Book Thirteen -- The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

The Maltese Falcon
by Dashiell Hammett
mystery
229 pages

First off, yeah the book's out of order; I have Lies My Teacher Told Me partly written up but it's proving to be a difficult write-up and this one shouldn't be.

I haven't wanted to do too many re-reads for this, but in this case, I haven't read it in something like 15 years so I figured it couldn't hurt, particularly since I knew the ending back when I read it the first time.

It's an easy read, even if you have somehow managed to avoid seeing the movie. A mysterious woman shows up in a detective's office with a story that's mostly bullshit. Detective's partner goes off on the job and gets killed. Detective slowly works his way to solving partner's death and the woman's case. There's sex, booze, guns and a lot of fast talk. Dude, it's Sam Spade, which really...'nuff said.

While there are bits and pieces in the book that didn't make their way into the movie--Gutman's daughter, for example--almost all of the dialog in the movie was lifted right from the pages of the book. If you're at all an aural reader like me, it adds a nice layer to the book. The first time Joel Cairo shows up--and while the movie coded him gay, the book flat out states it--all I could hear was Peter Lorre's voice as I read.

One of the most interesting things about the book, and something I'd have not noticed until I started writing, is that the point-of-view is so distant and omniscient that you're never allowed into anyone's head. I'm sitting here thinking about writing like that and it's just weird to me, although really, it's kind of the ultimate in "show, don't tell."

Anyway, it's a fun and fast read, so if you haven't ever read it, you might want to check it out.