This one was somewhat of a let down after THE BIG SLEEP and
FAREWELL, MY LOVELY. I'll be honest, I wasn't sure if it was
really Phillip Marlowe THE HIGH WINDOW or some guy with a
one-man operation out of LA.
The story is serviceable enough. Marlowe's hired to
discreetly recover the Brasher Doubloon (where the movie
based on this book got its name. I like that title better.)
and bodies start to pile up. Don't get me wrong. Chandler
never threw me out of the story at any point, but it just
didn't grab me the way TBS, FML, or THE LONG GOODBYE did. A
serviceable enough plot with a decent mystery behind it, I
did catch myself yawning a few times.
Even Chandler's trademark styling seems a little flatter in
this one, like the man's gotten bored with Marlowe. I think
it's Chandler's characterizations. Style and plotting were
always his strong points, making otherwise bland characters
come alive. In THW, where everything is... OK... there's not
enough of either to let the characters, other than Marlowe
and maybe Lt. Breeze, be anything more than cardboard
cutouts. I especially hated Mrs. Murdock. I know I'm supposed
to hate her, but she's like a bad hair metal band - three
chords and the same damn lyrics over and over again. She sits
around and drinks port and verbally abuses anyone within
reach.
I suppose Chandler had grown bored with Marlowe for a time,
during which he wrote THE HIGH WINDOW. Sixty-three years
later, he's left me bored with it, too. If I had to rate this
one, I'd give it a C+, maybe a B-, since it didn't kick me
out at any particular point. Still, by page 200, I was
starting to wonder when this would end.
Then again, I haven't read PLAYBACK yet. I understand that
makes a lot of people feel more charitable to even POODLE
SPRINGS.
Jim Winter
http://www.jamesrwinter.com
http://jamesrwinter.blogspot.com
winter-newsletter-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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