- Paperback: 216 pages
- Publisher: Allison & Busby; New edition edition (26 Feb 1996)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0749002433
- ISBN-13: 978-0749002435
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,907,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Instant Enemy
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
A Lew Archer crime novel, previously published in the UK over twenty years ago. Archer is weary and frustrated, his latest case involves two murders and a family secret which makes enemies out of everyone it touches. From the author of FIND A VICTIM.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
One of the best things about Ross Macdonald's hugely enjoyable mystery novels is their complex yet entirely logical and plausible plotting, of which this is a fine example. After a few years they can be picked up and reread, the vividly drawn characters and locations recognised and yet the plot's resolution comes once again as a satisfying surprise. Here we are on familiar territory, where greed outstrips conscience, and innocence is ravaged by corruption, balanced by the sympathetic humanity of the principle protagonist, Lew Archer himself.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
9 reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Fast paced, superbly constructed.
19 May 2005
Format:Paperback
The Instant Enemy is the quintessential Ross Macdonald novel. Why? Because it incorporates so many of the elements Macdonald held near and dear to his heart. These include:
-Family tragedies that repeat themselves over the generations.
-Unexpected familial relationships between characters.
-A young person's journey to claim a birthright unfairly denied.
-The notion that one's destiny is largely determined at birth, if not before.
The book starts out with Lew Archer being summoned to the Woodland Hills home of Keith Sebastian and his wife Bernice. Their 17 year old daughter has run away and they want Archer to find her without involving the police. Archer soon learns that the girl is traveling in the company of a 19 year old delinquent named Davy Spanner. What's more, it appears that they are planning to commit a very serious crime against Sebastian's boss, the fabulously wealthy oilman Stephen Hackett.
Archer wends his way up and down much of the California coast steadfastly seeking to unravel the truth behind the shocking series of events that rapidly ensue. The fast paced narrative unfolds quite smoothly as one unexpected complication after another is brought to light.
And Macdonald's prose is first rate. Whether depicting the scenic landscapes of the California coastline or the changing face of American society as it reflects the turbulence of the 1960s, the writing is remarkably deft and descriptive.
Thoroughly engaging, suspenseful and rich with surprise, The Instant Enemy ranks among the finest novels written by Ross Macdonald. Do yourself a favor and read it.
-Family tragedies that repeat themselves over the generations.
-Unexpected familial relationships between characters.
-A young person's journey to claim a birthright unfairly denied.
-The notion that one's destiny is largely determined at birth, if not before.
The book starts out with Lew Archer being summoned to the Woodland Hills home of Keith Sebastian and his wife Bernice. Their 17 year old daughter has run away and they want Archer to find her without involving the police. Archer soon learns that the girl is traveling in the company of a 19 year old delinquent named Davy Spanner. What's more, it appears that they are planning to commit a very serious crime against Sebastian's boss, the fabulously wealthy oilman Stephen Hackett.
Archer wends his way up and down much of the California coast steadfastly seeking to unravel the truth behind the shocking series of events that rapidly ensue. The fast paced narrative unfolds quite smoothly as one unexpected complication after another is brought to light.
And Macdonald's prose is first rate. Whether depicting the scenic landscapes of the California coastline or the changing face of American society as it reflects the turbulence of the 1960s, the writing is remarkably deft and descriptive.
Thoroughly engaging, suspenseful and rich with surprise, The Instant Enemy ranks among the finest novels written by Ross Macdonald. Do yourself a favor and read it.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Heart-breaking tragedy told in who-dun-it format
12 Jun 2003
Format:Paperback
It seems that the cases Lew Archer takes on are rather straight forward looking at the outset and startlingly complex as he gets into them. This one ranks among the best of the series because of the characters involved. This time, he's hired first by a runaway daughter's father and runs into a plot against the father's employer. A subsequent kidnapping and threat of murder gets him also "hired" by the intended victim's mother. The alert reader will figure out aspects of the whole picture before the revelation, but chances are that reader will run into a few surprises.
The puzzle is definitely an important part of the total story, but it's the depth of character and the implicit tragic developments that make a Ross MacDonald story the rewarding experience that it is.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
My favorite Ross Macdonald so far.
16 July 2006
Format:Paperback
...and that is actually saying quite a bit, considering that he is one of my favorite detective fiction writers.
Written in 1968, this is Macdonald at the height of his skills. It features all the classic elements of inherited guilt, needless loss, corrupt manipulation and class barriers. Instead of stumbling over 1960s culture (as so many lesser writers seem to do), it makes free love and drug culture just two more things to be misused by the wrong sort of people.
Tough, smoothly written, well plotted. A must read for fans of Lew Archer and a good place to begin with Macdonald if you have not yet discovered his work.
Written in 1968, this is Macdonald at the height of his skills. It features all the classic elements of inherited guilt, needless loss, corrupt manipulation and class barriers. Instead of stumbling over 1960s culture (as so many lesser writers seem to do), it makes free love and drug culture just two more things to be misused by the wrong sort of people.
Tough, smoothly written, well plotted. A must read for fans of Lew Archer and a good place to begin with Macdonald if you have not yet discovered his work.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
