The Dain Curse by Dashiell Hammett, father of the modern crime novel, is not only an action-filled tale of misdeeds and murder, but a study of 1920s American culture and society. Within the novel’s pages, here is a sampling of what a reader will find:First-Person Hardboiled NarratorThe unnamed Continental Op detective tells the tale in crisp, exacting language as he describes the people and places and situations he encounters. For example, here is an account of his first-time meeting a scientist by the name of Edgar Leggett, “His voice was unexpectedly harsh, rasping, though he manner was friendly enough. He was a dark-skinned erect man in his middle forties, muscularly slender and of medium height. He would have been handsome if his brown face hadn’t been so deeply marked with sharp, hard lines across the forehead and from the nostrils down across mouth-corners. Dark hair, worth rather long, curled above and around the broad, grooved forehead. Red-brown eyes were abnormally bright behind horn-rimmed spectacles. His nose was long, thin, and high-bridged. His lips were thin, sharp, nimble, over a small, bony chin. His black and white cloths were well made and cared for.” I quote the detective’s entire study to underscore how careful and laser-sharp observation is required at each step and phase in his solving this complex, convoluted case.Presto TempoLike picking up clues as you read and solving the mystery before reaching the end? Good luck with this one – events are packed so tight and happen so fast, it is like trying to identify each note while listening to Paganini’s Caprices. Fortunately, for the mystery-challenged, people like myself, the backstory is given as the end of each of the three parts, along with the Continental Op’s take on the case. Femme FataleWhat is compelling noir without a femme fatale? This novel features a doozy – Gabrielle. There is something about this slender, large-eyed 20 year old that fascinates men and pull them to her like a powerful, deadly magnet. Is it her drug-induced craziness, or her intense personality, made more intense by a family curse, or her attractive face and exceptionally white, smooth skin, or, perhaps more likely, a combination of all of these plus a feminine quality quite unnameable? Novelist Owen Fitzstephan Hammett probably had lots of fun including a fiction writer in this book, a writer described by the detective as, “. . . a man who pretended to be lazier than he was, would rather talk that do anything else, and had a lot of what seemed to be accurate information and original ideas on any subject that happened to come up, as long as it was a little out of the ordinary.” What kind of ideas does Owen Fitzstephan have on subjects out of the ordinary? I wouldn’t want to give too much away, so I’ll just say we come to see who – the Continental Op or the talented novelist – has more compassion and a greater understanding of people. America the ViolentGuns are as common as candy – an entire society of people thinking their problems are best solved by shooting others or shooting themselves. Doesn’t matter, law or outlaw, man or woman, young or old, so many people quick to point a gun and pull the trigger. There aren’t as many corpses for the morgue as in ‘Red Harvest’ but there are enough to count on more than one hand.California Fruits and Nuts By 1928 when Hammett wrote this novel, America was generations removed from a land of traditional believers in traditional religions. Matter of fact, many people relocated to California to escape the ways and beliefs of their parents -- so many alternatives; so many sects and cults, so many ways to express yourself in faith and belief and alternate lifestyles. The Continental Op detective has to deal with a California cult calling itself ‘Temple of the Holy Grail’. Here is what he says about the cult and the cult’s leaders: “They brought their cult to California because everybody does, and picked San Francisco because it held less competition than Los Angeles. . . . They didn’t want a mob of converts: they wanted them few but wealthy.” Again, this aspect of the novel is a study in the sociology and psychology of the time.
Една вълнуваща до задъхване книга, в която авторът ни убеждава, че родово проклятие не съществува. Но има проклети хора, които в името на парите са готови на всякакви престъпления.Трагичното тук е, че жертва на измисленото проклятие е едно невинно създание, което е превърнато в наркоман от своята леля, и цял живот живее с вината, че е носител на страшно проклятие.Габриел Легет се оказва сред безсъвестни, алчни хора, които успяват да я обградят с трупове, внушавайки и, че тя е убиецът. Отблъскваща е нейната леля, която вменява на едно петгодишно момиченце, че е убиец на майка си. Габи е омотана от тази банда престъпници и единствено морфинът и дава сили да оцелява, да издържа, "да намира някакво обяснение за своите убийства."Всред този хаос от трупове, алчност и беззащитност единствено частният детектив се оказва прозорлив, търпелив, и достатъчно силен физически и психически, за да успее да разплете кълбото от престъпления и закононарушители. Той открива непочтеността дори на полицейския началник и спокойно се възправя срещу него.Изобретателни са престъпниците щом успяват да накарат дори трезвомислещият детектив да се бие с въображаемия призрак в Храма.Авторът обаче през цялото време държи да покаже на какъв ужас е подложена невинната, но богата Габи. Цели петнайсет години момичето живее в един кошмар и само инстинктът за самосъхранение я пази. Бандитите нямат скрупули, милост, те убиват всеки, който им пречи да се докопат до пари, диаманти или каквото и да е благополучие.Морфинът пречи на Габи да обмисли трезво събитията. Но тя усеща, че детективът искрено желае да и помогне. Легет доказва какъв силен характер е като сама се отказва от наркотиците, за да демонстира, че цени истинското приятелство. Героинята оцелява, излекувана не само от наркоманията, но и от измислиците за проклятието на Дейн.http://radiradev.blogspot.com/2014/09...
