Rating: 
Summary: Stolen diamonds, a religious cult, and a sleepy beach resort
Review: Perhaps the least acclaimed (and least read) of Hammett's five full-length novels, "The Dain Curse" is still loads of fun. Each of its three parts is a crime story unto itself, unveiling the convoluted pasts of a couple who die in the first act and of their oddly dull-witted daughter.
The always-unnamed Continental Op arrives on the scene to investigate the disappearance of eight imperfect diamonds from the home of Edgar Leggett, a soon-dead scientist who was trying to develop a method for tinting the jewels. This section is the most traditional of the three--a rather formulaic detective story where many of the whodunits seem to be solved by the end.
But it's the unsolved (and incorrectly solved) aspects of the mystery that provide the fuel for the next two parts. After the Op moves on to another case, he is called back to protect the Leggetts' daughter, Gabrielle, who is holed up--and doped up--with a religious cult. The Op stays in the Temple of the Holy Grail and observes both its strangely lethargic inhabitants and the charmingly plastic husband-and-wife team who leads the cult; his odyssey is one of the more atmospheric and bizarre adventures in Hammett's oeuvre. These four chapters alone are worth the price of admission.
From there, the action moves to the beachfront town of Quesada, where Gabrielle and her new husband have secreted themselves to recover from the prior series of traumatic events. The twists and turns--and the climax--are satisfying indeed, but what's lacking throughout the novel becomes apparent at last: Hammett's bizarre ambiance and the plot surprises fail to compensate for cardboard characterizations that aren't quite believable.
Nevertheless, "The Dain Curse" is a brisk page-turner, and fans of crime novels and of Hammett in particular are sure to enjoy the ride.
Rating: 
Summary: More Continetal Op
Review: The Dain Curse begins with a routine insurance investigation. Some moderately valuable diamonds were stolen and the Continental Op is put on the case to find the culprit. Not soon after, the Op learns that something larger is going on. The family he is investigating has some deep secrets and maybe even a curse follows them. The story takes place in three parts with three different mysteries, but they culminate to solve the Dain Curse, which is at the center of all the action. I was introduced to the Continental Op a few years ago in short story form and loved the character quite a bit. I've been saving the novels for a few years and it was worth the wait. Hammett became famous for Sam Spade and the Thin man, but the Continental Op is deserving of more attention. He's not typically handsome and he's even short and fat, but he has enough brains an no how to get the job done. A shame that Hammett got sucked into revolutionary politics and spent the last 30 years of his life writing nothing of value, because his early stuff is nothing less than Great American Literature.
Rating:
Summary: More Continetal Op
Review: The Dain Curse begins with a routine insurance investigation. Some moderately valuable diamonds were stolen and the Continental Op is put on the case to find the culprit. Not soon after, the Op learns that something larger is going on. The family he is investigating has some deep secrets and maybe even a curse follows them. The story takes place in three parts with three different mysteries, but they culminate to solve the Dain Curse, which is at the center of all the action. I was introduced to the Continental Op a few years ago in short story form and loved the character quite a bit. I've been saving the novels for a few years and it was worth the wait. Hammett became famous for Sam Spade and the Thin man, but the Continental Op is deserving of more attention. He's not typically handsome and he's even short and fat, but he has enough brains an no how to get the job done. A shame that Hammett got sucked into revolutionary politics and spent the last 30 years of his life writing nothing of value, because his early stuff is nothing less than Great American Literature.
Rating: 
Summary: A lesser work by Hammett
Review: The Dain Curse contains Dashiell Hammett's typically marvelous writing style, complete with his superb characterization, atmosphere, and narrative technique. However, the novel suffers in that the actual plot is rather weak, and the flow of events is choppy. The book appears, at first glance, to be three loosely connected short stories involving the same characters. Although events from each sequence lead into the next, the progression of action is uneven because of the multiple climaxes that occur throughout the book. Additionally, the apparently tenuous links between the three sections of the novel are not at all ideal for maintaining the reader's interest. Events do finally come together in the last chapter, and Hammett explains how these seemingly disparate events tie together. Nevertheless, until that point the reader might well be wondering just what is going on. If you enjoyed Hammett's other works, you will probably like this one. Casual or first-time readers, however, might very well find The Dain Curse to be off-putting.
Rating:
Summary: The Maltese Falcon it ain't
Review: The Dain Curse recounts a mystery seen through the eyes of The Continental Op, a stocky, perceptive and industrious middle aged sleuth employed by an insurance firm. He is called in to investigate the disappearance of some diamonds from the residence of the Leggett family. While there he makes the acquaintance of Gabrielle Dain Leggett, the morphine addicted 20 year old daughter of the Leggetts. This wasn't one of Hammett's best efforts with his story shooting off into so many tangents as to make it totally preposterous.
