The Chill
by Ross Macdonald
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Book Summary Information
Author: Ross MacdonaldEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1996-06-03
ISBN: 0679768076
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Vintage
Book Reviews of The Chill
Book Review: Archer at High Tide
Summary: 4 Stars
The Chill is perhaps Ross Macdonald's finest novel. In The Chill, Macdonald brings together all of the elements that made him a first-rate mystery writer. There are many things to like about The Chill:
1) Macdonald had a real talent for keeping the reader off balance. This makes him a great mystery writer. In The Chill, Macdonald shifts the setting, the time, & characters' identities with great skill. The only consistency is that Macdonald tells the story from the perspective of his hero, Lew Archer.
The settings in The Chill: Pacific Point, Reno, and Illinois are particularly well drawn. The Chill vividly "sets the scene" in each of these settings; it helps bring the book alive.
2) Macdonald has a flair for characterization. His characters are often losers, broken people. But they ring true. Few of the characters seem to be cardboard cutouts who lack depth. Macdonald uses psychology to explain his characters' behaviors and motivations. Also, the characters in The Chill interact in interesting ways.
(In contrast, the lack of depth in John Grisham's characters dooms his books to mediocrity).
3) Macdonald also understands pacing. He uses just the right mixture of plot/character development and action. The plot is very complicated, but it keeps the reader guessing throughout.
I do have a few quibbles with the book: Archer is rude to many of the people that he meets. Archer is just a private investigator, he cannot command respect in the same manner as a police officer; therefore, it strikes me as unrealistic that many of these people continue to provide information to a man who is insulting them. Archer is not always easy to like.
Another aspect of The Chill that struck me as unrealistic was Archer's interaction with the sheriff. Archer consistently gets the sheriff to back down and not question a key witness; this allows Archer to investigate the case. To me, the sheriff is a poorly-drawn character; there is no depth there.
On the whole, however, any mystery fan should enjoy The Chill. Macdonald clearly was a very fine writer who chose to write mysteries. The Chill is a true thriller that will keep you guessing until the end.
Summary of The Chill
In The Chill a distraught young man hires Archer to track down his runaway bride. But no sooner has he found Dolly Kincaid than Archer finds himself entangled in two murders, one twenty years old, the other so recent that the blood is still wet. What ensues is a detective novel of nerve-racking suspense, desperately believable characters, and one of the most intricate plots ever spun by an American crime writer."The surprise with which a detective novel concludes should set up tragic vibrations which run backward through the entire structure," wrote Ross Macdonald in his 1981 Self-Portrait. Nowhere in his work does he better demonstrate this principle than in The Chill, first published in 1964. The plot is one of Macdonald's most masterfully constructed. Private detective Lew Archer is engaged to trace a missing spouse, who has vanished--apparently of her own free will--only a day into her honeymoon. Archer begins pulling at the threads of the case, and by page 25 they're already starting to reveal a deeper, darker story involving two murders 20 years apart. As usual, Macdonald's economical prose propels the reader forward from one action-packed scene to another, while the scenes in turn pile up to paint a rich, complex picture of buried memories, anguished relations between parents and children, the arrogance of the rich, and the search for identity. Then, at the end, one of the author's best surprise reversals changes the picture's colors entirely. Even if you're one of those discerning readers who find Macdonald's lesser work superior to most other mystery writing (as does this reviewer), The Chill stands out among his books. --Nicholas H. Allison
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