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The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
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The Maltese Falcon

by Dashiell Hammett

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An international quest for the Maltese Falcon, an alcoholic detective, and a femme fatale make for a purely enjoyable read. Doesn't hurt that it got made into a Humphrey Bogart movie either. ( )
gaialover2 | Jun 12, 2009 |  
I seem to have trouble liking classics. I had heard that [The Maltese Falcon] was Dashiell Hammett's finest work, but if t is, I don't want to read another. I got through this book, that's about all I'll say because I felt that the writing was poor and that there was too much repetition of the actions and words that were used. If I read one more time about how he rolled a cigarette, I was closing the book and quitting right there. Besides the fact, I didn't think that it was much of a mystery.
I hope that this year I can find at least one new classic that I can enjoy. ( )
cyderry | May 17, 2009 | 1 vote
I finally understand why people like this author! This is a great mystery, with lots of twists and guessing who's telling which parts of the truth. Sam Spade is a great main character who's easy to root for and I loved his secretary, Effie. Highly recommended for any mystery-lover. ( )
vanedow | Apr 10, 2009 |  
The Maltese Falcon reads like a photo (if this metaphor makes sense) - the imagery is well-rendered without being overly-descriptive, and it really puts the reader into the scene, as it were. It was a quick read, full of action and enigmatic characters, and it's easy to see how much it contributed to the film noir genre. ( )
ZanKnits | Jan 16, 2009 | 2 vote
Hammett's descriptive prose is remarkable. His depiction of The Fat Man is unforgettable. "The fat man was flabbily fat with bulbous pink cheeks and lips and chins and neck, with a great soft egg of a belly that was all his torso, and pendant cones for arms and legs". ( )
RRbob | Dec 23, 2008 |  
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Series (with order)
Canonical Title
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Awards and honors
Epigraph
Dedication
To Jose
First words
Samuel Spade's jaw was long and bony, his chin a jutting v under the more flexible v of his mouth.
Quotations
The boy spoke two words, the first a short guttural verb, the second 'you'.
"People lose teeth talking like that." Spade's voice was still amiable though his face had become wooden. "If you want to hang around you'll be polite."
The boy repeated his two words.
Spade by means of his grip on the Levantine's lapels turned him slowly and pushed him back until he was standing close in front of the chair he had lately occupied. A puzzled look replaced the look of pain in the lead-colored face. Then Spade smiled. The smile was gentle, even dreamy. His right shoulder raised a few inches. His bent right arm was driven up by the shoulder's lift. Fist, wrist, forearm, crooked elbow, and upper arm seemed all one rigid piece, with only the limber shoulder giving them motion. The fist struck Cairo's face...
"I don't know where that damned bird is. You don't. She does. How in hell are we going to get it if I don't play along with her?"
Cairo hesitated, said dubiously: "You have always, I must say, a smooth explanation ready."
Spade scowled. "What do you want me to do? Learn to stutter?"
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Book description

Amazon.com (ISBN 0679722645, Paperback)

Sam Spade, Dashiell Hammett's archetypally tough San Francisco detective, is more noir than L.A. Confidential and more vulnerable than Raymond Chandler's Marlowe. In The Maltese Falcon, the best known of Hammett's Sam Spade novels (including The Dain Curse and The Glass Key), Spade is tough enough to bluff the toughest thugs and hold off the police, risking his reputation when a beautiful woman begs for his help, while knowing that betrayal may deal him a new hand in the next moment.

Spade's partner is murdered on a stakeout; the cops blame him for the killing; a beautiful redhead with a heartbreaking story appears and disappears; grotesque villains demand a payoff he can't provide; and everyone wants a fabulously valuable gold statuette of a falcon, created as tribute for the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV. Who has it? And what will it take to get it back? Spade's solution is as complicated as the motives of the seekers assembled in his hotel room, but the truth can be a cold comfort indeed.

Spade is bigger (and blonder) in the book than in the movie, and his Mephistophelean countenance is by turns seductive and volcanic. Sam knows how to fight, whom to call, how to rifle drawers and secrets without leaving a trace, and just the right way to call a woman "Angel" and convince her that she is. He is the quintessence of intelligent cool, with a wise guy's perfect pitch. If you only know the movie, read the book. If you're riveted by Chinatown or wonder where Robert B. Parker's Spenser gets his comebacks, read the master. --Barbara Schlieper

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:12 -0400)

(see all 2 descriptions)

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