The Thin Man

*Partial spoilers ahead*

Critics don't regard it as his best book (which isn't nearly as significant as it might seem, since "best" means different things to different people), but for my money The Thin Man is the most enjoyable of Dashiell Hammett's five novels. It's fun right off the bat, and never stops moving for 180 pages. And, while it's more than sufficiently interesting as a hard-boiled crime story (in which former private eye Nick Charles attempts to solve the murder of an eccentric inventor's secretary in New York City), Hammett's final book is equally fascinating for what the author had, in philosophical terms, to say: namely that he was running out of things to say. Nick is not uncivil, but he is terse; when asked a question he gives a direct, honest answer and makes it clear that he's not going to fanny around with diplomacy or false reassurance. It's as if a spiritual weariness has settled on Nick (meaning, of course, that a similar malaise had settled on Hammett himself)...and, while he remains willing to help if he can, he doesn't have the energy to constantly prop people up. Things are the way they are, and Nick can't pretend otherwise. At the end of the novel Hammett neatly restates his point, noting that murder pales in import next to the mundane enormity of existence, and that even when a murder is solved it represents no special victory for humanity at large:

"Murder doesn't round out anybody's life except the murdered's and sometimes the murderer's" [says Nick to his young wife Nora].

"That may be," Nora said, "but it's all pretty unsatisfactory."

Perhaps The Thin Man is not as highly regarded as Hammett's other work because that kind of pithy, abrupt conclusion feels almost like a dig at the reader. But it's not a dig: it's simply a statement of truth, and Hammett does entertain you along the way. What more could any reader ask for? Four and a half stars. ( )

Just kind of ok. Nick and Nora are as charming as I'd been told, but the rest of the cast is pretty boring. (The solution to the mystery ends up being pretty good, though.) ( )

Not much to say other than that it feels like the very prototype of hard-boiled early-century detective fiction, full of wisecracks and hard living. ( )

Read in 2012 - pre Goodreads.

Review 11.30.17 - I loved this book! Enjoyed the movie, too. I became a Dashiell Hammett fan after this. Sorry about what happened to him in later life. ( )

Fun, straight-forward mystery novel. If you've seen the movie (and if you haven't, what's wrong with you?) starring Powell and Loy, then you get the idea. The movie was a fairly faithful adaptation of the book. The exception being that I think Hammett envisioned Nick Charles as a bit tougher looking, than William Powell and the subject matter is given greater depth and verity, in the novel. And I was surprised to find that Nick Charles is the son of a Greek immigrant who changed his name, upon arriving in America. A small point, but not mentioned in the movie (mentioned 3 times in the book).

Light hearted, in approach, though with some seriously dark themes and moments, it makes a nice mix that's uncommon today. Maybe it was uncommon, back in the day, as well. To be honest, I enjoyed the movie a good bit more and part of my real enjoyment of the novel was hearing Nora's lines as being read by Myrna Loy.

Worth reading, but not one of my favourite mysteries. A good, solid read, by a writer who knows how to work the language. ( )