Red Harvest

Dashiell Hammett, a former Pinkerton detective, pretty much invented the hard-boiled (U.S.) detective genre. The influence of Hammett's short stories and novels, "Red Harvest", "The Dain Curse", "The Glass Key", "The Thin Man" and "The Maltese Falcon" can be seen in much of the detective fiction writing that followed, including among others Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, Jim Thompson, Ross Macdonald, James Ellroy, Robert Parker, James Lee Burke, and Michael Connelly. The plot of "Red Harvest", Hammett's first novel, also found its way into movies such as Akira Kurosawa's "Yojimbo", Sergio Leone's "For a Fistful of Dollars", and the Coen brother's "Miller's Crossing".

"Red Harvest" begins with the arrival of the Continental Op, Hammett's trademark "man with no name" in the town of Personville. The client he has been summoned to see is found murdered before the Op can meet him. In short order the Op finds that Personville's nickname, "Poisonville" is well-earned. It is a town filled with small town greed and big time corruption. The Ops arrival coincides with the onset of a turf war for control of the city between rival gangsters. The Op pays a call on the dead man's father, Elihu Willsson. The Op soon determines that the town's descent into a state approaching a low level of hell began when Willsson imported some mobsters to break up a strike. Their stay turned out to be far from a temporary one.

For reasons of his own, perhaps just to be stubborn or perhaps as a matter of some principle or warrior code, the Op decides to stay and clean up the town. His method is simple, pit each gang and its various factions and sub-factions against each other until the dust settles and it is discovered that they have pretty much killed themselves off. The Op is not afraid to pitch in and help the process along.

As noted above, "Red Harvest" was Hammett's first full length book. Perhaps as a result some of the sentences were longer and more `literary' than his later books, by which time he had perfected a leaner, staccato, machine gun style of dialogue. Nevertheless, "Red Harvest" was and remains an impressive and exciting piece of writing.

"Red Harvest" along with just about everything else Hammett ever wrote is well worth reading.


Forget what you think you know.   February 2, 2004
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

Dashiell Hammett wrote the Maltese Falcon- everyone knows that. What they might not know is that he also wrote other, better books. Red Harvest is my personal favourite. The Op isn't just another square jawed, comfortably hard boiled private dick- calling broads "Shweet'art," He is a deeply enigmatic- at times sinister character- his motives are murky and he is just as coldly manipulative as any villain Sam Spade ever faced down.

You might find a hard-boiled tough talkin' dame here, you'll also find crooked cops. What you won't find is a single flaw or cliché in this remarkable crime-classic.


The Continental Op Cleans Up   January 22, 2004
Untouchable (Sydney, NSW Australia)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful

The story is told by an agent from the Continental Detective Agency. He has been called to the town of Personville or, as he explains, is more aptly named, Poisonville. His client is Donald Willsson, but Willsson is shot and killed before the Continental Op can meet him. He decides to visit Willson's father, Elihu, who until recently ran the town. Elihu Willson winds up hiring the Continental Op to clean up the town by getting rid of the town's 3 criminal bosses. In true gangster-style, the names of the criminals are Max "Whisper" Thaler, Lew Yard and Pete the Finn.

The clean up job becomes the main focus of the rest of the book, although along the way, the Continental Op manages to solve the murder of his original client as well as most other minor crimes that spring up around him. The Continental Op is an interesting character, having no qualms about setting others up, knowingly placing them in mortal danger in order to uncover evidence or confirm his suspicions. He will lie, cheat and double-cross just about anyone.

The deaths come thick and fast and are mentioned off-handedly, almost as an afterthought. Red Harvest is fast moving and entertaining and as hardboiled as they come.


one of the best   August 10, 1999
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I like to consider Dashiell Hammett part of the Lost Generation. True, he wasn't a member of the crew including Fitzgerald, Dos Passos, and Hemingway that concentrated in France following WWI, but Hammett does use many similar elements unique to this movement, and Red Harvest is the epitome of my observation.

It is a fascinating book, taken from the point of view of Hammett's trendsetting Continental Op. He is sent to Personville and finds himself a solitary soul on a quest to clean the town of a corruption that is so ingrained that even he begins to querie whether or not he too is being corrupted.

Red Harvest is a fast paced book that is also a profound study of society, and it is a book that I highly suggest.


A noir masterpiece   May 31, 1999
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

All those writers that flood the market these days, who cannot write a book of less than 500 pages and who think a "violent" story means also "gross and gruesome;" all those intellectuals that cannot see pith in dime novels, they should be locked up somewhere with this very slim book and not be released until they have learned some facts of literature.This is a gem of a book, from the unforgettable opening paragraph to the final "he gave me merry hell," there is not one word, one comma or one period too many. Hammett can describe a character or a situation in five lines, the way a good painter may draw a human figure or an object with just five strokes of the pencil. The plot is tight, raw and yet elegant; however not to be recommended for people with short attention spans, because it has so many twists and turns, and more characters than a Russian novel. This only adds to the interest, though. I have read this book over and over and always find new things about it.