The Maltese Falcon (1930)
Author: Dashiell Hammett
Publisher: Alfred A Knopf
Synopsis:
Private detective Sam Spade takes on a simple job that spins into a plot involving a priceless artifact.
Impressions:
Being a fan of the film adaptation of this story and having mostly gone through all of Raymmond Chandler's novels, it seemed like a natural choice to go to Dashiell Hammet next. Rather than starting at his first novel, I jumped right to this one. I'll be honest with you, I wasn't digging the prose at first. Maybe I had gotten too used to Chandler, but it came off as rather awkward. However, things got better the more I read, so I'd advise any other readers to not go with your kneejerk reaction if things seem a bit rough at first. (When I went back to read Hammett's first novel Red Harvest, I found he used the first-person perspective there like Chandler does and it was a much smoother read, so maybe affecting a somewhat loftier narrative voice in the third-person is to blame.) My quibbles over matters of style aside, once you really start to dig into the plot itself and especially the character dynamics, the story really shines. There's lots of intrigue afoot, where Spade's secretary Effie seems to be about the only significant character who isn't crooked. The moral spectrum running from grey to black is nothing remarkable for the genre, but if you're looking to back a white hat, you may have a hard time with this one. If, however, you enjoy watching a lot of double-crossing, triple-crossing crooks at each other's throats, you're in for a good time. It's one of the seminal works of detective fiction and warrants a place in your collection.
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