Friday 11 February 2011

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammet


My first non tbr read of the year, this one was allowed as it was a bookgroup read however I fear that my journey to and from New York is going to be my downfall as I've been sent and given books that look like ideal plane ride books.

The Maltese Falcon is a detective novel from 1929. The book follows Sam Spade, who starts an investigation to discover a missing sister, which soon involves the death of his partner, him being stitched up for murder and the search for the Maltese Falcon, a prized ornament.
Spade is a typical detenctive, women falling for him all over the place and a criminal himself with many dodgy police helping his cause. I can't tell you anymore of the story without giving away too much.

I raced through the first 100 pages, the style was easy to read and there was plenty happening, then I really slowed down and stretched the next 100 pages over 4 nights. I lost interest as more and more people became involved, and there was so many people double crossing one another. Also, I disliked the way the women fawned over Spade; he was clearly sleeping with his secutary even though she knew he was also with many other women, yet she bowed to his every request. I suppose it's a product of its time yet it still bothered me.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I'm finding it very difficult to stick to the TBR Dare myself right now. I've got a small stack of new books squirreled away waiting for April 1.

I know what you mean about finding it hard to take the women in Dashell Hammet. I love Hammet's stuff, but the hard-boiled detective style and world tends towards portrayals of women and other groups that are very hard for us to take. It's clearly something one has to get past in order to enjoy his books.