Barbarous Coast

OK, the first half of this book is great. Five stars. I felt like I was reading one of MacDonald's very best, akin to Hammetts "Big Sleep". However, once MacDonald's sights get set on a group of characters, he just cant seem to stop from circling them over and over again. It got so that I felt like I was caught in a whirl wind, each page would re-visit someone and each page would shift the plot direction. Its sort of funny, but I felt like the story sort of lost itself and became almost too muddled to discipher just after Archer sustained a second serious concussion. Archer is one of the classic series in this genre. Its just great. And this book should be read along with the others. However, I would suggest that you not start here due to the fact that it wont cast the very best light on MacDonald and his prowess.

"The Barbarous Coast" is a perfect example of a "hard-boiled" detective story. The "hard-boiled" detective story has been analyzed, re-analyzed, and over-analyzed. Ditto for the leading authors of the genre Hammett, Chandler, and Ross MacDonald. Consequently, it can be difficult to look at a novel of this genre as a stand-alone story. In "The Barbarous Coast" PI Lew Archer takes on both the Hollywood establishment and the Mob as a simple assignment of tracking down a missing wife turns into a multiple murder case. The plot is very good, and the characters are excellent. Much of the strength of the story is in MacDonald's depiction of the southern California atmosphere: the wealth, decadence, and underlying fear of those who have made it, the regret and the disillusionment of the those who have almost made it, the sad continuing striving of those who will never make it but who still cling to the dream. I enjoyed reading "The Barbarous Coast", but I did not find it satisying. None of the book's weaknesses is a deal breaker, but their culumative effect keeps me from giving it a top rating. Examples: The plot seemed unnecessarily conplicated, Archer kept getting beat up too frequently, the Mob connection just didn't fit in well, several cliche scenes.