Red Harvest, Dashiell Hammett (3.5)
If you like a Humphrey Bogart gumshoe-type character
solving a complicated mystery involved gambling, drinking and a lot of
shooting, you’ll enjoy this book. It is a typical Hammett yarn with an unnamed
detective trying to clean up a small town in Northern California. The cadence
of the dialogue is tough – it helps if you read some of it aloud. Lot’s of
phrases like: ‘My chinch and Dick’s are together at your client’s joint. Mine’s
been generally busier than a hustler with two bunks, though I don’t know what
the score is yet.’ I enjoyed this book more for the ambience than the plot. It
was complicated and the ending was not entirely satisfying – unless you like
numerous shoot-outs and dead gangsters. I do plan on reading the rest of his
novels, particularly ‘The Maltese Falcon’ and ‘The Thin Man’ as they are two of
my favorite movies.
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