The Glass Key

By: Dashiell Hammett

Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne

Paul Madvig was a cheerfully corrupt ward-heeler who aspired to something better: the daughter of Senator Ralph Bancroft Henry, the heiress to a dynasty of political purebreds. Did he want her badly enough to commit murder? And if Madvig was innocent, which of his dozens of enemies was doing an awfully good job of framing him? Dashiell Hammett’s tour de force of detective fiction combines an airtight plot, authentically venal characters, and writing of telegraphic crispness. A one-time detective and a master of deft understatement, Dashiell Hammett - author of The Maltese Falcon - virtually invented the hard-boiled crime novel.

©1931 Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Copyright © renewed 1958 by Dashiell Hammett. All rights reserved. (P)2011 AudioGo

Uneventful and humourless

I had read various stories by Dashiell Hammett before and found him crisp, humourless in a deadpan way, and quick-paced. I don't know what it was - maybe the hard-boiled crime novel is paling on me - but I found this novel surprisingly bland. There is not noticeable humour in it, which surprised me for Hammett, and I did not get any real sense as to who Nick Beaumont - the main character - is, or why he deserved to be telling this story. I had a much better sense of Paul Madviig, the person Beaumont describes himself as the one to whom he is hanger-on. Maybe this is realism; I myself found it unevenly to the point of boring, And again, as a fan of Hammett, I am surprised at the accolades this novel garners, which is why I picked it to listen to.

Also, I did not think the narrator was an especially skilled reader, which is why I wish there were a way of previewing books on Audible.

Hard boiled classic

Much lower body count than Red Harvest, in which there was a chapter called "The Seventeenth Murder." If you're looking for a hard boiled classic, where the men are men and the women are dames, then this'll do.

Noir escape

Hammett as a whole, a profound, compelling writer. The Glass Key is however, in this writers opinion, a lessor work for the writer that brought The Thin Man, The Maltese Falcon, The Dain Curse and Red Harvest.to life. Although the narrative compelling - the reader quite adept, the plot was transparent.

That said, it was still enjoyable

Glass Key

dashel hammett's book then meets the expectation of the Blockbuster movie The Glass Key. You will enjoy this audible book as much as you enjoy the movie.

Noir Potboiler

I casually listened to the audio version of The Glass Key while driving to work, doing chores, etc and found myself having to listen to chapters over and over again to catch what was happening. The narrator did a fairly good job with his range of voices, but the material was a little haphazard. Might have been a better read versus listen.

Great while gardening!

A little slow paced by modern standards, but surprises at the end. keeps you listening!

Pacing Quick & Plot was Goldilocks

I loved it. I thought Hammett was amazing before, but the Glass Key just solidified it. Definitely his tightest, most coherent novel. The characters were sharp, the pacing was quick, the plot was Goldilocks. No wonder the Coen brothers couldn't get enough.

Dispassionate and Disappointing

I didn’t much like the protagonist/hero/central character. He wasn’t so much of a noir “tough guy” as a disinterested, sometimes, masochist.

I’m not sure if there was a bad guy, but if there was, I didn’t like him either.

The writing was meh; the surprises were nonexistent; the atmosphere was bland; and there was an absolute absence of humor or irony.

Maybe Hammet was trying to be hard boiled, but it feels like he just phoned this one in.

what's so hard boiled...!?!?

I get it that this is 1931 and 9 decades later I am left unsatisfied. sorry but I was not at all attracted to the protagonist or his way of being. the story was actually uninteresting for me. I kept listening because it is Dashiell Hammett whose work I really like. I was actually quite bored and I'm regretting having to report this. kudos to the narrator who was fantastic at creating multiple characters.

Not his best

A slow paced political drama wrapped around a dead body and a last chapter solution. Yes, the protagonist get beaten up several times and leaves town with his best friends heartthrob.