Dashiell Hammett’s The Glass Key
The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Dorothy Parker once said that “there is entirely too little screaming about the work of Dashiell Hammett.” True though that may have been when she was writing, Hammett is now deservedly celebrated, and The Glass Key is a major reason why. The novel, a tale of murder, politics and corruption set during the Depression, benefits hugely from Hammett’s choice of the objective point of view, allowing no access to any character’s thoughts. Readers are left to track actions and assess motivations on the fly, and Hammett never allows them to feel safe as the characters position and reposition themselves on ever shifting ground. I enjoyed this book to the utmost.