Nightmare Town : Stories

Rating:
Summary: Collection Spans Hammett's Career & Narrative Techniques.
Review: "Nightmare Town" is a collection of 20 stories written by Dashiell Hammett between 1924 and 1934, spanning nearly his entire writing career. Seven of the stories feature the indomitable Continental Op: "House Dick", "Night Shots", "Zig Zags of Treachery", "Death on Pine Street", "Tom, Dick, or Harry", "One Hour", and "Who Killed Bob Teal". "Zig Zags of Treachery", about the apparent suicide of a prominent San Francisco surgeon, is superb, perhaps the best story in this collection. The Continental Op is a character rooted in realism whom Hammett based on a fellow detective from his days at Pinkerton Detective Agency, Jimmy Wright, and on himself. Hammett's second most famous detective, Sam Spade, hero of his novel "The Maltese Falcon", is featured in 3 stories: "A Man Called Spade", "Too Many Have Lived", and "They can only Hang You Once". These are the only short stories Hammett wrote about Spade, who was in some ways the flip side of the Continental Op. At first glance, the two detectives have more in common that not, but where the Op represents the way detectives of the era really were, Sam Spade represents the way they wanted to be.

The stories in this anthology demonstrate the variety of writing techniques that Hammett applied to hard-boiled detective fiction. "His Brother's Keeper" and "A Man Named Thin" feature first-person narration, but are otherwise divergent in style. "A Man Named Thin" is narrated by a poet who is a reluctant detective. I can't say that I like the ornate prose style, but it suits the narrator. "The Second-Story Angel" shows that Hammett wasn't above making fun of himself. The last story in this collection is the first ten chapters of a story that Hammett wrote in 1930 and never finished. The editors have called it "The First Thin Man". Hammett apparently intended the story to be called "The Thin Man", but by the time that novel was published in 1934, he had reworked it entirely. The only resemblance this story bares to the later novel is that one of characters is named "Wynant". "The First Thin Man" is interesting, though. It introduces a new detective, John Guild of the Associated Detective Bureau, Inc. Guild's manner is smoother than than Hammett's earlier detectives. The story is pretty good; it's a shame it wasn't completed. Hammett may have intended to make a novel out of it, but it lends itself well to a novella, which would have taken little further work.

"Nightmare Town" offers a broad selection of Dashiell Hammett's short stories, representing a variety of narrative techniques. All but one ("A Man Named Thin") are from the hard-boiled school of detective fiction, which Hammett invented and perhaps perfected. Hammett biographer William F. Nolan has written an informative introduction to the book. So this is an excellent collection for Hammett fans and and a good introduction for newcomers as well. If you have other Hammett short story collections and are wondering what might be repeated in this one: Nothing from the two Vintage Crime collections, "The Continental Op" and "The Big Knockover", is found in "Nightmare Town". Four short stories plus the novel fragment "The First Thin Man" in "Nightmare Town" are also found in the Library of America's "Hammett: Crime Stories and other Writings".

Rating:
Summary: Good for the historical pulp flavor, but flawed
Review: As a long-time fan of 'classic' noir/detective fiction (Hammett, Chandler, MacDonald, Thompson) and it's stylistic roots in the pulps, I have to say I'm somewhat disappointed with this volume. There's alot here in terms of sheer number of stories, but aside from the very worthwhile Sam Spade shorts (which bump it to 3 stars), it's very uneven in quality. Your taste buds will like the delicious descriptive and atmospheric elements (particularly for hard-core Chandler fans like me...his inspirations via Hammett are in good supply) but the story construction leaves much to desire. The better part of the book is made up of hastily conceived vignettes that will remind you just as to why most of 'pulp' writing was considered disposable.

