The Maltese Falcon | Dashiell Hammett | You'll Read It, Like It, and Ask for Another!

The Maltese Falcon | Dashiell Hammett | Do You Really Need a Review of This Book?

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The Maltese Falcon

	The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett Vintage, 1989 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 132 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A treasure worth killing for. Sam Spade, a slightly shopworn private eye with his own solitary code of ethics. A perfumed grafter named Joel Cairo, a fat man name Gutman, and Brigid O?Shaughnessy, a beautiful and treacherous woman whose loyalties shift at the drop of a dime. These are the ingredients of Dashiell Hammett?s coolly glittering gem of detective fiction, a novel that has haunted three generations of readers.

You'll Read It, Like It, and Ask for Another!

It was the portly Continental Op who usually played the starring role in Dashiell Hammett's written adventures. Sam Spade, tough guy private detective, was never a major character in the books, actually appearing in only one of Hammett's novels. But what a novel! It has been said that Hammett took crime fiction out of the wood-paneled libraries of tweed wearing detectives and put the thugs in the back alleys where they belonged.

Such a back alley is where Sam Spade's partner gets knocked off - fast - in the opening parts of THE MALTESE FALCON. The action only builds up from there, with Spade being surrounded by an assortment of characters, all of dubious morality, and all trying to play him like a violin. Spade, of course, recognizes these goons for exactly what they are. As his own morality is rather flexible, it isn't exactly that difficult for him to recognize the same trait in others. Like the thin blue line between cops and robbers, it doesn't take much to imagine Spade on the opposite side of this whole plot.

The plot, of course, revolves around an old and valuable statue, the falcon itself. Everyone wants it, but it is always just out of reach. Spade is just one more person, no doubt in a long, long line, who just happens to be in the way of those trying to get it. The double crosses and cards up everyone's sleeves would indicate that these cats have been at this quite some time to have picked up all the tricks.

Hammett all but invented crime noir fiction, and it shows. Short and terse dialogue matches the toughness of the characters. The crime boss refers to his flunky as being like a son, but then states that he can always get another son! Spade slapping a guy around and telling him he'll like it and ask for another. These characters recognize only one absolute - his or her own personal objective; finding the bird that everyone wants. Others exist merely as means to get it.

Hammett was a master of the English language and almost everything he wrote is a pleasure to read. THE MALTESE FALCON is no exception. In fact, it is usually considered one of his best, and with good reason. Fast and exciting, it takes us into a world of bad guys and manipulative women. There is a reason some authors stay in print decades after they are gone. Reading Hammett demonstrates why.

Another good, but often overlooked, Hammett: The Dain Curse

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Do You Really Need a Review of This Book?

Sam Spade, gorgeous dames, heat packing bad guys, treasure, action, private detective wit...this book has it all in "Spades". I'd never read the book and it's been long enough since I saw the movie that I was able to enjoy it without knowing what was coming next.

It's just your basic private detective novel, well paced, lots of fun, and plenty of action. I mean this is just about the gold standard for detective novels. If you want to know what Hammett and Chandler and LaSalle were all about, this is the book to start with.

Sam Spade is the man!

I'm a big fan of pulp/hard-boiled fiction. I recently started reading the "classics". I found Dashiell Hammett to be a wonderful author. His prose is very minimal and tight. I loved the style.

The story is a great one. Who doesn't love Sam Spade? I loved the character. Wish he would have made a lot more with him.

Definitely give this one a go.

I can't wait to see the classic film now.

Happy reading, doll.

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"Falcon" lays an egg...

The Maltese Falcon is nothing to write home about. It's a good book, and I recommend it, but it is nothing discernibly "special." You don't finish it and go, "Wow!"

Hammett knew his onions when it came to the milieu of the private dick, and creates a memorable story and fleshy characters, but some of the plot points are a bit toooo sweaty. (Surprisingly for a commie author, Hammett omits any hint of politics...to his credit, and the book's.)

The MLA wants us to believe that The Maltese Falcon is the fifty-sixth best novel of the 20th century...which, in keeping with the MLA, is pretty ridiculous. Was it considered innovative at the time? Was it hugely influential? I don't know. But I do know that it is by no means a "classic" work of Western literature. It's a beach-read.

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You're an Angel, Darling

Plenty of raves for The Maltese Falcon abound as it remains the most quintessential detective story. I actually agree but think otherwise for several points. While the writing at times is good and stylish, Dashiell Hammett can at times be intermittent as he keeps the story taut and then lets it loose. Sometimes, the pacing is fast and slow and fast. The characters are every now and then annoying; take for instance, Brigid O'Shaughnessey, she can be boring with her talk when she goes in circles without reaching a point. Casper Gutman is loquacious and very pedantic. Joel Cairo isn't so bad himself but can be effeminate at times. His lines are not bad though. Speaking of lines, Sam Spade gets the best of them. But I am disappointed that he can be a "talker" especially when he rounds up the usual suspects at his apartment or is alone with Brigid to the end of the story. I prefer him to cut the chase and move fast and think fast pretty much of the time. Still, the story behind The Maltese Falcon is interesting and fun for a mystery read, but the actions, at least a few of them, are extraordinarily and complicatedly done. The logic seems to be overwhelming in certain points yet is essential to the mystery. If I had to choose the better version of The Maltese Falcon, it will be John Huston's film over Dashiell Hammett's book; the movie masterpiece is so much better executed and is regarded as the ultimate film noir of films noir. Everything in the film is exactly perfect and remains the way I envision of The Maltese Falcon; the book is pretty much one to two levels below the film. Again, that doesn't mean The Maltese Falcon is not a worthy read...it still is. Once I've read the book and also seen the picture a few times, the latter outclasses the former. One of the best parts of The Maltese Falcon the book is how perfectly well Dashiell describes the characters; it's a gift indeed. The lines that Sam Spade gets are of the legend stuff. Lo and behold, the ever famous quote "the stuff that dreams are made of" is notably missing in the ending. One of my favorites is when Sam says, "I won't play the sap for you." I liked how he keeps saying "dingus" for the falcon. Another is when he says "you're an angel" to his secretary. While Sam has affection (if that's what it is) for Brigid, I find it strange since they only met for few days and without being intimate. It's hardly realistic. All in all, The Maltese Falcon is an almost classic detective story but not of thoroughly supreme quality á la Doyle's stories of Sherlock Holmes. I am still laughing that our Sam Spade is a blonde. Wherefore art thou, Bogie?

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