Customer Reviews
Perfect plot perfectly executed - By: J. R. Moss, 16 Oct 2006 
All the plaudits handed to this tersely- written book & the film it gave rise to are well deserved. As with a fairy story, knowing what happensin no way spoils the enjoyment of rereading: that is the true mark of a classic work. For authors it offers an absolute blueprint of how to plot a novel, unobtrusively but wickedly.Can anyone understand it first time round? I couldn't. Strongly recommended.
Sweet dreams are made of these - By: Leonard Fleisig, 30 Jan 2006 who am I to disagree?
Dashiell Hammett was an extraordinary writer. His short stories & novels gave birth to the concept of the `hard-boiled detective'. Another great writer, Raymond Chandler wrote that Hammett "did over & over again what only the best writers can ever do at all. He wrote scenes that seemed never to have been written before." Maltese Falcon is Hammett at the top of his game. It is a must read for those who haven't read it, or only seen the Humphrey Bogart movie. For a fan of Hammett it is certainly worth reading again.
"Everybody's looking for something. Some of them want to use you. Some of them want to get used by you. Some of them want to abuse you. Some of them want to be abused by you."
The plot of Maltese Falcon is well-known & the above bit of lyrics seems to sum up its essence. A strange, alluring woman, Brigid O'Shaughnessy, walks into the door of Archer & Spade, two San Francisco detectives. Miles Archer, a man wit an eye for the ladies, particularly those willing to pay top dollar for his services agrees to take on an assignment. He is killed that night & it is left to his surviving partner, Sam Spade, to put the matter to rest. In no time at all Spade is embroiled with a cast of characters that includes O'Shaughnessy, Joel Cairo, Kasper Gutman, & Wilmer Cook. They are all embarked on a quest, a murderous quest as it turns out, for "the Maltese Falcon" a jewel-encrusted falcon lost from view since the Middle Ages & worth more money than one can imagine.
Hammett draws each character with a vivid eye for detail & for sharp prose that comes at you like bullets from Spade's revolver. Spade has seen it all. He spots O'Shaughnessy as a sharpie from the get go but seems to fall for her despite himself. Cairo is both unctuous, effeminate & Gutman (the fat man as Spade calls him) is smooth talking & the brains behind the search for the falcon. Wilmer Cook is a vicious thug but Spade, being the hard-boiled detective quickly spots him for the minor-leaguer that he is. As the story nears its end the loose strings sort themselves out & the smoke clears. Spade is forced to make a choice butin the world created by Hammett people like Spade have a certain code. It doesn't matter that they aren't sophisticated, Ivy-League educated, parlor-room detectives. It doesn't matter that they speak the way a street-cop pounding a beat would speak & don't always observe the niceties of the Queen's English. There are rules that must be followed & tough choices must be made.
It seems impossible to review this book without reference to the movie. The John Huston directed movie was & remains a classic. It was a terrific adaptation. There are some interesting differences worth noting. Hammett was far more directin acknowledging the illicit relationship between Sam Spade & Iva Archer, Miles' widow. Spade's cavalier love them & leave them attitude was also morein evidencein the book. He was also direct, quite bluntin fact,in pointing out the `orientation' or `preference' of Joel Cairo. The way Hammett paints the relationship between Cairo (Peter Lorre) & the gun-slinging Wilmer Cook was fascinating.
If you like Dashiell Hammett you don't need to tell you that it is worth reading again. If you are new to Hammett, this book is a terrific place to start. I do not think you will be disappointed.
A Genre Defining Novel - By: Mark Baker, 11 Jan 2006 
It's a normal afternoon when a beautiful woman walks into the private eye office of Sam Spade & his partner Miles Archer. She shared with them a tale of woe about a sister who has run off with a horrible man. The woman hires them to follow this man, & Archer jumps at the job.
