What do You think about The Barbarous Coast (1990)?
Now here is the real thing: where I felt McDonald’s Doomsters has promise it never quite fulfilled, this is a tight little number. McDonald still loves digging into the exploits of the dissolute rich, and you as a reader should listen closely to whatever a Freudian analyst says in a McDonald novel, and all through the book, Lew Archer never sleeps, though he is knocked out a couple times, so maybe that’s when he rests. But there’s some new in this, too: this one also packs some seemingly sincere social criticism, especially at the expense of Hollywood and the celebrity culture. There’s palpable heat here, some dynamite action, and just plain weird, shocking stuff. I don’t think that McDonald is really a friend to women, or the mentally ill, but this is a solid little thriller.
—Matt
According to the latest scientific research sharks can smell a drop of blood in a volume of water about the size of a backyard swimming pool (Google is your friend). Sounds impressive? Not so much if you think that when it comes to sense of smell sharks smelling blood have nothing on organized crime smelling money. Lots of money buys laws and once you do it you are no longer a criminal; you are a highly respected citizen. In fact you become more respected than any low peon who busts his back trying to make an honest living. What was (and still is) one of the places in US in the middle of the last century with great amount of money? Washington first and foremost but let us not forget this place which comes close second: Thus we are talking about Hollywood, big money, mobsters, movie and TV stars, corruption, high-level lifestyle and everything in between. A guy in Hollywood hired Lew Archer for a bodyguard job. Archer really hates such jobs - and for a reason too: everything I know about them shows person being guarded always turn out to be too stupid to live with a strong desire to make the guarding job as difficult exciting as possible. Sorry, I got carried away. Coming back to the book, a couple of pages later Archer had to take another client for a very innocent-sounding job. Usual noir fun followed. I noticed something curious reading this novel - this also relates to other books of the series, but to a lesser degree. Most of the people who got killed had been really asking for this, persistently and I can think of only one possible exception this time. Let me put it the following way. Imagine the following situation: suppose I work for an insurance company (I do not by the way) and somebody comes to me to buy a life insurance saying his/her main source of income is a blackmail of a crime boss. Guess what? I would not touch this case with a ten foot pole: there are better ways to throw company's money away. Overall this is a good mystery with interesting characters in very colorful places; not outstanding but good enough to warrant 4 stars. Next book of the series, here I go!
—Evgeny
Looking back, if I had to read this book all over again, I would try to read it straight through without a lot of other distractions. I read this while juggling a couple of other books, and as a result got lost a bit in the plot. In "The Barbarous Coast", Ross MacDonald offers up a classic detective story, along with his trademark descriptions and metaphors.In this book, Lew Archer, attempts to make contact with his new client, only to break up an attack by a man who claims that his wife is missing. The unravelling of the plot puts Archer in touch with Hollywood moguls, washed up boxers and gangsters. The plot of this one (despite my being distracted by other stories) seemed a few moves more complex than the standard MacDonald offering. That is not a criticism; it just means that you need to pay attention to be able to take in the whole story.MacDonald begins and ends his book with an image of three divers, caught in a photograph. The plot eventually reveals the names and histories of the divers, and the events in their lives that make up the backstory to the book. The characters throughout the book are quite strong and well-defined. The dialogue is crisp and the story chugs right along from chapter to chapter.I will leave it up to others to decide if there are a few too many twists and turns in this novel. I did find that right after the chapter when I began to admit to myself that I was a bit lost, thing started to make sense! The ending chapters explain the whole sordid set of personalities and events that made Archer's presence necessary in the first place. If you are ready for a fairly challenging plotline and can pay attention, this book rewards the effort.
—David
