BY LUKE PATON

 

The world’s premier hard-boiled private eye returns as author Benjamin Black resurrects Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe for another twisty-turn case in The Black-Eyed Blonde.

Marlowe, made famous in 1946 film noir ‘The Big Sleep’ with an unsurpassed performance by Humphrey Bogart, is hired by the eponymous femme fatale to look in to the disappearance of her erstwhile lover – who supposedly died in a car accident.

But, as many readers will know, things aren’t always what they seem in the cynical world that Marlowe inhabits.

It has been more than 20 years since Marlowe has been seen in the pages of a novel and Black seems to be the perfect choice to bring him back to life.

Black is known for his Ireland-set crime novels starring Quirke, a pathologist in the 1950s, but he may be better to known to readers in general under his real name John Banville – winner of the Man Booker prize in 2005.

And, while the idea of another writer imitating the style of hard-boiled master Chandler might initially be a put-off, Black carries it off with aplomb.

As the novel is written in the first-person, Black masterfully brings the essence of Marlowe to the forefront of the reader’s mind, conjuring up the ideal narrative style of two-parts Chandler, one-part Black.

Certainly, there is nothing new here to surprise long-time crime fiction readers and it hasn’t broken the mould of its predecessors – but why would you worry about that when the novel in your hands is so much fun?

 

This book was published by Mantle and is available to buy for £16.99. It can also be borrowed from The Hive as well as other Worcestershire libraries. Click here to check availability and check it out.