Πρώτη ιστορία του Ρος Μακντόναλντ που διαβάζω στην οποία δεν συμμετέχει ο ιδιωτικός ντετέκτιβ Λιου Άρτσερ, παρόλα αυτά το επίπεδο είναι το ίδιο υψηλό και, μάλιστα, παρατήρησα ότι σαν ιστορία είναι πιο μαύρη και σκληρή από αυτές με τον Άρτσερ. Πρωταγωνιστής και αφηγητής είναι ο νεαρός Τζον Γουέδερ, ο οποίος επιστρέφει στην πόλη που γεννήθηκε και μεγάλωσε, μετά από κάποια χρόνια που πολέμησε στην Ευρώπη. Παρατηρεί ότι η πόλη έχει αλλάξει πολύ και ότι ο πατέρας του, μεγάλος επιχειρηματίας, που είχε να δει για αρκετά χρόνια, δολοφονήθηκε και ο δολοφόνος του δεν βρέθηκε ποτέ. Έτσι, έχοντας κάμποσο ελεύθερο χρόνο, θα προσπαθήσει να βρει αυτόν που σκότωσε τον πατέρα του. Όμως θα μπλεχτεί σε μια ιστορία διαφθοράς και σαπίλας, στην οποία αστυνομία, επιχειρηματίες και δημοτικό συμβούλιο είναι μες στην βρωμιά. Τελικά, θα βρει ευκαιρία όχι μόνο να ανακαλύψει τον δολοφόνο, αλλά να καθαρίσει και την μικρή πόλη από τους εγκληματίες και τους διεφθαρμένους. Η ιστορία είναι πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα, με δράση, αρκετές σκηνές βίας, μυστήριο, ανατροπές και εκπλήξεις και η γραφή είναι σκληρή, με λίγο βρισίδι και ατάκες που σπάνε κόκαλα. Μέσω της ιστορίας, ο Μακντόναλντ με γλαφυρό τρόπο ανέδειξε και την βρώμικη κοινωνία μιας μικρής πόλης, στην οποία νταβατζήδες-επιχειρηματίες και διεφθαρμένοι πολιτικοί και αστυνομικοί έχουν το πάνω χέρι και κάνουν ό,τι θέλουν. Πραγματικά πολύ ωραίο μυθιστόρημα, με παλπ αίσθηση και νουάρ ατμόσφαιρα, που προτείνεται άνετα στους τους φαν του είδους. Το 1986 έγινε και ταινία, που όμως είναι μάλλον μέτρια και σχετικά άγνωστη, όπως βλέπω στο IMDb.
One of the best crime stories I have read. It has an unusually strong moral/political take on what is going on in the society. In a town John Weather struggles to unravel the webs of violent intrigue that have become woven by the power struggles of the eminent, but morally bankrupt, echelons of the local society. Everyone seems to have a perfectly good reason to commit crimes! Some even believe that they are committing crimes for the good of the society. This is a searing expose of the shallowness of some of our political life. Some great quotes:To the lies that are being perpetrated a waiter explains who really believes them! "Practically everybody that's got money in the bank and thinks he can squeeze some more. And all the goddam little bank clerks and salesmen and stenographers that go suckling their bosses. The rest of us take it for the crap it is. Christ, everybody knows who owns the paper." The same goes for Australia in 2014! John can lay it straight for anyone about the corrupt police: "There are only two kinds of police systems, Sanford,... The kind that exists to uphold the law and to treat everybody equally under the law, and the kind that exists to serve private interest." This should be included in the reading material of High Schools. Given the situation in this despicably governed town practically everybody becomes John's enemy. Events roll on at breakneck speed and everybody makes miscalculations, including the hero. Wonderfully woven mature story, with a lot of depth and substance - as well as action. That's why for me this really is one of the best.
What do You think about Blue City (1974)?
Ross Madonald's third novel "Blue City" is an improvement on the first two. Macdonald has finally discovered how to create a narrator who doesn't sound like an English teacher. The style is almost classic Macdonald: spare, restrained, earnest and sad, with the metaphors--still literary--well prepared for and adapted to the individual speaker.This is not a Lew Archer novel, but it is a real mystery nevertheless. Johnny Weathers returns from combat in WWII to find that his estranged father J.D., the political boss of "Blue City," was murdered two years ago. To unearth his father's murderer, Johnny must dig up the rest of the dirt of the town, and--as you may have guessed--there are piles and piles of it.I found this novel interesting because, set as it is in a small, corrupt city, it reminded me more of Hammet's "Red Harvest" than of anything by Chandler, and it was instructive to see the old man's influence dominate for a change. It is also interesting because here, for the first time, Macdonald is grappling with serious social, psychological and economic issues that are marring the cities of America--similar to the way he incoporporated environmental themes in his last novels.No, not Lew Archer. But it's pretty close.
—Bill Kerwin
Reading this 1947 novel and the young character aged 23 that takes on the crime ridden city his father built made me think of Ayn Rand and John Galt. It made me wonder what time Atlas was published. (1957)The action takes place in a short period of time with many bloody murders without much sleep or food for John. Crooked cops, slop machines and reefers. Street walkers and hookers hanging out the second floor windows, all in a mid-west failing rubber factory town. Blackmail, combination safe bol
—Dewayne Stark
John Weather comes back home to find his father has been dead for two years. He doesn't want to know that his father was murdered, much less that he was a leading figure in the local government corruption. All John has to oppose the conspiracy of crime lords and police and his own stepmother is the skill he developed as a WWII soldier, but John is an indomitable fighter.This is one of Ross Macdonald's early efforts, before he found and connected with Lew Archer. John Weather's city isn't big enough to create a series, and Macdonald hadn't yet developed his later ability at characterization.
—Joy
