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Review
'The exuberance of language, the relish with which seediness is described .. it's a pleasure to imagine Hammett cutting loose with whatever rascally high jinks he could cook up' (Margaret Atwood )
'The ace performer' (Raymond Chandler )
'The ace performer' (Raymond Chandler )
Product Description
Ex-detective Nick Charles plans to spend a quiet Christmas holed up in a hotel suite with his glamorous wife Nora, their pet Schnauzer and a case of good Scotch. But then a bullet-riddled corpse and a missing inventor (not to mention the attentions of a beautiful young woman) force him out of retirement and back into business. Trying to make sense of false leads, suspicious alibis and mistaken identities, Nick and Nora are thrown into a world of gangsters, hoodlums and speakeasies, where no-one can be trusted.
Dashiell Hammett was credited with inventing the hardboiled crime novel, and this story of murder and mayhem in Manhattan, with its breakneck plot, snappy dialogue - and the hard-drinking, wisecracking couple Nick and Nora - is one of his most thrillingly enjoyable mysteries.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio Cassette
If you are like me, you met The Thin Man first in the movie series. Those movies have Nick Charles straddling the gap between the "haves" and the tough guy world with insouciance as he waltzes with the wealthy socialites and unravels fatal plots. The book itself is much darker, directly suggesting alcoholism, incest, adultery, and all the minor crimes . . . and deadly sins. The view is that humans are thoroughly flawed, but some can rise above that to serve others anyway. That is the nobility of the Nick Charles character . . . as he staggers out of bed in the afternoon with yet another hangover. Helping out old clients is his source of redemption against the temptations he cannot resist.
The world view is probably somewhat autobiographical as Hammett spent more of his time in Hollywood late in his career, rather than working as a fiction writer. The echoes of F. Scott Fitzgerald are very strong, especially to Tender Is The Night.
The world view is probably somewhat autobiographical as Hammett spent more of his time in Hollywood late in his career, rather than working as a fiction writer. The echoes of F. Scott Fitzgerald are very strong, especially to Tender Is The Night.
For those who love the classic "tough guy" stories by Hammett, this one can never have the same appeal. Nick is still tough, but he mostly shows it by taking abuse with style. That's a feminine kind of toughness that comes from maturity. He passes off the chances to trade punches when they arise.
The characterizations of Nick and Nora Charles are the strength of the novel. But the book transcends that by also creating a picture of a flawed marriage between two people with hearts of gold who love each other, but are also killing each other. The development of the relationship is brilliant.
The mystery itself isn't very mysterious. It just has lots of red herrings. If you judge mysteries by the quality of the plot unfolding of that mystery, you will probably rate this book at 3 or 4 stars.
I suggest that you think about what temptations are difficult for you to resist. How will those temptations undermine your life and your relationships? How can you occupy yourself in ways so that there will either be less temptation or you will be more able to resist it?
To your good health and that of all your relationships!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is not hard-boiled apart from one memorable scene in a New York speakeasy. There is vitually no witty repartee after a bright sparky first 40 pages. The book kicks off with a sassy, tongue-in cheek racy start featuring Nick 'the Greek' Charles and Nora his wife, 'a lanky brunette with a wicked jaw'. After that it goes into a long lingering death where all the characters virtually talk themselves to a standstill.
Nobody does in any detecting because they are all sozzled. Any attempt at a student drinking-game would result in an A & E stomach-pumping every 20 pages. Drinks occur at any and every moment of the day with the main excuse often being, 'to cut the phlegm'. Charming.
The book felt like a short story that had been grossly inflated. If this book had not had Mr Hammett's name on the cover I would have thrown it in the bin. The first 40 pages and Mr Hammett's track record force me to give it two stars, but this is a lazy work padded with tedious dialogue that faills to progress the story.
Mr Hammett's last novel. Maybe he knew that the star had burned brightly.
Nobody does in any detecting because they are all sozzled. Any attempt at a student drinking-game would result in an A & E stomach-pumping every 20 pages. Drinks occur at any and every moment of the day with the main excuse often being, 'to cut the phlegm'. Charming.
The book felt like a short story that had been grossly inflated. If this book had not had Mr Hammett's name on the cover I would have thrown it in the bin. The first 40 pages and Mr Hammett's track record force me to give it two stars, but this is a lazy work padded with tedious dialogue that faills to progress the story.
Mr Hammett's last novel. Maybe he knew that the star had burned brightly.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you ever saw the movie The Thin Man starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles, then you already know the basic story. It's the worst part of the Depression and Nick and Nora are a fabulously wealthy couple living in San Francisco. For business reasons, they are spending Christmas in New York City where Nick was once a first-class detective. Clyde Wynant, a man that Nick once helped, is missing and his daughter Dorothy (played by Maureen O'Sullivan in the movie) asks Nick to help find him. Nick isn't anxious to get back in the detective game (although Nora wants to see him in action) but when Clyde Wynant's secretary (who is also his lover) is killed and Wynant is suspected, Nick is dragged into the investigation.