Rating:
Summary: HAMMETT'S HELL
Review: Dashiell Hammett is The Man. He wrote with such realism and truth, he was so dead-on right in almost anything he said, and he managed to convey important lessons and wisdom, sometimes without you even realizing that you were retaining these valuable pieces of information. Nightmare Town, a collection of a variety of his short stories has a few brilliant selections, a few average ones, and yes, even a few not so good fictions. The title story is one of the strongest in the book, and the Continental Op stories-- my favourite ones in the book overall-- are above-average as well. Even the stories that aren't all that excellent usuallly do have a good punchline at the end-- contrary to what those not in the know believe, Dash Hammett did have a great sense of humour, and if you read carefully enough, you'll be amazed at the wit and irony you'll find. Even though this book doesn't do him the best justice and others are superior to it, this collection is great for the non-fan as well as the Hammett lovers. Bing, bang, boom-- 5 stars!

Rating:
Summary: Gee. why aren't there any books by Joe McCarthy?
Review: Great addition to the works of Hammett. I'm only half way through it, but the first story is worth the price of admission. I wish the slime that sent Dash to prison could see how beloved he is today. For that matter, I wish he could. Thank you, Black Lizard. The Continental Op lives. For those who remember, even Dorothy Parker said nice things about Hammett. For those who don't, you might start with "The Maltese Falcon", "The Glass Key", (which became "Yosimbo" and " A Fist Full of Dollars"), or "The Big Knockover". This is the guy who created"Crime Fiction", and Big Jim Thompson, John McDonald and Ross McDonald would be the first to credit him. If those names mean nothing to you, you are very fortunate, you have some great reading to do! If you know who they are, you have probably already ordered this so enjoy! Black Lizard, More Please!

Rating:
Summary: The 'Burbs of Noir
Review: I bought this book for its snappy cover and intro on Hammett's fascinating life. But the stories themselves are mostly a let-down. Hammett really hit his stride with the novels, and it's hard to tell from these early magazine pieces how good a writer he'd become. Still, the violence, corruption and sexy seediness that make his other work so much fun are here in embryo. If you're already a Hammett fan, reading these stories is like watching an all-star's warm up swings before he nails a home run. If not, let "The Maltese Falcon" or "Red Harvest" knock your socks off before you make the trip to Nightmare Town.

Rating:
Summary: The 'Burbs of Noir
Review: I bought this book for its snappy cover and intro on Hammett's fascinating life. But the stories themselves are mostly a let-down. Hammett really hit his stride with the novels, and it's hard to tell from these early magazine pieces how good a writer he'd become. Still, the violence, corruption and sexy seediness that make his other work so much fun are here in embryo. If you're already a Hammett fan, reading these stories is like watching an all-star's warm up swings before he nails a home run. If not, let "The Maltese Falcon" or "Red Harvest" knock your socks off before you make the trip to Nightmare Town.

Rating:
Summary: An Entertaining & Significant Addition to Hammett Canon
Review: NIGHTMARE TOWN is a collection of twenty stories by the father of the modern hardboiled detective yarn. The majority of these tales were published between 1923 and 1934. Nevertheless, this is a "new" collection in that many of these pieces have been unavailable since their original printing. As such, the publication of NIGHTMARE TOWN is a literary event of the first magnitude.

At the heart of this collection are seven stories featuring Hammett's most fully drawn creation, the nameless, pudgy, middle-aged but always stalwart investigator for the Continental Detective Agency known by all as "the Continental Op." Sam Spade, perhaps Hammett's most famous character and, of course, the edgy star of THE MALTESE FALCON, takes center stage in three others. As wonderful has these ten stories are, the most interesting fiction in NIGHTMARE TOWN revolves around protagonists who are most probably unknown to all but the most devoted Hammett aficionados.

In the title story of the collection ("Nightmare Town") written in 1924, the enigmatic Steve Threefall awakes from a ferocious drunk in the desert town of Izzard. In a classic pulp fiction tale featuring breathless action, Steve unearths the systemic corruption upon which Izzard is built, saves a damsel in distress and battles his way out of town with an ebony walking stick. The idea of a town fatally poisoned by greed and corruption was to find even more substantial treatment in the 1929 Continental Op novel, RED HARVEST.

