Posted by Steven on 4/7/2012, 14:24:13, in reply to "Re: Red Harvest"
76.186.47.15
Yes, Reno's motive for killing Dinah and then the Continental Op's conveniently falling with his hand on the ice pick all seem a bit contrived. Also Helen Albury, watching from across the street, seems to have seen everyone else but missed Reno's coming and going.
Notice that we never learn precisely why the younger Willsson summoned the Continental detective to begin with?
I was also expecting some big revelation about what Dinah was doing or planning to do with all the money she was collecting from her lovers, but that never came out.
--Previous Message--
: Perhpas the part that remained a bit confusing to me was
: Reno's involvement in the plot. He is a character that
: appears relatively late in the story, and not a member
: of the original group of guys that have displaced old
: Willsson from power. But he is the one who actually
: kills Dinah. What's your take on it?
:
: --Previous Message--
: Just finished the novel.
:
: I went through a phase in my teens of reading mostly
: historical fiction, then a long phase in my 20s of
: reading nothing but science fiction, but, like you,
: I've only sampled crime fiction and that only
: recently. I've read most of Sherlock Holmes, one
: Hammett (before this), one Chandler, and one Christie.
: I can see the appeal, and I would like to read more,
: but I couldn't take it as a steady diet the way some
: people (my wife, for one) do.
:
: Hammett's language and storytelling abilities are both
: impressive. His laconic and witty one-liners
: succinctly conjure up not only an image of what's
: happening, but the narrator's feelings. And in a
: complex story with more than a dozen significant
: characters I never felt lost, though there are a few
: gaps in my understanding of actions and motives.
:
: --Previous Message--
: ****SPOILERS****
:
: Throughout my reading life, I have never been a genre
: buff. That means, I have read some sci-fi, some
: horror, some historical novel, and so on, but not
: much. On crime fiction, I've read a couple of Agatha
: Christie, one Georges Simenon, and a few others I
: don't remember just now. Sherlock Holmes I've read
: basically everything, but I happen not to consider it
: genre fiction (whatever that means), but true, solid,
: good literature without adjectives. Now, I have wanted
: to read Hammett, Chandler, and the like, just for the
: fun of it. And now itīs the time to do it, in the
: company of such distinguished readers as my ReadLit
: friends.
:
: I enjoyed it, and it was what I expected, not less,
: not more. It's a fast read, though I sometimes had to
: go back a few pages to re-check some fact or name.
: That was fine. I liked the fact that there is no
: "happy" ending, and that tough guys remain
: tough. The Continental Op is no Brad Pitt, but a
: regular guy; not a superstar of detection, but a
: normal guy investigating sordid affairs without Crown
: jewels or State dignataries involved.
:
: Posionville is like any town in Mexico today, where
: all the establishment is corrupted: mayor, chief of
: police, businessmen, etc. Where do I hire a
: Continental Op to come clean this mess?? (Sigh).
:
: I loved the witticisms, the tough one-liners while
: bullets fly around; the hardened attitude towards any
: and all. "If you bring ethics to Poisonville,
: they'll get rusty". I feel tempted to date Dinah
: Brand, but frankly prefer to stay home watching old
: black-and-white crime movies...
:
:
:
:
:
Message Thread
« Back to index