Okay, I’m going to be in the minority here. I did not like Joe Gores Spade & Archer. It’s a prequel to The Maltese Falcon with none of the original’s charm, menace, and characters. The “Sam Spade” of Spade & Archer doesn’t seem like the private eye I remember from Dashiell Hammett’s classic. The writing style isn’t close to Hammett’s distinctive prose. I respect Joe Gores’ work, but this was a mistake. I know Gore’s admires Hammett (he wrote a novel about Hammett), but there must be another way to render a homage to a great writer other than writing a bad novel. GRADE: C.
We definitely disagree on this one.
I knew I would be in the minority with this opinion. Perhaps I shouldn’t have read The Maltese Falcon before I read Spade & Archer.
I completely agree. Odd how many people seem to like this thing.
I’m glad I’m not the only one not to feel the “magic” of Spade & Archer. I found the book tedious.
I’m with Bill. It’s not Hammett, true, but it’s still a good book and I enjoyed reading it.
You’re right: it’s not Hammett. That’s probably my problem with the book.
I liked it. I was thrown by the episodic nature of it at first, but once I caught on to that it flowed along, and I think there were some nice touches, like mentioning Tacoma.
I’m not a fan of other writers hijacking other writers’ characters. Agatha Christie had the right idea when she killed Miss Marple and Poirot off.
More homage than hijacking, here. I believe the Hammett heirs okayed this.
Spade & Archer just didn’t work for me.
As you saw in my review (Lethal Interjection), I liked this one. Yes, I’m a fan of Gores’ DKA books. No, it’s not exactly Hammett, but then later Hammett and early Hammett aren’t the same either. I thought Gores hit enought right notes and came up with an interesting plot, so the book leads right into Maltese Falcon.
Yes George, it was probably a mistake to read Falcon right before. I’m going to reread Falcon, but I’m allowing some space between the books by reading a couple of other things first.
Lastly, I don’t see this as a “hijacking”.
Perhaps I just have an aversion to other writers “borrowing” other writers’ characters, locations, plotlines, etc.