Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Mid-20th Century North American Crime and Mystery
COUNTDOWN: #7 (of 250)
Oh, I am jealous of readers who have not read this book. The plot is...undiscussable...
HOOK - 5 stars: An opening in court. Mrs. Perrine is on trial. Archer is the final person to take the stand. He studies the courtroom, ready to move on to his next case. But this one isn't over. Perrine: innocent or guilty? Archer: involvement? He plays both sides, after all. And the jurors are puzzled. Archer leaves the stand and is approached for another case. That's page one. A pitch-perfect hook.
PACE - 4 stars: I gave this 5 stars for the first read. It does take off like a brakes-gone-bad ice-road-trucker. But I noticed during the second read a slight mid-point hesitation. To build tension? Give the reader a break? The pace isn't a perfect build to release, just almost.
PLOT - 5 stars: I'll just quote a back-cover blurb: "...one of the most intricate plots ever spun by an American crime author..." Baffling and brilliant.
PEOPLE - 5 stars: First, Archer. The NYTIMES says: "The American private eye, immortalized by Hammett, refined by Chandler, brought to its zenith by Ross Macdonald. The rest?
Dr. Geisman: "It's foggy...my eyesight is so poor...I can't tell the difference...you and the Good Lord himself..."
Archer's reply: "There isn't much difference," in perfect noir style.
Alex Kincaid, naive, looking for Dolly, the other half of a marriage not consummated. Dolly is in college and is also a part-time driver for a rich lady, her son the Dean of the college Dolly attends. Sammy Fargo is a photographer. Chuck Begley lives at Marge's place, but thinks Dolly is his daughter. Professor Hen Haggerty meets Archer, things get steamy. Then bodies start piling up and the plot goes round and round.
ATMOSPHERE - 4 stars: "The heavy red-figured drapes...incompletely closed against the sun." (Or, rather, the truth is peaking in to a court?) Academia, and lots of people trying to outsmart each other. A foggy mass hangs over the California coast, specifically Pacific Point. Rich people and their homes. Dreams destroyed in Southern California: a "beach turned out to be a kind of expensive slum...cottages stood..." in line. Real estate. More money. Thing is, MacDonald has visited this atmosphere many times, and done it better in other novels.
SUMMARY - 4.6: Some might argue that Ross Macdonald is a better author than Hammett or Chandler. Overall, considering bodies of novels, I agree, although early Hammett is about impossible to improve upon. Other raves: "An entertainment of almost Byzantine complexity" and "Ross Macdonald must be ranked high amongst American thriller authors" (Times, London) but finally, from the NYTimes: "...the year's most startling surprise solution." This is not only a great noir novel, but it's a thriller, a mystery, it's steamy, it's a masterpiece of plot, and finally a last-minute...oh, just read this one.