::AMAZON REVIEWS::

as an outsider exploring this genre...
I'm new to hard-Boiled Detective Fiction, so as an outsider looking in for the first time, there's a decent chance this review will invoke tons of 'not helpful' clicks because I probably don't "get it."

This is a collection of short stories, featuring an unnamed narrator known to fans as The Continental Op. (The exception is an unfinished novel fragment called 'Tulip'.) The stories range from everything from missing person recovery, cracking a blackmail scheme, to even a parody of a western.

The stories are fast-paced, probably because of the medium--each was published in a pulp magazine that almost certainly had a word limit. I also have to wonder at the intended target audience for these: if I had a guess, I'd say young adult males looking for a 'quick fix' action/adventure tale. I have a hunch that these are not stories one reads for the 'plot', in part because the plots are one of the weakest elements in these. Almost all rely on heavily contrived 'coincidences' that seem far-divorced from "real life." I have a low threshold for such stuff, but I'm willing to get over it. Indeed, I found myself enjoying these more once I decided to 'turn my brain off' and just go with the flow.

Hammett's prose didn't work for me; it was so sparse and description-free that it kind of reminded me of Hemingway. However, the best part about these books (I thought) was the hard-boiled street slang that permeates the dialogue and narration. Fun (and often funny!) stuff!

This is not "literature," but I don't think it's trying to be. I don't have much to compare this to, but I have a hunch these are really good "for what they are," especially when you put it in the context of having been written almost 90 years ago. That's why I'll give it 4 stars.

I wouldn't want a steady diet of these, but they're kind of fun as distractionary reading, especially since this collection is all quick-flip short stories. I might give one of his full-length novels a try some time in the future.

"I cocked both barrels before I stepped outdoors."
In her introduction, Lillian Hellman tells us that she knows that she's going against Hammett's wishes by editing and introducing this collection. He apparently didn't want these works collected and republished. I'm actually pretty glad that she (and the publisher) made this choice, because these Continental Op stories are wonderful.

Stolid detectives, lungers, puzzles and dames-- Hammett wrote some of the best tough guy fiction going. This is a great collection of that fiction. Whether it is a relatively simple puzzle story like The Gutting of Couffignal or the tantalizingly incomplete "Tulips" Hammett was a master writer. Sometimes I get the feeling that his best work is in the more strictly genre pieces-- but that may simply be because he never got the time to work out the ideas that he was reaching for in "Tulips".

By the way, it's popular to hate "$106,000 Blood Money", the sequel to the title story. While I grant you that it isn't as strong as "The Big Knockover" itself, it really isn't all that awful. I realize that is not much of a compliment, but I kind of liked it. The little memoir of Hammett that Hellman wrote in the beginning is also nice. But then I always enjoy Hellman-- grumpy old half-truthful Stalinist as she may well have been.

If you don't know Hammett, then I might begin with Red Harvest (my favorite!) or the more standard collection of The Continental Op stories. But they're all great-- this collection included.

San Francisco Op
This is clearly the best writing about the person, place and environment of the "City." Hammett did all his great work in twelve years -- I know of no author this could be said of. Outstanding use of the street talk of the day. He never wrote as smooth as Raymond Chandler, yet Chandler admired Hammett a great deal.

This writing is amazing, authentic work.Some say Hemingway stole the brevity of Hammett

The epitome of hard-boiled
I've been a fan of Hammet for quite some time and I really like the Thin Man and the Maltese Falcon but my favorite of his is the Continental Op. Here we have a hero whose name we are never told! He is the epitome of hard-boiled, a man who can dish it out as well as he can take it.

The Big Knockover is a nice collection of ten perfect short stories. The first, The Gutting of Couffignal, is the story of a small village under seige and has a neat twist. Fly Paper will keep you guessing.

GET IT- CRIME DOES NOT PAY
Dashiel Hammett, along with Raymond Chandler, reinvented the detective genre in the 1930's and 1940's. They moved the genre away from the amateurish and simple parlor detectives that had previously dominated the genre to hard-boiled action characters who knew what was what and didn't mind taking a beating to get the bad guys. And along the way they produced some very memorable literary characters as well. Nick Charles, Sam Spade and Phillip Marlowe are well known exemplars of the action detective. However, on the way to creating these literary works of art Hammett did journeyman's work at the detective genre in various pulp detective magazines. The Big Knockover series of stories is from that period.

The unnamed universal Continental Operative who is the central character of the stories is the prototype for Hammett's later named detectives. He has all the characteristics that mark a noir detective-tough, resourceful, undaunted, and incorruptible with a sense of honor to friend and foe alike that sets him apart from earlier detectives. Although the stories are mainly set in San Francisco the Op branches out to other locales in some of the stories but he keeps those same virtues. If you want mainly well-thought out stories that are also well-written this is for you. Additionally, and this may be as good a reason to read this book as the stories is the Introduction provided by Hammett's long time companion the playwright Lillian Hellman.