--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Patrick King <abrasax93@...>
> Yeah, favorite seems strong to me, too. RED HARVEST is an excellent first effort. In it we see many elements that Hammett develops in his masterpieces: Political cowards, children who reject that parents' values, powerful men who are prisoners of their position, gangsters who have redeeming qualities, immoral women with wisdom and cunning, police officials who make up the rules as they go. But none of these in RED HARVEST are worked up to the extent they will be in THE GLASS KEY, THE THIN MAN, & THE MALTESE FALCON. To me RED HARVEST is almost a sketch of things to come.
>
> Patrick King
>
To Time Magazine it was one of the best 100 novels of all-time (and none of Hammett's other works made their list):
http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/the_complete_list.html
Of course it's all a matter of preference, Hammett was such a great writer it wouldn't be hard for someone to make a case of any of his books being their favorite. Red Harvest, though, hardly seems sketchy to me, but instead a pitch-perfect crime novel. And of course it was hardly Hammett's first effort since he had written 24 Continental Op stories, as well as other short stories before writing the 4 Op stories that would later be reworked as Red Harvest.
--Dave
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