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Title: The Continental Op (Vintage Crime) by Dashiell Hammett, Steven Marcus, Jeff Stone ISBN: 0679722580 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: August, 1992 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.88
Rating: 5
Summary: Classics from the pulps...
Comment: During the years of radio drama, Dashell Hammett's Nick Charles and Sam Spade had their own weekly radio shows, and movie flings. But one series based on a Dashell Hammett character was puzzling: "The Fat Man". He was named J. Maxwell Smart, weighed 240 lb., and of course was one tough character. Yet, you'll never find him under that name in any Hammett story. The radio, tv, & movie character was, in fact, based on the nameless Continental Op.
Truly, he is the most interesting of Hammett's series characters. He is tough, ethical according to his code, and keeps his true emotions buried under the toughness and the physical bulk. He is a cynic, one who assumes that each person involved is undoubtedly lying. On the occasions that a female character makes a play for him, he assumes that she has an angle. And he, in turn, formulates his own lies which have the effect of bringing out the truth. There are times that he is as surprised at the outcome as the reader is.
Hammett is skillful in the way he keeps the op in character, and the reader needs to be alert to catch some of the subtleties such as a restrained sense of humor when the crooks trap themselves by thinking he's after them when he's completely unaware of what they've done; a buried feeling of remorse when a client is murdered because the op had the wrong assumption; a decision not to unnecessarily involve an erring wife who's resigned herself to having her infidelity revealed.
These stories indeed have literary value while being engrossing crime stories. If you enjoy today's tough police detectives such as Harry Bosch, you will find these far earlier stories engrossing.
Rating: 5
Summary: Lots of Fun
Comment: This is the first Dashiell Hammett book I've read. It's actually a collection of short stories revolving around the exploits of the Continental Op, a nameless private dick who works for the Continental Detective Agency. The Op is a hard-nosed, intelligent guy who always cracks his cases, along with a few heads. Hammett originally wrote these as serials for magazines way back in the 1920's. That was one of the things that surprised me about these stories. I couldn't believe they were written so long ago. The edginess and violence seems much more modern. These stories could easily have been written around the time that Raymond Chandler was banging out his Marlowe stories (during the 1950's). You cannot help but like the Op. He's sarcastic and smart and operates on his own code of justice. He's the kind of guy you would want to have around if you were in trouble.
All of the stories are good, but some are better than others. The best story, in my humble opinion, concerned a jewel heist gone bad in which the Op ends up in a gun battle in a dark apartment. The bodies stack up quickly in this one. Other stories involve a trip to Mexico, nine "clews" that don't add up, and a theft that the Op accidentally stumbles upon. All of the stories involve murder and mayhem. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how the stories would end while I was reading them, but Hammett always seems to make it end in an unexpected way. The writing style is quick and cool, with many neat metaphors I've come to expect from noir writings.
The introduction to this collection is pretty useless and boring. I recommended skipping it and going right to the meat. This is noir. Who needs an introduction? Read!
Rating: 5
Summary: The Original "Man with No Name"
Comment: Overweight, cynical, and rawhide tough, this nondescript, nameless operative for the Continental Detective Agency slugs and schemes his way through a series of entertaining mysteries. He's the prototype for Clint Eastwood's "man with no name," Philip Marlowe, Mike Hammer, and dozens of other "hard boiled" detectives. The difference between the Op and his imitators comes in Hammett's hands-on familiarity with his subject matter. Hammett worked for a time as an operative for the Pinkerton Detective Agency, and he puts his knowledge of the seamier side of human nature to good use in crafting the stories about the Continental Op.
The Op has no existence, no identity whatsoever, outside his job. He's not above a little "necessary brutality," and he doesn't mind "fudging the facts" to see to it that justice as he understands it is done. He has a slightly lopsided code of ethics and a totally jaundiced view of human nature, but he is dedicated to doing his job and doing it well. I only recently became a fan of the "detective story," but I have been a fan of the Continental Op for decades.
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Title: The Big Knockover: Selected Stories and Short Novels (Vintage Crime) by Dashiell Hammett, Lillian Hellman, Jeff Stone ISBN: 0679722599 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: December, 1994 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Red Harvest (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) by Dashiell Hammett, Jeff Stone ISBN: 0679722610 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: August, 1992 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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Title: The Thin Man (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) by Dashiell Hammett, Jeff Stone ISBN: 0679722637 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: August, 1992 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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Title: The Dain Curse (Vintage Crime) by Dashiell Hammett, Jeff Stone ISBN: 0679722602 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: July, 1989 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Maltese Falcon (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) by Dashiell Hammett ISBN: 0679722645 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: August, 1992 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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