All the players are here, Mimi Jorgenson, Wynat's ex-wife who is desperately in need of money; Chris Jorgenson, Mimi's current husband; Dorothy and Gilbert Wynant, Wynant's two grown-up children; John Guild, the police detective stuck with this baffling case; Herbert MacCaulay, Wynant's lawyer; Nick Morelli the gangster and speakeasy owner; and Arthur Nunheim, the police stool pigeon and blackmailer. The problem is that none of these characters are in the least bit likable which makes it hard to care about them or even care if Wynant is found. Unlike the movie, Dorothy is a floozy who drinks too much, Mimi beats her children, and Gilbert is beyond eccentric and is simply unbelievable. And the book drags on with side steps into discussions of cannibalism, for example, that really have no point nor do they move the story along.
But the main failure of the book is in failing to do what the movie does best... make a couple of Nick and Nora. There is no Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson feel in the book. Nora mostly hangs around comforting Dorothy and keeping Mimi from smacking poor Dorothy around. When the killer is revealed and the case solved, Nora isn't even around... she's back at the hotel. Rarely is a movie better than the book it is based on (Jaws come to mind) but this is one book that is poor compared to the movie. I should add that the book has a gratuitous use of the n-word and stereotypes lesbians as man-haters which made me like the book even less. Yes, I know the book was written in the 30's but still it grates on the modern reader and probably quite a few readers even back in the 30's.
All the players are here, Mimi Jorgenson, Wynat's ex-wife who is desperately in need of money; Chris Jorgenson, Mimi's current husband; Dorothy and Gilbert Wynant, Wynant's two grown-up children; John Guild, the police detective stuck with this baffling case; Herbert MacCaulay, Wynant's lawyer; Nick Morelli the gangster and speakeasy owner; and Arthur Nunheim, the police stool pigeon and blackmailer. The problem is that none of these characters are in the least bit likable which makes it hard to care about them or even care if Wynant is found. Unlike the movie, Dorothy is a floozy who drinks too much, Mimi beats her children, and Gilbert is beyond eccentric and is simply unbelievable. And the book drags on with side steps into discussions of cannibalism, for example, that really have no point nor do they move the story along.
But the main failure of the book is in failing to do what the movie does best... make a couple of Nick and Nora. There is no Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson feel in the book. Nora mostly hangs around comforting Dorothy and keeping Mimi from smacking poor Dorothy around. When the killer is revealed and the case solved, Nora isn't even around... she's back at the hotel. Rarely is a movie better than the book it is based on (Jaws come to mind) but this is one book that is poor compared to the movie. I should add that the book has a gratuitous use of the n-word and stereotypes lesbians as man-haters which made me like the book even less. Yes, I know the book was written in the 30's but still it grates on the modern reader and probably quite a few readers even back in the 30's.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
melodramatic hardboiled yarn
The Thin Man is a crime farce, written in an all-tell, dialogue and action style, with no excess fat in the prose. Read more
Published 3 days ago by Rob Kitchin
The Plot THINS!
A REVIEW OF `THE THIN MAN' by DASHIELL HAMMETT
`The Thin Man' (first published in 1932) is a tightly-plotted, teasing who-dunnit from `The Golden Age of Crime Fiction'. Read more
`The Thin Man' (first published in 1932) is a tightly-plotted, teasing who-dunnit from `The Golden Age of Crime Fiction'. Read more
Published 19 days ago by Barty Literati
Dull, dull, dull, dull.........
The overwhelming opinion of the reviewers here seems to be that the book fails to deliver on its promises, and I'm afraid that I agree. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Bookmole
Monotone
A book where everyone sounds exactly the same, and there's an alcoholic drink on every page. Not sure if the two are related. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Frootle
Dorothy is a sleaze in the book
When I see a film based on a novel, I like to read the novel to compare plots and execution. Most of the time the novel or story is fuller than the movie due to the short media... Read more
Published on 4 April 2010 by bernie
Dorothy is a sleaze in the book
When I see a film based on a novel, I like to read the novel to compare plots and execution. Most of the time the novel or story is fuller than the movie due to the short media... Read more
Published on 15 Feb 2009 by bernie
The story and people are darker than the movie
When I see a film based on a novel, I like to read the novel to compare plots and execution. Most of the time the novel or story is fuller than the movie due to the short media... Read more
Published on 1 July 2007 by bernie
The original and the best
If you like your detective fiction hard-boiled and faster than a hoodlum's fist, this is the book for you. Read more
Published on 3 Jun 2007 by Star_Sea
Hammett's Ghost
Dashiell Hammett was Christopher Marlowe to Raymond Chandler's Shakespeare, Hamnett in many ways invented the medium that the slightly later writer perfected. Read more
Published on 13 Dec 2006 by Rotgut
Dorothy is a sleaze in the book
When I see a film based on a novel, I like to read the novel to compare plots and execution. Most of the time the novel or story is fuller than the movie due to the short media... Read more
Published on 3 Sep 2005 by bernie
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