The final offering in the text is, in many ways, the most significant. "The First Thin Man" is a preliminary draft, some ten chapters long, of what would emerge as Hammett's last novel. Conspicuously absent is the duo of Nick and Nora Charles. In their place we find John Guild of San Francisco's Associated Detective Bureaus. This is a darker, more engrossing tale than what finally saw publication as THE THIN MAN. Readers somewhat dissatisfied with the latter work may be forgiven for wishing that "The First Thin Man" had ultimately become the book Hammett completed.

Although they vary greatly in overall quality, each of the stories in NIGHTMARE TOWN is absorbing and eminently readable. Hammett's prose is, as always, lean and mean. In even the weakest of these tales, his dialogue is realistic and razor-sharp. While this is probably not the place to start if you are only casually acquainted with Hammett's work, NIGHTMARE TOWN is a treasure trove worthy of a privileged place on the bookshelf of the hardcore fan who has already completed the texts in the standard canon. As William F. Nolan concludes in his introduction to this volume, "In the genre of detective fiction, [Hammett] was the master ... that mastery is evident in NIGHTMARE TOWN ... The largest collection of his shorter works and by far the most comprehensive." (James Clar-MYSTERY NEWS)


Rating:
Summary: Stories from a Private Detective
Review: These stories were printed in the 1920s by "Black Mask" magazine, one of the monthly pulp magazines that entertained America before radio and television. Some of the stories were repeated in later works ("Who Killed Bob Teal") and never reprinted in Samuel Dashiell Hammett's lifetime. The stories are still entertaining today, and also provide a glance at a life that few of us know.

SDH worked as a Pinkerton detective for years, seeking fun, travel, adventure. The stories reflect his life as a private detective would see it: a world of crime and corruption. Would this work damage an operative expecially when de didn't have a normal family and home life? Does this reoccur today?

Rating:
Summary: Good for the historical pulp flavor, but flawed
Review: These stories were printed in the 1920s by "Black Mask" magazine, one of the monthly pulp magazines that entertained America before radio and television. Some of the stories were repeated in later works ("Who Killed Bob Teal") and never reprinted in Samuel Dashiell Hammett's lifetime. The stories are still entertaining today, and also provide a glance at a life that few of us know.

SDH worked as a Pinkerton detective for years, seeking fun, travel, adventure. The stories reflect his life as a private detective would see it: a world of crime and corruption. Would this work damage an operative expecially when de didn't have a normal family and home life? Does this reoccur today?

Rating:
Summary: Nightmare Town
Review: We are jaded. At the end of the twentieth century, our society has lost sight of the horrors of crime; we listen idly to reports of yet another school shooting, yet another cross-burning. Somehow, we have come to equate crime with visible, tangible violence, and we demand an ever-growing level of gore to deem an act criminal. The true measure of a crime, however, lies in its effects upon society, not in the amount of bloodshed. We have forgotten that real crime requires subtlety, alacrity, cunning. Dashiell Hammett's Nightmare Town, however, a collection of stories from early in the author's career, reminds us that crime is not only visible violence; it is the hidden schemes of the villainous, the ones that may never come to light, which contain the frightening truth of evil.

At first, the reader might find some details predictable. But if such tropes have become conventional now, it is thanks to Hammett's masterful creation of them. Hammett, once an operative for the Pinkerton Detective Agency, understood the inner workings of the nefarious underworld. Writing during Prohibition, he delved into the machinations of the criminal mind. His tales fail to privilege gore and mindless violence; rather, he constructs a constant battle of wits between the calculating crook and the equally crafty detective.

In Nightmare Town's eponymous first story, Steve Threefall has no qualms about staying in a dreary desert outpost town, even after watching one businessman pull a gun on another. An innocent man dies in "Zigzags of Treachery," but while the detective knows the murderer and the motive, the issue is left to resolve itself when the primary mystery¡Va tale of extortion¡Vis solved. For Hammett, violence was not a problem in itself, but rather an indication of deeper evil lurking beneath. He repeatedly leads us down a winding path of calculations and conjectures, based on an intimate knowledge of the crook's modus operandi, into a world where no one really knows the good from the wicked. And while today we may have become cynical enough to believe that its ubiquity and violence have made crime less detrimental to society, Hammett's stories chill us into remembering that the most serious crimes remain invisible - and there lies the true horror of evil.