guys from the bad, and even now I would not like to take on the task. The way humanity is presented in this book is so bare. That's one of many reasons I loved it so much.