Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Calling a Spade a Gem

Only Joe Gores, the former private eye whose 16 fine novels include Hammett (1975), would have the guts to write Spade & Archer, the brand-new prequel to Dashiell Hammett’s famous 1929 novel, The Maltese Falcon--a feat akin to writing a new first volume of the Book of Genesis. And his story works, showing how the San Francisco private-eye firm came together and what Miles Archer was really like, and including many snazzy plot twists.

READ MORE:Joe Gores on The Maltese Falcon,” by Nathan Cain (Independent Crime); “Even Death Can’t Keep Hammett Down,” by J. Kingston Pierce (Rap Sheet).

5 comments:

Nathan Cain said...

I'm going to approach this book with trepidation. On the one hand, it's a new Joe Gores novel. On the other hand, it's a "prequel" (a term that should be outlawed) to one of the defining novels of the 20th century, which would seem to be a terrible idea. I'm torn.

dick adler said...

Nathan, I felt the same way when it arrived. But Gores really pulls it off -- and his plot twists rival (and even outstrip) Hammett's own...

Sarah Weinman said...

I'll have more to say about this later this month, but Gores is really the ONLY person who could have pulled it off, and he comes as close as possible to doing so.

Nathan Cain said...

I'm glad to hear good things about it. It makes me a little less nervous.

Sarah Weinman said...

Okay, not sure how the above post ended up under my dad's name, but whatever. The sentiment applies again.