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A review by nightcrawler79
The Continental Op by Dashiell Hammett
3.0
I was a little disappointed with this collection of stories. Part of the problem was I had grand - and unfair - expectations after reading [b:The Maltese Falcon|29999|The Maltese Falcon|Dashiell Hammett|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168050298s/29999.jpg|980184] a while ago. This is not [b:The Maltese Falcon|29999|The Maltese Falcon|Dashiell Hammett|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168050298s/29999.jpg|980184]. Part of the appeal of that book is the character of Sam Spade; the Continental Op is not nearly as interesting. In fact, he's not really very interesting at all. The other appeal was the terse, almost cinematic style. Here the shift to first person removes much of the elegance of the writing. It still shows efficiency, but it's just not as appealing. On the upside, we get the Continental Op's explanation of his actions, but those aren't often all that interesting. One thing [b:The Maltese Falcon|29999|The Maltese Falcon|Dashiell Hammett|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168050298s/29999.jpg|980184] and [b:The Continental Op|30004|The Continental Op (Crime Masterworks)|Dashiell Hammett|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168050300s/30004.jpg|414172] unfortunately share with each other, and a large portion of detective and mystery fiction, is the sometimes convoluted scenarios the heroes find themselves in and some of the over-the-top criminals. There are femmes fatales here in abundance, and they are sometimes interesting, but they feel a little cliche after a while. The action scenes, of which there are many more than there were in [b:The Maltese Falcon|29999|The Maltese Falcon|Dashiell Hammett|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168050298s/29999.jpg|980184], are sometimes well drawn but sometimes a little incredible. And one wonders how a character like the Continental Op could be involved in so many shootouts with so few injuries and so little attention from the police. Just in this anthology alone he witnesses or participates in the killing of more people than I can count on both hands - seriously.
Having said all of this, the writing's still alright, and as far as detective and mystery fiction goes, this isn't bad stuff. The procedural aspect comes out a little, and that adds some interest. And it's entertaining enough, though I wouldn't say it's always a page turner; I often found myself walking away in the middle of a story and coming back to it later. Worth reading for fans of the genre, I guess.
Having said all of this, the writing's still alright, and as far as detective and mystery fiction goes, this isn't bad stuff. The procedural aspect comes out a little, and that adds some interest. And it's entertaining enough, though I wouldn't say it's always a page turner; I often found myself walking away in the middle of a story and coming back to it later. Worth reading for fans of the genre, I guess.