What do You think about The Dain Curse (2002)?
This book suffers by comparison to Hammett's other novels. The plot goes on and on like a shaggy dog joke. First it's a ghost story, then a detective mystery, then it's a running gag. This is a short novel, but it took me longer to read than anything Hammett has written, just because I kept losing interest because the detective kept losing interest as well. None of the mysteries are really connected except by one woman, who in the end has nothing to do with the crimes going on around her. The ba
—Eric Hendrixson
The Dain Curse is my second excursion with the Continental Op. I read Red Harvest about a year ago and really enjoyed it. In Red Harvest, the Op is battling gangsters in a mess of a town. Part of me expected the same sort of thing from the Dain Curse. While there were similar gangster-like elements, the overall plot structure was fairly different.The Dain Curse plot is, at its heart, what you might expect from a robbery/murder mystery story. It involves a lot of intrigue, misdirection, suspense, etc. At the same time, it's not your standard mystery novel a la Sherlock Holmes. It's definitely gritty and "hardboiled" in the same style as the earlier Hammett I'd read.One thing I noticed quickly was just how twisty the path was along the story arc. Things start out simple enough with our Op investigating a small scale jewel robbery as a representative for the insurance company who will have to pay the claim on the missing diamonds. The Op's detective nature shines as he questions the surface value of the facts and doesn't accept the "easy answer" that the suspects and the insurance company would like him to take. Instead, he keeps digging and before long, the jewel theft gets forgotten as murder becomes the primary crime…and then another murder…and another.The language, imagery and pacing of Hammett's novel was fabulous. It was very easy to get caught up in the action and the adventure of the story. The depth and intrigue of the mystery was very impressive. In the end, I could follow the unraveling of the mystery but there were constant wild cards thrown from seemingly out of nowhere that threw into a spin any theories I had already come up with.The biggest downside of the book were the times when everything was spelled out. While it was very interesting reading the entire plot unraveled so the whole mystery was exposed, the segment where this happened was a somewhat drudgerous read. Still, I was compelled to read it to make sure I didn't miss anything. The main drudgery of the explanation was due to its length and intricacy. The final mystery had layer upon layer of detail and a whole stage of characters. As a result, the wrap up took a long time to get out and part of me wanted to skip past it, while the other part wanted to make sure I understood everything.While not as action packed as the gangster hunting events of Red Harvest, the mystery and intrigue level of The Dain Curse were taken up a notch. Once again, I found myself really enjoying the minimal, course, gritty, blunt style of Hammett and I look forward to reading more.****4.5 out of 5 stars
—Chris
Part of the fun of a Hammett novel is the fact that you tend to like elements that you wouldn't typically appreciate: an overcomplicated plot, a protagonist with almost no characterization, absurd plot developments, etc. But here they are in abundance in The Dain Curse, and you don't seem to mind. Sure, there are moments where the separate segments can feel a little disconnected, and most likely these plots originated with Hammett's unused short stories. And it's fair to say that the ending does try to throw together a lot of loose ends with a rather wacky explanation. But there's something to be said for our nameless protagonist's skepticism that reflects something in many readers, namely that we don't like easy answers. In each segment, the plot seems so neatly wrapped up, and yet the Continental Op doesn't believe it, and neither do we. So who is really to blame when it all seems really convoluted in the end? That's what we really wanted, after all. It's all a fun ride, but admittedly not as coherent or tied-together as either Red Harvest or The Maltese Falcon.
—Brandon Cooper
