"Βρώμικο χρήμα", εκδόσεις ΒΙΠΕΡ.Αυτό είναι το τρίτο βιβλίο του Ρος Μακντόναλντ που διαβάζω και ήταν στο ίδιο υψηλό επίπεδο με τα δυο προηγούμενα. Ο Ρος Μακντόναλντ είναι μέσα στους δυο αγαπημένους μου συγγραφείς αστυνομικών νουάρ μυθιστορημάτων πλέον, μετά βέβαια από τον μετρ του είδους Ρέιμοντ Τσάντλερ. Ήρωας του βιβλίου αυτού, όπως και στα περισσότερα αστυνομικά που έγραψε ο Μακντόναλντ είναι, φυσικά, ο ιδιωτικός ντετέκτιβ Λιου Άρτσερ. Πως έχει σε γενικές γραμμές η υπόθεση: Ο Λιου Άρτσερ προσλαμβάνεται από τον Πίτερ Τζέιμσον, έναν παχύ νεαρό αλλά πλούσιο άντρα που μένει στην Μοντεβίστα - περιοχή για πλούσιους - για να ερευνήσει το παρελθόν ενός μυστηριώδους άντρα, του Φρανκ Μαρτέλ, ο οποίος "έκλεψε" την πανέμορφη κοπέλα του Τζέιμσον, και ο οποίος φέρεται να μπλέκεται σε μια περίεργη αυτοκτονία ενός άντρα εφτά χρόνια πριν αλλά και κάποιων χρεών κάποιων αντρών λόγω χαρτοπαιξίας. Τελικά η υπόθεση είναι πολύ πιο μπερδεμένη απ'ότι φαινόταν στην αρχή και εμπλέκονται πολλοί άνθρωποι της περιοχής. Θα αποκαλυφτούν πολλά μυστικά που αφορούν ερωτικές σχέσεις και πολύ βρώμικο χρήμα - και θα γίνουν και νέοι φόνοι. Η πλοκή θεωρώ ότι είναι πάρα πολύ καλή και σε κανένα σημείο μη ρεαλιστική, η εξέλιξη της υπόθεσης ιδιαίτερα ενδιαφέρουσα και το βιβλίο διαβάζεται με μια ανάσα. Οι αποκαλύψεις που έρχονται σε διάφορα σημεία είναι πολύ καλές και η τελική αποκάλυψη είναι αρκετά ανατρεπτική και μη αναμενόμενη. Ο Μακντόναλντ δεν σπαταλά και πολλές λέξεις για να σκιαγραφήσει σε βάθος τους χαρακτήρες του, αλλά σίγουρα δεν είναι αδιάφοροι. Η γραφή είναι καταπληκτική μες στην απλότητά της, σε κάνει να διαβάζεις το βιβλίο γρήγορα και χωρίς δυσκολίες.
The New York Times says of Ross Macdonald's books: "The finest series of detective novels ever written by an American." This book's dust jacket notes: "If any writer can be said to have inherited the mantle of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, It was Ross Macdonald...He gave the American crime novel a psychological depth and moral complexity that his predecessors had only hinted at."High praise, indeed. Yet on the basis of this book I have to scratch my head. I have had Ross Macdonald books on my shelves for years, but this is the first one I took down and read. (I guess I kept stopping at John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee mysteries.)I thought that Black Money lacked both the "psychological depth and moral complexity" that the notes praised Macdonald for. This book was something of a disappointment, and, to me, not in the same league as Raymond Chandler's books.(One particular annoyance in this book. No matter how hardboiled and cynical the characters that Lew Archer encounters are, they immediately respond with paragraphs of answers to any questions he asks them. Despite the lack of official standing and authority behind Archer's questioning, not a single character tells him to get lost.)Sample dialogue from this book:"You said you liked me.""I like a lot of women."It was an oafish remark."I don't like many men. You're the first since I--"The sentence died unfinished. I didn't encourage her to resurrect it. I didn't say a word.She burst into tears and hung up on me.[She]was probably schitzy, I told myself, or addled on bedroom novels, suffering from cabin fever or faculty-wife neurosis or the first untimely hint of middle age, like frost on the Fourth of July. Clearly she had troubles, and a wise man I knew in Chicago had said once and for all: "Never sleep with anyone whose troubles are worse than your own."(Of course, this is a slightly paraphrased line by Nelson Algren.)
Do You like book Black Money (1996)?
My first Ross Macdonald book. A top-notch detective story with an elaborate plot, hard-boiled protagonist, and all the elements of great crime fiction. In Lew Archer, Macdonald creates a funnel for the audience to peer into the lives of the inhabitants of high-class, 1960's Southern California with an objective eye, while Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe is more subjective, loading the prose up with his own viewpoints and opinions of the other characters. Archer views everything just the way the audience does, without any assumed knowledge of the personalities or personas of the people he deals with. It is easy, however, to get lost in this book with the barrage of new characters being introduced roughly every fifteen or twenty pages, same with Chandler, but it all ties together to form a brilliantly crafted, twist-filled story that is actually plausible. While I tend to prefer the romanticism of Chandler, Macdonald proves that he belongs among the greatest authors of hard-boiled crime fiction.
—Jared Shipley
On 4 April 2013 I wrote, "I read several of the Lew Archer stories back in the late 1970s so I was pleased to find this one in the library. I don't remember reading this one before and it was a compelling read. The plot is convoluted but Lew Archer is a great character and this made me want to look for other books in this series and also think about re-reading Raymond Chandler's books too."I realised as soon as I read the first page that I had read this book recently but I was surprised to discover how recently. So much for my memory! This is apparently the thirteenth book in the series and was published about seven years after "The Galton case".Although I remembered large parts of the story I did not recall all the intricacies of the plot and I enjoyed this much more than "The drowning pool" and "The Galton case". I was tempted to give it four stars but finally decided to stay with my April rating.
—Rog Harrison
A few miles south of the Los Angeles border, where the Tennis Court club hosts the well-to-do, Detective Lou Archer takes on a case of a runaway bride. In it's 200 page span,Archer visits a huge assembly of the townspeople, and the mystery grows with more unsolved branches. The writing is incredibly solid, with short dry turns-of-phrase that can be sarcastic or down right saucy. The writing is dense, and not particularly expanded upon, so it's easy to get lost in the book with the plot. But as long as you follow Archer's nose and plain speaking delivery, you're going to have a good time.There's a lot to enjoy about the book. We become Archer since we have little of his identity, and only his investigative voice. All the temptations and sleaziness of the most beloved noir genre is here in full form. These types of works are not a particular favorite of mine. But let's face it, the Coen brothers never choose bad material, and "Black Money" is one worth a close read.
—Greg Talbot