Spade is awakened that night to learn that Archer has been murdered. A little while later, their target is also murdered. The police are intent to place the blame for one of these to crimes squarely on Spade's shoulders, a thought he doesn't relishin the least.
It's the next morning when the client walks back into the office. Sam quickly learns that her real name is Brigid O'Shaughnessy. But she still claims to bein real trouble, with men after her. It's very slowly Spade learns that she is involvedin a quest to gain a statue worth millions. Many people would kill to gain this statue. Is Samin over his head? Who has the statue? And who really killed Miles Archer?
Anyone who reads my reviews knows I prefer the cozy or comic mystery over the noir genre. But my curiosity about this classic got the better of me, so I listened to it on tape on a recent car trip. There were parts I enjoyed, but over all, it felt a little empty to me.
Of course, part of that could be the time difference. When the book first came outin 1930, the loner PI who struggles with his conscience while smoking & drinking his way through a case wasn't a cliche. In fact, Spade has many literary sonsin the PI's of page & screen over the last 65 years. Even though he's now a cliche, I found I actually grew to like Sam & wanted him to find a way out of this mess alive. His quick wits & smart deductions made me like him, even if his moral flaws turned me off.
The storyline was interesting as well. There were several nice twists that I halfway expected but wasn't completely certain about. Others caught me completely off guard. There was enough action to hold my attention most of the time. Ironically, as the book neared its climax, the story seemed to slow down. The last two chapters, especially, were much slower then I would have liked.
The writing style seemed choppy to me as well. Since I listened to the book instead of reading it, some of the fault may lie with the reader. Still, the final scene seemed overly melodramatic to me. And at times, the dialogue was choppy as one character was monologing when it felt natural for another personin the scene to respond to what they were saying.
Of course, I'm more then willing to admit, the biggest problem with the book could have been me. My natural dislike of PI novels could have made me pickier when evaluating it. Those who enjoy the genre should certainly give this undisputed classic a chance. The rest of us will likely not be as enthralled by the tale, although there's certainly no harmin it's consumption.
just as good as the john houston film - By: Jason Platt, 07 Dec 2004 I'm keeping this short & sweet. This is one great production that keeps true to the original novel & might actually be better the 1941 film (don't get me wrong, I love the movie). This is a treat for anyone who wants to give this classic story a shot. You won't be dissapointed. Also notice how Tom Wilkinson's voice performance slightly echo's Jack Nicholson's J.J. Gittesin "Chinatown".
A Legendary Novel - By: Gary F. Taylor, 03 Jul 2004 Although several of his novels have considerable merit, Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) will be best remembered for a single work: THE MALTESE FALCON.
Perhaps the single most extraordinary thing about the novel is its radical departure from the norm. In the 1920s & early 1930s, detective novels were not really considered "literary;" they were light entertainment, & they generally camein two varieties: pure pulp, which was more akin to action-adventure, & "the master detective" as created by such authors as Agatha Christie. In one fell swoop, however, Hammett not only fused these two ideas but also endowed his novel with tremendous literary style--more than enough to catch the eye of "serious" critics & more than enough to stand the test of time.
THE MALTESE FALCON is not a long novel, but Hammett packs a lot into it. The plot, which generally concerns the theft of a priceless, jewel-encrusted statue, walks a fine line between pulp mythology & modern pragmatism, never veering too farin either direction to seem impossible; the prose is lean & clean & packed with detail conveyed both simply & sharply; the characters stand outin a sort of high relief on the page. It is all memorable stuff.
It is difficult to discuss THE MALTESE FALCON without reference to the famous 1941 film version starring Humphrey Bogart & Mary Astor. The film has been both a blessing & a curse, so famous that it has drawn thousands of readers to the novel, but so widely seen that it can become difficult to read the novel without seeing it through the lens of the film. But while the film presents the plot & much of Hammett's dialogue intact, readers will find the novel has somewhat different strengths--not the least of which is Hammett's prose itself. An essential of 20th Century American literature; strongly recommended.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
