The Big Knockover Paperback – 12 April 2012

I used to think that Raymond Chandler was the best American detective story writer, but I became tired of Chandler's over-long descriptive passages and his character Philip Marlowe's constant wisecracking. I now much prefer Hammett's succinct writing style, as in these short stories, which are mainly "Continental Op" tales. (Similarly, I like the way that Erle Stanley Gardner gets on with the story in his Perry Mason books.)I consider seven of the ten stories in this book to be so good that they are worth reading again.Incidentally, there is a book available here on Amazon (but not yet on Kindle, unfortunately), which contains ALL of Hammett's "Op" stories. It's called "The Big Book of the Continental Op", and I consider 21 of the 28 short stories in that book to be great ones which are worth rereading.The other thing I like about Hammett himself is that he was a socialist. Unfortunately, he seems to have been one of those who were deluded into being a supporter of the Stalinist regime in Russia, which I consider to have been a bureaucratic state capitalist tyranny (like China today), not socialist or "communist". But that's another story.

Hammett is best known, of course, for The Thin Man and the Maltese Falcon. The books and the movies are established classics. The short stories about a detective working for the Continental Detective Agency are less well known because, as far as I know, they were never filmed. For those of us who love this genre, however, I strongly recommend this collection. The central character isn’t tall and handsome; he is short, craggy and a little overweight but he has the same traits of decency, doggedness, intelligence and incorruptibility as Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade and the other famous shamuses. There is a grittiness and believability to the stories, as well as a strong narrative drive. Well worth reading.

I love these 'oldies'. There may be some as good today as some, but none better. Good to read them again - Hammer, Chandler: they can't be bettered

The story in the title was fascinating in lots of ways. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes Hammett.Rest of stories were good, too.

Great addition for fans of Noir

Excellent

Loved this book,easy to read.just bought it as a gift for a friend and they enjoyed the read.very good.recommended.get it.

I top rate this because of its sheer entertainment value. It is a fast moving gangster story of the hard bitten variety. The story is easy to follow on the surface but has complex undercurrents. Hammett knew how to do it.