Rating: 
Summary: The Chill
Review: It's complicated--it may have you flipping back through pages with a furrowed brow in order to get it all straightened out--but it does straighten out nicely. This is a solid, highly recommendable hard-boiled whodunit.Three murders span twenty years, and Lew Archer must trot around trying to tie them all together. There's a hint of blackmail, a whiff of adultery, a rumour of battery, the stench of a frame-up, but does it really all connect? This book features a host of drunken, disillusioned, and in some cases, dissembling suspects, but who's guilty of what? Who, in fact, is guilty of three murders that span decades? The answer lies behind one clever trick, which definitely bamboozled me. Before the grand finale, MacDonald puts his hero, Archer, through the somewhat familiar routine of visiting, or bumping into, all the characters, several times over. This spinning-carousel of suspects--one reappearing to provide another piece of the puzzle just as one is spinning out of view--is a bit less like discernible clockwork than in, say, The Blue Hammer. The more of a sense of the unpredictable as a PI gumshoes around town following a line of interviews with puzzle-piece-holders, the better, in my opinion. This novel successfully avoids the "hero talks to this person, which leads to this person, which leads to this person, which leads..." approach, by throwing a few bumps in the road. Finally, if Archer's inner life is not delved into much in this book, by way of a lot of cynical introspection and bleak shamus philosophizing, I for one am not too disappointed. The result is a quick pace, making this a more streamlined ride than some hard-boiled books, with their various philosophical pit-stops. In this one, the mystery does say everything you need to know about the people involved...once you review the details.
Rating: 
Summary: Give this one an 11!
Review: MacDonald is rightfully considered one of the three great hardboiled detective novelists (along with Hammett and Chandler). Rereading this novel confirmed what I thought the first time I read it: this is the best detective novel that I have ever read. It is also the most appropriately titled novel that I have ever encountered. The first time I read this I was lying in the sun beside the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. When I reached the moment when the mystery was solved, a chill literally ran up my spine. One of the truly creepy moments of my life. Hyperbole rules among reviewers here, but this one would get a higher rating if I were allowed. I have read most of MacDonald novels, despite the fact that I really don't spend much time reading mystery or detective fiction. His earliest books are good, but not great. But about four or five novels into the Lew Archer series MacDonald (in real life Professor Kenneth Millar, and husband of fellow mystery writer Margaret Millar)found his voice and his theme. In all his best books the theme is: the sins of the father shall be visited upon the second and third generations (I didn't check my OT for a more precise quotation). A typical plot from his best novels is as follows: Archer is asked to look into this or that problem (a person has disappeared, has left, is being plagued by someone, etc., etc.). Gradually upon conducting his investigation his role shifts from detective to archaeologist, until he eventually discovers the troubles that he has been asked to look into have causes reaching back ten, twenty, or even fifty years. The seed planted by an act decades earlier has sprouted in the present, destroying those who are otherwise innocent. (MacDonald always reminds me of Yeats's "Leda and the Swan," where Zeus's rape of Leda will eventually result in the birth of Helen and all the tragedy of Troy: "A shudder in the loins engenders there/The broken wall, the burning roof and tower/And Agamemnon dead.") All of MacDonald is more than readable, but someone wanting to proceed from THE CHILL (which really is his finest work) should look at THE DROWNING POOL or THE INSTANT ENEMY.
Rating: 
Summary: Best described as vintage sophomoric
Review: Maybe vintage but certainly not classic
Rating:
Summary: His best book
Review: Moody, creepy, complex, and sad, this is MacDonald's best book. I think its as good as Chandler (and that is very good indeed). This was written in the early 60s when RM was at his peak, and manages probably his best surprise as well as his most memorably creepy denouement. All the Archers from this time are excellent, but this one stands out.
Rating:
Summary: Complicated, tragic puzzle with a hint of daring
Review: Noir fiction often has tested barriers and taboos. This Lew Archer novel is in that tradition in that it doesn't break any taboos, but it does hint at it. If THE CHILL were written today, I think it would have been a bit more direct. As with many Lew Archer cases, this one starts innocently enough with his being hired to find a missing newlywed who's disappeared after an encounter with a mysterious visitor. In a short period of time, he's involved in a murder case, one in which he feels a vague sense of being responsible. There are the usual twists, the usual questions of identity, the interconnection of characters which doesn't at first meet the eye. MacDonald characters are difficult to pigeonhole into "good" or "bad" categories. The motivations often come from deeply within the psyches of the characters. The emphasis in this story as well as most in the series is on the puzzle. There are seldom recurring characters in these novels, and little interaction other than investigative betwee Archer and the other characters. And as always, the dark corners of human nature are well probed. Definitely highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Complicated, tragic puzzle with a hint of daring
Review: Noir fiction often has tested barriers and taboos. This Lew Archer novel is in that tradition in that it doesn't break any taboos, but it does hint at it. If THE CHILL were written today, I think it would have been a bit more direct. As with many Lew Archer cases, this one starts innocently enough with his being hired to find a missing newlywed who's disappeared after an encounter with a mysterious visitor. In a short period of time, he's involved in a murder case, one in which he feels a vague sense of being responsible. There are the usual twists, the usual questions of identity, the interconnection of characters which doesn't at first meet the eye. MacDonald characters are difficult to pigeonhole into "good" or "bad" categories. The motivations often come from deeply within the psyches of the characters. The emphasis in this story as well as most in the series is on the puzzle. There are seldom recurring characters in these novels, and little interaction other than investigative betwee Archer and the other characters. And as always, the dark corners of human nature are well probed. Definitely highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: No suspense to be found here
Review: Not a good read. Lacks any suspense or thrills. I know this is supposedly "vintage" but I have read alot of vintage with real character development and thrills both. Also, plot development is very slow. Conclusions are predictable.
Rating:
Summary: A Pleasure
Review: Reading Ross MacDonald is a voyage into the past. His work is evocative of bygone eras and landscapes, and even on initial publication there was something decidedly old-fashioned about the attitudes, manners, the morals, the entire approach to detective fiction. Nearly twenty years after his death, a lot of readers are going to find him so dated as to be inaccessible. So, also, are Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammet, Arthur Conan Doyle and yes, Jane Austen, another old-fashioned writer of novels of manners. The Chill isn't an action-packed thriller, it isn't laden with pyrotechnics, it doesn't feature dashing heroes saving the world, and Archer most definitely is not going to get the beautiful girl in the end. So what? Reading this this book is more like savoring fine wine from an old bottle. Enjoy the flavors of the past, the convergence of themes and the complexity to the last drop.
Rating:
Summary: His best, as good as Chandler
Review: RM is generally not quite up there with Chandler. But in this one he is. Very atmospheric, rather sad, quite creepy. RM recycled his plots too often. Westlake says "he has great carbon paper." This is the one to read.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best mysteries i have ever read
Review: Ross Macdonald could flat out write. His style is at times very 'Chandleresque', (he really enjoyed Chandler's books)but he brings something else to this story that even the master Raymond Chandler wouldn't have. The word is 'dimension'. Where Chander and Hammett were known for there 'hardboiled' approach, Macdonald's Lew Archer is obviously a man of keen intelligence. He is also one cool customer, a flawed man in a flawed world. The story concerns a murder that could be connected to another murder that happened many years before. And, maybe another. The plot reveals itself slowly, I wasn't quite sure where it was going, but the writing is so crisp and poetic, that i just read, and let it all happen. This is a wonderful book, written by a man who deserves all the praise in the world for bringing something else to the mystery novel. Just read it, and enjoy.
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