When I was kid, I used to love the Encyclopedia Brown Boy Detective series. However, I could never figure them out - I would always have to turn to the back of the book. I guess I must be getting older and/or better since when I read The Drowning Pool by Ross MacDonald, I saw the ending coming. Well at least a sizable portion of it.
The Drowning Pool is a 1950 crime novel featuring hard-boiled private detective Lew Archer. It has the usual amount of murder, blackmail, corruption, and double-crosses one would expect of the genre.
I picked up The Drowning Pool off of the recommendation of Stephen King (yes - that Stephen King). He feels that MacDonald is overlooked compared to other pulp writers like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. With respect to King, I think there is a reason for that. Having read some of both Chandler and Hammett, I have to say that MacDonald feels a little derivative. Writing 10 years or so after the other two, MacDonald sounds like Chandler and Lew Archer seems indistinguishable from Philip Marlowe. Perhaps a more literary analysis could yield a more nuanced distinction, but I'm not the person for that job. Wikipedia says there is more psychological motivation for the crime in a MacDonald novel. I can kind of see that, but I guess I'm more of a whodunit than a whydunit person.
As for the book itself, as with all pre-1960s detective books, you have to make allowances for period. In the 1940s doing drugs/porn would be a permanent shame. Today you get your own cable show. So, for me the enjoyment comes from the colorful writing and detailed plotting. And I have to admit MacDonald does pop off a few excellent turns of phrase. But I think unless you are a true fan of the genre there are better turns and better phrases out there.
Bottom Line: Read The Big Sleep first. The Drowning Pool gets 2.5 TKs out of 5.
Favorite quote: There was nothing wrong with Southern California that a rise in the ocean level wouldn't cure.
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