The Chill [Hardcover]

Ross Macdonald (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: READER'S DIGEST IMPRESS; REPRINT 2003 edition (January 1, 1963)
• ASIN: B000GL87EE
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,543,854 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Give this one an 11!, January 12, 1998

By 

Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Chill (Paperback)

MacDonald is rightfully considered one of the three great hardboiled detective novelists (along with Hammett and Chandler). Rereading this novel confirmed what I thought the first time I read it: this is the best detective novel that I have ever read.

It is also the most appropriately titled novel that I have ever encountered. The first time I read this I was lying in the sun beside the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. When I reached the moment when the mystery was solved, a chill literally ran up my spine. One of the truly creepy moments of my life. Hyperbole rules among reviewers here, but this one would get a higher rating if I were allowed.

I have read most of MacDonald novels, despite the fact that I really don't spend much time reading mystery or detective fiction. His earliest books are good, but not great. But about four or five novels into the Lew Archer series MacDonald (in real life Professor Kenneth Millar, and husband of fellow mystery writer Margaret Millar)found his voice and his theme. In all his best books the theme is: the sins of the father shall be visited upon the second and third generations (I didn't check my OT for a more precise quotation). A typical plot from his best novels is as follows: Archer is asked to look into this or that problem (a person has disappeared, has left, is being plagued by someone, etc., etc.). Gradually upon conducting his investigation his role shifts from detective to archaeologist, until he eventually discovers the troubles that he has been asked to look into have causes reaching back ten, twenty, or even fifty years. The seed planted by an act decades earlier has sprouted in the present, destroying those who are otherwise innocent. (MacDonald always reminds me of Yeats's "Leda and the Swan," where Zeus's rape of Leda will eventually result in the birth of Helen and all the tragedy of Troy: "A shudder in the loins engenders there/The broken wall, the burning roof and tower/And Agamemnon dead.")

All of MacDonald is more than readable, but someone wanting to proceed from THE CHILL (which really is his finest work) should look at THE DROWNING POOL or THE INSTANT ENEMY.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Deservedly a classic., March 15, 2003

By 

nobizinfla "nobizinfla" (Windermere, Florida USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Chill (Paperback)

Along with Hammett, Cain and Chandler, Ross Macdonald is a pioneer of the literate mystery novel.

In "The Chill" (written in 1963), Lew Archer has a missing persons case that leads to three murders committed over a twenty year period that he must tie together.

There is plenty of action, twists, reversals and suspense throughout...adultery, cons, frame-ups, blackmail.

The plot is complicated and complex; filled with plentiful characters (many with aliases). You have to pay attention and keep score.

The ending is a major surprise.

It is easy to see why it is among the IMBA's "100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century."

Well worth a second read.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Darker Than You Think, January 4, 2005

By 

R. W. Rasband (Heber City, UT) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Chill (Paperback)

"The Chill" was recommended to me as Ross MacDonald's darkest book, and after finishing it one can confidently say it's hard to imagine a story with a bleaker conclusion. The author springs a gothic surprise ending that owes as much to late Alfred Hitchcock as Raymond Chandler. It's still stunning, but it must have really been a shocker back in 1963 when the novel was first published. Once again detective Lew Archer delves into a case that involves public corruption and private family dysfunction by the wealthy. It was Faulkner who said "The past isn't dead. It isn't even past." I suppose that is the motto of most noir, and especially this one. You should read this immediately.