Reviews

The Dain Curse by Dashiell Hammett

batbones's review against another edition

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4.0

"You've got a flighty mind. That's no good in this business. You don't catch murderers by amusing yourself with interesting thoughts. You've got to sit down to all the facts you can get and turn them over and over until they click."

Sometimes too-eager and over-dramatic state of events are counterpointed by the nameless continental op's levelheadedness and good nature. There's a coy chapter (18) in which a detective and a novelist discuss the appropriateness of a person's disposition to the calling of sleuth, and that comes closest to a nudge-and-wink without Hammett tacitly acknowledging it as meta-commentary.

gregfb15's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

mjrl's review against another edition

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mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

3.75

poppydrops's review

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

lemon_cake's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

nathanklainer's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

spinnerdriver's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

eknowles17's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

3.0

ghostroom217's review against another edition

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3.0

This one reads like 3 seperate shorter works that have been joined together with the same characters then explained with 6 solid pages of explaination at the end. Still, it's Dashiell Hammett.

ogrebattle's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0