- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Orion (15 Jan 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0752853317
- ISBN-13: 978-0752853314
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 783,349 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
'This is the thirty-fifth in Orion's excellent Crime Masterworks series of past classics. The Eighth Circle is more than worthy of inclusion.' (DAILY EXPRESS )
Product Description
Murray Kirk runs his private investigation agency like the business it is: he isn't interested in justice or crusades, just the profit and loss account. When he's asked to act for a young policeman accused of bribery, because he knows something about police corruption in New York City, he isn't too keen. He just can't see the profit - until he meets the man's fiancee. And then Kirk's motives become uncomfortably confused, and he finds himself descending swiftly into a grey world of bookmakers, gangsters, grafters and corrupt politicians, a world where setting up an honest cop is all in a day's work...
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Decent 50's crime novel,
By
This review is from: The Eighth Circle (Crime Masterworks) (Paperback)
In his business life Murray Kirk has made good by taking his mentor's advice and 'sticking to the facts'. That is what his clientele want and expect from his successful New York detective agency. This is not Sam Spade; it is a professional business that has left Kirk reasonably wealthy and an eligible batchelor in his mid Thirties.
His cynical, no-nonsense outlook is confirmed when a Grand Jury begins an extensive graft and police corruption inquiry. Yet this cynicism is put aside at the sight of the 'pretty ankle' of Ruth Vincent the fiancee of a beleagured vice cop. As the plot develops into a 'guilty or not?' story it is central that his own staff, lawyers, friends and even the criminals, find it impossible to accept that Kirk's only motivation is to enjoy carnal relations with Ruth. The novel felt derivative. I kept having flashes of differing films noir as scenes developed. Kirk is an unappealing character who mixes business savvy with lust and 'a smug assurance' that he is 'on the side of the angels'. This is then compounded by a laboured plot twist which seemed out of character. Mr Ellin has a nice sarcasm about the contemporary obsession with the movies, TV and celebrity including the chief villain whose life revolves around screenings of 'The 64,000 Dollar Question'. The sexual elements are so strait-laced as to be humourous; when you get to the shower scene this will become apparent! It is well written with plenty of plot to get your teeth into but it just felt routine. That is not to say this is a poor novel. More a case of been there, seen it, got the T-Shirt. It's OK.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews) 11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beware: masterpiece!,
By X.L. - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Eighth Circle (Paperback)
Stanley Ellin won the Edgar Award for best novel for this book, and it's well deserved. The only word that comes to my mind to definite this is "perfection". Perfection in writing, plotting, characterization, atmosphere. "The Eighth Circle" is probably one of the best mystery novels ever written, and one of the most deserved Edgar-winners, with Charlotte Jay's "Beat Not The Bones", Chandler's "The Long Goodbye" - to name just two. Don't miss it! Like Nat King Cole would say, it's "unforgettable"...
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great private eye novel,
By CrimeFictionBuff - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Eighth Circle (Paperback)
James Ellroy says somewhere, "the last time a private eye solved a murder was never". Ellin's underrated novel takes it's title from Dante's description of hell: the eighth circle of the inferno is where the lawyers, bribers, and toadies are. The great strength of this book is the real-life description of a detective agency. The author spent months researching the reality of private eyes, so his book does not perpetuate the Chandler-based myth. As a murder mystery THE EIGHTH CIRCLE is only so-so, but the rest is simply wonderful--it really places you in New York in the late 1950's. (The greatest Ellin is probably his short stories: try THE MOMENT OF DECISION.)
5.0 out of 5 stars
Impressive depth and breadth of characterizations,
By James Tetreault - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Eighth Circle (Crime Masterworks) (Paperback)
I had no idea what to expect of this book. A few page in I thought it was going to be bone dry. But things picked up from there and the job Ellin does of fleshing out the various characters is excellent. Another reviewer says it's only a so-so murder mystery. But it's not a murder mystery at all. It's sort of a slice of life portrait of a real head of a detective agency and as a result of the man's occupation we see certain things. I also see this as a fascinating look at the mores of late 50's america. I could somehow see a lot of these people right alongside the characters in the film The Sweet Smell of Success, though without all the conspicuous drama. I would recommend this book to anyone.
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