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The Underground Man
 
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The Underground Man (Mass Market Paperback)

by Ross Macdonald (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

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3 new from CDN$ 49.89 10 used from CDN$ 4.29

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Product Details

Product Description

From AudioFile

In this noir mystery, Private Investigator Lew Archer is hired to track down a missing child but becomes embroiled in a baffling forest fire that threatens affluent Southern California communities. Among the ashes, Archer digs up murder and, of course, a list of colorful potential culprits. Tom Parker's reading is impeccable. Characters ranging from a dumb blonde to a mentally challenged middle-aged man are presented with delicate yet distinguishable differences. Even the child's voice is believable, with glimpses of youthful innocence, bravado, and fear. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.


Product Description

As a mysterious fire rages through an affluent community in Southern California, Lew Archer tracks a missing--and possibly kidnapped--child and uncovers and entire secret history of wayward parents, wounded offspring, and murder. Along with its merciless suspense, The Underground Man possesses a moral vision as complex as that of a classic Greek tragedy.


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The Underground Man 4.1 out of 5 stars (10)
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Customer Reviews

10 Reviews
5 star:
 (7)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5.0 out of 5 stars The best of the best, Dec 26 2001
By B. English (Rock Island, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Underground Man: A Lew Archer Novel (Paperback)
The Underground Man was the first Lew Archer novel I had ever read. I was 12 or 13 and was looking for something other than the Stephen King and Michael Crichton potboilers that were so popular at the time . Reading this book was an epiphany. Now, nearly 15 years later, and hundreds of PI novels later, I have discovered nothing that surpasses this series.

The thing I liked about what MacDonald did is he took all the traditional Hammett/Chandler plot points and character traits (later to become tired cliches when grabbed on by dozens of lesser writers) and made them fresh and relevant. All the authors that came after him, from Parker's Spenser to Grafton's Kinsey Millhone (who sometimes resembles a female Lew Archer) owe their livelihoods to MacDonald.

The Underground Man is particularly interesting. In it, the author combined a natural disaster ( a devastating wildfire in the Southern California hills) with the turmoil that has enveloped the family whose members he is investigating. Like most of the later Archer stories, he serves not so much as the investigator of wrongs than an emissary to untangle the complex and poisonous relationships of the characters and try to avert impending tragedy. He is not so much interested in "who did it" as much as finding out what circumstances caused the situation he is now mixed up in.

Please disregard the previous negative reviews of this book. It doesn't sound to me like they even read the bookvery carefully. They totally misinterpreted the character. Lew Archer is not the stereotypical hardened tough guy of zillions of pulp paperbacks. He is actually a sensitive softie, perhaps too soft for his own good on occasion ("down these mean streets this weeping man must go" as one wag put it).

The other characters, the female ones included, are neither overly virtuous nor utterly weak as the negative reviewers seem to believe. They are simply ordinary people caught up in a bad situation. Politically Correct (even though the term didn't even exist when the book was written) platitudes give way to a realism never seen before in a detective story. MacDonald transcended genre.

Lew Archer is above all a flawed romantic who tries to make sense of a senseless world. I think the world could use a few more Lew Archers. Both this character and his creator have been inspirational to me in more ways than I can count.

Highly recommended.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Where There's Smoke There's Fire, Oct 11 2001
By Mystery Cat (Raleigh, NC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Underground Man: A Lew Archer Novel (Paperback)
THE UNDERGROUND MAN is my favorite Ross MacDonald novel. Lew Archer reaches his highest stage of development in this novel as he investigates a multigenerational mystery amid the southern California fire season. In my humble opinion, there has never been a finer mystery author, and THE UNDERGROUND MAN is MacDonald's finest book.
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5.0 out of 5 stars The Mystery Novel That Raised Detective Novels to Literature, Nov 19 2000
By James K. Sterrett (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Underground Man: A Lew Archer Novel (Paperback)
In the winter of 1972, the New York Review of Books featured this novel on its cover and proclaimed the it had won the editors over: From then on, detective mysteries would be considered literature - not just pulp fiction for the lowly masses. They had good reason. The way MacDonal writes, the story reeks of southern California in the 60's, capturing the feel of a Sunday drive through Santa Barbara and along its beaches. It also recognizes that all powerful families have dark histories that sadly repeat themselves over and over. This is the central theme; a constant in Ross MacDonald stories, but best expressed in this one. This mystery novel will not soon leave your memory bank; you will recall it fondly over and over for many years.
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 		 Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Are you too young to appreciate Ross MacDonald
This is my favorite Ross MacDonald book of all. Delighted it is being reprinted. Think I have an original copy. Read more
Published on Jan 3 2000 by E. Evans

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't judge this book out of context
I just happened upon this book, and I'm now a confirmed Ross Macdonald fan!

I am amazed by reviewers that revile a book written over 20 years ago because it does not match the... Read more

Published on Sep 14 1999 by Robin Currier

1.0 out of 5 stars I gave this book a one star rating for lack of a zero rating
I hate to piggyback on another reader's review but after reading Shadowskc's review, I just had to comment on this book, rather than remain just another passive reader. Read more
Published on Aug 31 1999

1.0 out of 5 stars Good reading for someone with a third grade education
I would not recommend anyone buy this book, even if they find it at a garage sale for a dime. The plot is fine but the characters are unbeliveable. Read more
Published on Aug 26 1999 by shadowskc@aol.com

5.0 out of 5 stars A clean and well ordred detective novel
MacDonald is a master of the detective novel. His hard-boiled narrator Lew Archer talks the reader through a confusing tangle of relationships in a southern California setting... Read more
Published on Jul 16 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars One of MacDonald's best - My favorite Archer novel
I'm a big fan of Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer novels, and this one's my favorite. Perhaps it's something about the way he perfectly captures Southern California during a... Read more
Published on Jan 8 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Intensely involving, with themes that transcend the genre
Combines the hard-boiled cynicism of old-school noir writers like Dashiell Hammett with an emerging concern about the modern age; features an aging Lew Archer who is more... Read more
Published on Aug 23 1998

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