' A good California-noir with not much of an ending. ' I seem to like everything I read of Ross MacDonald's. Felt the dialog was a bit stilted at times. ' A nicely plotted little mystery, written very much in the style of Chandler, but without the same depth of character and the grim worldview that makes Chandler such good reading. Like many of his stories family history lies behind the solution. Fast, easy prose with an utterly predictable plot line and utterly predictable characters. The theme was nice, but a bit slow paced. Macdonald's emphasis on psychology & symbolism was truly amazing. ' I'll definitely seek out more Lew Archer novels after this one. ' Macdonald's the best, well.one of the best. While the story is complicated, with lots of ugly history being dug up, it's told in a simple, stripped down way. ' The second Lew Archer novel I've read and nearly as enjoyable as the first.

Lew Archer investigates and is caught up in a complicated and tangled web of plot. 'The unspoken irony,' Macdonald wrote in his notebook, is 'that she is talking to Archer. Macdonald planned for the young woman to come to Archer as a client searching for her unknown background.

' Southern California is burning up and a little boy has vanished. MACDONALD, John Ross Pseudonym of MILLAR, Kenneth (19151983). The novel was to have been a grand finale: The plot spans Lew Archers career, and in it the genealogical detective learns he has a long-lost daughter. ' Why I decided to pick up McDonald, I don't know, but it was a pretty good story, but not great.

Overall Performance: Narration Rating: Story Rating:.

The underground man by ross macdonald