The iconic first novel from crime fiction master Raymond Chandler, featuring Philip Marlowe, the “quintessential urban private eye” (Los Angeles Times). A dying millionaire hires private eye Philip Marlowe to handle the blackmailer of one of his two troublesome daughters, and Marlowe finds himself involved with more than extortion. Kidnapping, pornography, seduction, and murder are just a few of … murder are just a few of the complications he gets caught up in.
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The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler is a classic noir detective novel. If you love gritty murder stories with prose that sticks in your head for days and toxic blondes with drinking and gambling problems, you can’t do any better than The Big Sleep.
Written decades ago, it’s a classic in the private investigator genre. I loved reading Raymond Chandler’s characters’ dialogue with the slang of the times.
This was an excellent book – one I would NOT have even thought of picking up if it had not been assigned to me for my book clubs take on the 100 Book List. I am glad this was assigned to me and that I had a chance to read this amazing crime noir novel. I am not a big fan of the Noir genre, but this was excellent and the narration by Elliot Gould …
I can’t believe I waited so long to dive into this classic by Raymond Chandler. It’s amazing how the book has aged. Though the dialogue is consistent with the period, the humor is still great today and Chandler has weaved a classic mystery. Way ahead of its time, much of the subject matter had to be altered for the 40’s film version.
One of the classic detective novels, hard-nosed and bitter.
Chandler’s Phillip Marlowe is the prototypical Private Eye. If you like the crime genre and have never read any of these novels – you’re missing out! When I started this book, I thought that the writing would age like the Bond series – but Chandler’s characters relate well to today’s readers, and there’s not so much disused slang so that it is …
Just had to read this classic. I loved the language of the book, but of course some of it was quite shocking to our modern day views. A great private detective story. I enjoyed it
Very evocative of a certain era and wonderfully written by a master of noir crime fiction. I could see Bogart and Bacall all over again but in my mind not in black and white film.
There aren’t enough stars to describe how ahead of the pack Raymond Chandler is. All his books are highly recommended! And the movie he wrote, Blue Dahlia, is a lot of fun!
A classic.
Wonderful writing, great plot and characters. There’s a reason it’s a classic.
Even though the ‘mystery’ may not hold up under scrutiny, the writing, the characters and their dialogue, is Magnificent. Almost Required Reading.
I find it strange that the first word I think of to describe this hardboiled detective novel is “beautiful”. The heroes of these sorts of novels are rough and ready and I expect the prose to be the same. Yet that isn’t the case in The Big Sleep. From the very first page, Chandler’s writing is elegant, smooth and even breath-taking. His novel is so …
Like reading a film noir screenplay. Philip Marlow is the ultimate tough guy PI.
classic noir … nobody does it better
What can one say (me), about Raymond Chandler, the author of the Big Sleep. Each book he has written, far too little, has the dark look of Los Angeles. the characters are quite original. Every description of the characters are memorable. Chandler’s wit is unmistakable. Other authors have tried to copy this, however, they overdo it, throwing a …
After many years, I’ve reread this classic P.I. novel by Raymond Chandler, and it did not disappoint. Yet I wonder if if it was submitted to an agent today whether it would even see the light of day.
The Big Sleep breaks many of the so-called rules for good writing so popular today. It does a lot of telling rather than showing, and contains many …
Wonderful read by The master of the gritty detective/hour crime novel. Wonderful similes throughout!
It was so involved that I lost thread of the story and found it boring
Raymond Chandler was the best mystery writer I have ever read, and the Big Sleep is one of his best works. He sets the bar for mystery writing.