Rating:
Summary: The Maltese Falcon it ain't
Review: The Dain Curse recounts a mystery seen through the eyes of The Continental Op, a stocky, perceptive and industrious middle aged sleuth employed by an insurance firm. He is called in to investigate the disappearance of some diamonds from the residence of the Leggett family. While there he makes the acquaintance of Gabrielle Dain Leggett, the morphine addicted 20 year old daughter of the Leggetts. This wasn't one of Hammett's best efforts with his story shooting off into so many tangents as to make it totally preposterous.
Rating:
Summary: Not Fast Enough
Review: The most interesting aspects of this work are the method by which Hammett chooses to tell the tale and the fact that it shows the development of Hammett as a writer. The reader learns the details of the case as they unfold and are experienced through the eyes and ears of the nameless operative of the Continental Detective Agency. We encounter, with the op, the same truths, half-truths and untruths while moving toward a solution. The problem is we do not always seem to be moving fast enough.
Rating: 
Summary: Hammett Flops
Review: This is a poorly constructed novel that only a masochist would bother finishing. The excessive plot twists are propped up by awkward explanation opportunities that inhibit what little flow there is and dispel any suspension of disbelief that the reader may have enjoyed. Hammett's reputation is deserved, but this novel is not worthy of that reputation.
Rating:
Summary: In Spite of Flaws, Hammett's Second Novel Is A Winner
Review: Today, of course, Dashiell Hammett's reputation rests largely on the legendary novel THE MALTESE FALCON, but this does not mean that his other work isn't worth a look, and THE DAIN CURSE is a case in point: tightly written in a merciless tone, Hammett's second novel clearly sets the stage for much that was to follow. Hammett first made his reputation as a pulp magazine author, churning out a series of short stories in a lean, mean prose that drew numerous fans and built critical attention. One of the most popular characters of his short story work was known as "the Continental Op"--an insurance detective ("Op" being short for "operative") whose various adventures would ultimately form the basis for this, Hammett's second novel-length effort. Although some will disagree, I personally consider THE DAIN CURSE an noticeable improvement over Hammett's first novel, RED HARVEST. Like most of Hammett's work, both works are noteable for their hard-hitting prose, both offer convoluted plots, and both provide us with archetypical characterizations--but where I find RED HARVEST a strangely flat and slightly up-hill read, THE DAIN CURSE hooks you with the first few pages and holds your attention with ease throughout the entire course of the novel. The story is, as previously stated, convoluted. The Op is called in to investigate stolen diamonds--but strangely enough, these diamonds are not really precious: they are imperfect stones loaned by a jeweler to scientist/artist Leggett, who experiments with them in an effort to improve their quality. Leggett seems as surprised as everyone that any one would actually go to the trouble of stealing them--but suddenly the tone of the characters shift, and those who first welcomed the investigation seem to resist it while those who originally opposed it seem to encourage it. Clearly, there is something more going on than a simple burglary, and it short order it becomes clear that the "something" is murder. While THE DAIN CURSE is an entertaining read, it does have its flaws--and they are flaws that Hammett would take some pains to correct in his future work. Given that the novel is largely based on various short stories Hammett had previously written, it is hardly surprising that the movement of the plot has an episodic feel; there are actually points in the book where you feel the story has ended long before you've run out of pages, only to have Hammett spin off the plot into an unexpected direction with a somewhat awkward joining of the elements involved. The characters also tend to be inconsistent, and while this actually forms part of the plotline, Hammett does not entirely succeed in carrying off the effect. Perhaps the single most oft-leveled accusation against the novel is that its heroine proves a largely unsympathetic character who lacks either the power of THE MALTESE FALCON'S perfidious Bridgett or the snap and spark of THE THIN MAN'S Nora. For myself, I did not find this the major flaw that so many others do; what is an issue, however, is the very limited attention Hammett offers the character in the first third of the novel, where she reads as a minor supporting character--and rather than build the role in a way that places her front and center, Hammett simply shifts gears and suddenly puts her at the forefront. The result is an extremely awkward transition that undercuts one's suspension of disbelief. But whatever its flaws, THE DAIN CURSE is a truly entertaining read, written in the developing Hammett style that would peak with THE MALTESE FALCON. It may in some respects be a "developmental" work, but it is no less the worse for that, easily outclassing the vast majority of Hammett imitators that sprang up as the author rose to fame. Recommended to fans of the classic hard-boiled fiction school. --GFT (Amazon.com Reviewer)--
Rating:
Summary: a real page turner
Review: Unlike most people, I feel that THE DAIN CURSE was one of the best novels that Hammett has written. After reading THE MALTISE FALCON, and THE THIN MAN, this novel seemed to keep my attention more than the other two. It had action at every turn, and seemed not to dwell on one point, but investigate the different aspects of the case. This was a great novel, and was worth reading.
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