Book review: The Glass Key

Book review: The Glass Key

“The Glass Key” is written by Dashiell Hammett, and is said to be the favorite novel that he wrote. The story began with a scene of the death of the Senator’s son, which built a mysterious atmosphere, and made the readers find out the truth. The plot is highly tangled and appealing, which can keep the readers guessing the result all the time.

At first, this novel was a little bit hard to read, because the author seldom gives background information about the characters and situations. The only thing I could do was to figure out the relations among the characters according to their conversations and behavior. As I got familiar with the rhythm of the story, I found that the theme and style of writing were really special in this novel.

Belonging to a hardboiled genre, the book depicted an indifferent, inscrutable tough guy, Ned Beaumont. He can easily infuriate others just by speaking one or two sentences. He even made use of a girl having lost her lover, in order to make a false charge and to get money to pay his gambling debt. He is not nice or gentle at all, but he attracted Janet with his tough and direct temperament. This is really beyond my comprehension. I could not see anything glamorous in Ned’s character. However, when I read an impressive part, that he was beaten daily in a dingy room after he had refused to help his opponent, I changed my point of view. From this part, I found that he was really strong and he had overcome the torture. As a matter of fact, Ned is cruel not only to his enemies, but also to himself. That is why he could not be defeated by his enemy. His adamant strength is unique, and attractive for some females. Of course, at the end he betrayed his friend Paul and went off with a women he did not seem to like very much. We can see the complicated essence of his personality, which reveals human nature.

Speaking of the theme of this novel, I think it can be regarded as a political thriller rather than a crime story. Throughout the book, the main purpose of the characters is not to solve the crime, like the stories of Sherlock Holmes. However, their goal is to assure the boss’s electoral success. We can see the dark and ugly side of politics in this story. For instance, the value of several votes can even be higher than somebody’s life. They only focus on the fight between the political groups, but ignored common sense and the real human nature.

To conclude, I think this book is worth reading. Even though it is not the same with the crime stories that I have read in the past, it has deeper excavation of the essence of politics and human nature.