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Summary: quite possibly the most entertaining book ever written
Review: And yet it isn't Hammett's best (Check out Red Harvest, plot to many movies both high and low). Here is a swift, brutal, cutting and cold mystery featuring truly heinous people doing truly awful things, all being watched and investigated by Sam Spade, a man hardly better than any of them.If you've seen the movie you know the basic structure of the story and the film, while great, is unable to express the brass tacks interior monologues of the many characters who no matter what is happening are always plotting some form of betrayal. Dashiell Hammett is certainly one of the great detective novelists (as I'm sure you're aware if you're actually still reading this review) and you'll blaze through this book about tough guys and ruthless villains and come away thinking you've read one of the finest novels you've ever read. You'll find little argument to refute your initial entusiasm and it will stay with you, leading you to like the movie just a little less because of all the great things it left out and the rather inaccurate depiction of Spade.
Rating: 
Summary: The Maltese Falcon
Review: Many people say this book is one of the best detective novels of it's time, the movie is a perfect portration of the book, and the book seems like a screen play. For the most part I agree with these statements exept I've never read a screen play so I wouldn't know.
The book has a strong plot backed by a complex characters and great discription, with perfect dailogue and discription. this was called a great book in 1930 and still holds true today more than seventy years later. I suggest reading this book.
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Summary: SPADE, SAM SPADE
Review: The Maltese Falcon with Bogart in it is one of those films that is so archetypal that, without ever having seen the whole thing through, I still have vivid images in my mind of it. So I had certain biases and expectations picking up Hammett's novel. It took me a bit before I could get into the style of it. It was more than style, it was mindset. The San Francisco that the characters inhabit is harsh and unforgiving. When a certain Miss Wonderly shows up at Spade's office, desperate for help, Sam and his partner are more worried about sizing her up sexually than in helping a damsel in distress. She tells them a story about the disappearance of her sister and her suspected kidnapping by a man named Floyd Thursby. She convinces them to follow him and to find her sister, if she is alive. Sam's partner is killed soon after and the plot of the novel becomes more intricate and turning. The best word for it would be multi-layered. Identities are dropped and assumed constantly. Good and evil have no place in this novel. This is what gave me so much trouble in the beginning. Spade's own secretary calls him "the most contemptible man God ever made" when he sets his mind to it. This is true. Hammett creates in Spade a man as cold-blooded and calculating as the criminals he fights against. Actually, he's probably worse. Spade at times seems demonic. He is compared to "a blond Satan" a couple of times and the yellowish color of his pupils also adds to this conception. His smiles are empty and his face is composed of V's. He looks out only for himself and you sense that he would backstab and betray his best friend. Besides this, he makes a great hero. Once you accept the laws of this pulp fiction world, the novel becomes very enjoyable. One of the things that bothered me is that the characters have no inner life, or at least in the text. The only things you know about them are visual cues. The narrator is outside of them. While this works well for a screenplay (which at times this novel seems like), it is very hard to pull that off in a novel. Hammett does, though. Like I said, you have to accept what the author gives you, unconditionally. I highly recommend this work even though it took some adjustment in the reading. It is a classic. A contemporary writer that you should check out if you like Hammett is James Ellroy.
Rating:
Summary: Give 'em the bird
Review: This classic mystery has escaped my reading list for years. Finally I nailed it down and started to read. Within minutes I was laughing at the sharp dialogue and shaking my head at the author's powerful abilities. As an admirer of James Lee Burke's writing, I saw similarities in characterization and dialogue. Is Burke a Dashiell Hammett fan? I don't know. Yes, Hammett's characters are written with wit, style, and depth. But his plotting surpasses Burke's lumbering, let's-see-where-the-day-leads-us style. This story begins to twist and backtrack every time you think you know where it's headed. The ultimate prize, the Maltese Falcon, has secrets of its own. Although a bit surprised at certain vulgarities and immoral situations within the story (surprising due to the period in which it was written), I couldn't help but admire Hammett's inimitable style. This is tight and well-paced writing. This is a story that carries all the charm of an old-fashioned movie while seeming absolutely modern in its sensibilities and understanding of human nature. The ending is satisfactory, with a surprise or two, but also leaves a few issues unresolved so that the reader must fill in the gaps from the information given. I found myself smiling. I'd been in the hands of a master storyteller. And, in keeping with Hammett's sometimes rough manner, I wondered just where did the term "Give 'em the bird" come from? Could it have come from this nifty little mystery. It would certainly fit. Read it and you'll know what I mean.
