Red Harvest
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3.5 • 4 Ratings
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- $0.99
Publisher Description
Filled with gangsters, cops on the take, and a kingpin desperate to reclaim his territory, Personville teeters on the brink of an all-out gang war. Enter the Continental Op, called in to town by Donald Willsson, who is taken out by a hit before briefing the Op on the case. Pitting faction against faction, and with a target on his own back, the Continental Op must save Personville before his number is up.
One of Dashiell Hammett’s best-known characters, the Continental Op is an original man of mystery, known only by his title. Modeled on Hammet’s own experience as a Pinkerton detective, Red Harvest is the definitive story of a town gone horribly wrong and the one man who can clean it up.
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PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An unnamed detective arrives in Personville (nicknamed "Poisonville" by its residents) too late to help his client, who lies shot dead in an alley. It doesn't take the detective long to figure out that this murder is the least of Poisonville's problems, and he decides to stay and clean up the nasty company town on his own. Despite this somewhat confusing story line, Richard Ferrone provides lucid and compelling narration and perfectly captures Hammett's tough guy wit. His rendition of gangster Max "Whisper" Thaler is among the many highlights: he provides a voice that is clear but hoarse and totally lives up to the character's name. Ferrone also gives Whisper's girlfriend a classic bad dame voice that all but invites trouble, and provides corrupt police chief Noonan with a jovial Irish brogue that masks evil intentions. Although the tale is hopelessly convoluted and overpopulated, listeners will have great fun rooting for the unnamed detective to get out of town alive. A Vintage paperback.