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Summary: One of the best hard-boiled novels ever written
Review: Dashiell Hammett's gritty created world is alive with slick original lingo and larger-than-life characters, most of whom are up to no good. The book opens with the now legendary gumshoe Sam Spade, described here as a "blonde Satan," in a style that has since been imitated several times over. A beautiful client enters his office and the rich dialogue that ensues begins an uphill tale of suspense and intrigue that makes for the wonderful page-turner that is The Maltese Falcon. A classic in truest form, Falcon is easily one of the greatest detective novels ever written, with its smooth, original language and fleshed out characters (notably Gutman and Joel Cairo). A must read for those of you who want to be entertained, and a gem for those who love good literature. Hammett at his best!
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Summary: Don't even trust birds...
Review: The Maltese Falcon is a historical statue worth a fortune, which must be tracked down and retreived. To do this, intelligent, hard-hitting and totally charismatic Private Detective Sam Spade is pulled in. Spade cleverly uses his many talents as he dives into a situation that never stops branching out. Nobody is worth trusting, just ask Spade - the man who beds his partner's wife behind his back! His partner is murdered and soon a variety of shady but interesting character's enter the story and get their dirty hands ready to embrace this mythical treasure! So many things are addressed in Hammett's classic masterpiece from 1930, that to disuss these, would mean an essay. Money is a dominant force which motivates these people to chase the falcon, no matter what awaits in the end. Homosexuality is also touched up on with Cairo, a cowardly being who has gardenia scented calling cards! The modern reader has nothing to fear, Hammett has created a great example (and one of the first) of crime fiction, which still has the power to entertain! Read THE MALTESE FALCON and forget the movie!
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Summary: Hammett: Master of Hard-Boiled Fiction
Review: There is no doubt that Dashiell Hammett is truly one of the most talented authors when it comes to creating intriguing detective novels. This hard-boiled book centers around a mysterious falcon statue, and the private detective must decipher why anyone is willing to kill for it. A surprise ending, along with sharp and realistic dialogue makes this a great work of literary fiction.
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Summary: The Stuff Our Dreams Are Made Of
Review: As a mystery author with my debut novel in its initial release, I recently appeared on an author panel at a mystery convention when THE MALTESE FALCON came up in the discussion. I was sitting next to the current Edgar Award winner when a member of the audience asked us about the orgins of the present day fictional private eye. I fielded the question and replied that the modern private investigator began with Dashiell Hammett. While Hammett's Continental Op came first, Sam Spade in THE MALTESE FALCON defined literature's private eye for all time. THE MALTESE FALCON is the defining book in mystery fiction. It is required reading for any serious student of the mystery genre. What Hammett did in this landmark novel, we have all been merely building on since. THE MALTESE FALCON is the crucial book in the mystery genre.
Rating:
Summary: Blond Satan, Can I Get Your Number?
Review: Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade is a blonde satan with his own moral code which he upholds come hell or high water. Read it as a mystery, read it as 'a man who knew what it meant to be a man's ethics' and either way it'll hook you in and you won't be able to stop until you've finished. Over the years I've read this novel several times, each time gleaning something new from it. Although any mystery will lose its appeal in the respect of 'whodunnit' after you know the ending, the story about Flitcraft and the falling beam, Spade's theory of the fall guy and the priceless one-liners are worth the price of admission or readmission as the case may be.
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Summary: Vintage Crime
Review: Mysteries, they either knock your sox off or they fail more miserably than most other kinds of novels, due to that ever important element of surprise. With that said it's always nice to read those novels that influence all the others. The one's that create that formula used so often. This particular story line grasps you from the start because it doesn't reveal itself immediately like so many books in this genre do. The style is rugged and sharp, like a good tough guy novel should be. You can make a list of copycats that came from this book that probably would fill more pages than the book itself. However knowing that this is one of the true originals, heightens all of those familiar features and lets you recognize why they works so well. Although Sam Spade, the main character, is described differently, you just can't help but to insert Bogart into your mind to fill the lead role. The quick come backs, the dry sarcasm, you gotta love that old time dialogue. This stuff reads like a tale your good 'ol grandfather might tell you. I felt like I was there, walking around with a derby hat on, swinging a cane while humming big band music to myself. Its also fun to read this caper because the monetary terms at stake are so small compared to today's standard. Sam Spade sticks his neck out several times for something like ten thousand dollars! A classic caper, plenty of twists, a tough guy always getting in trouble, and an unexpected (finally) ending. Now that's the way it should be. It is easy to see why Hammett is regarded as one of the best crime novelists of all time. This could quite possibly be the perfect mystery novel. A must read for crime/mystery fans, fans of classics, fans of words, hell if you have a favorite vowel you should look for it in this treasure.
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