Customer Reviews

Zebra Striped Hearse

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The bad news about this wonderful novel is that it is not Ross MacDonald at his very best. The good news is that it is still far better than most mystery novels that have been written. Of the three great masters of the American hardboiled detective novel, MacDonald never achieved the brilliant prose style of Hammett and Chandler, but neither of those two came close to the meditations on the vagaries of the human soul that MacDonald made his subject over and again. All of MacDonald's novels deal with the consequences of original sin, of an evil that seems to be greater than any individual human being, an evil that constantly threatens to overwhelm human beings when they least anticipate it. Frequently, we discover in MacDonald that, as in the Old Testament, the sins of the fathers have been visited on the second and third generations. Often in his novels, the roots of the crimes of the present lay twenty or thirty or forty years in the past. In this novel, Lew Archer at one points explains to his client, "The past is the key to the present," thus stating explicitly one of the fundamental principles underlying all of MacDonald's fiction. Ironically this novel extends less into the pass than almost any of his other novels. One of his truly great novels such as the incomparable THE CHILL or THE INSTANT ENEMY will extend decades into the past, which MacDonald brilliantly links to the present. Often one gets the sense that MacDonald's is revealing the secret history of his character's lives. This one does as well, but instead of going forty years into the past, he goes merely a few years.

I loved the locales of the novel. Although I wish he physically described the areas Archer visits, MacDonald was always more of an ethicist than a sociologist. He was always less interested in communities and the way society worked than in the way that humans worked and how the decisions they make ripple down through the lives of other human beings. Thus he visits Lake Tahoe, but there is a kind of timelessness to the area he described. In reading Chandler, on the other hand, there is often a deep consciousness of the character and nature of the places where the stories occur. These technique benefits both authors, by providing a concreteness to Chandler's stories that is often missing in MacDonald's, while lending a sense of timelessness to MacDonald that is impossible in Chandler. Most hardboiled writers have tended to follow more in Hammett and Chandler's footsteps than MacDonald's, though James Ellroy is one notable exception.

Though this is not one of MacDonald's best novels, it is still exceptionally enjoyable. It is also one of his least typical. Some people survive you anticipate meeting violent ends (the body count for his central characters is usually quite high). As always, he unrolls his plot skillfully. The characters are all vividly drawn. And unlike many of his other novels, there is more than one unexpected twist at the end. This is as fine a place as any for any newcomer to MacDonald to start, and any MacDonald veteran who has not read it certainly should. It may not contain the glories of his great masterpiece THE CHILL (which more than one critic of the genre considers to be the supreme novel of the entire detective genre), but it is nonetheless a very fine book.

Yeah, only in California are you likely to see a zebra striped hearse full of surfing teens. Although one of the important clues comes from the hearse, it doesn't really play that important a part in the story, but it's a symbol of the California lifestyle, especially the lifestyle of the teens & young adults. And this symbol has a bearing on the character especially of the young woman whose boy friend and potential husband Lew Archer is hired to investigate.

Of course, you know that what appears to be a simple case for Archer is going to develop into a complicated skein of emotions and events including murder. You can also guess that there will be tragic overtones in the matter.

Ross MacDonald is deservedly recognized as one of the elite of the hard boiled school. While there are resembances to Hammett, Chandler and even Parker to an extent, he is unique. While he presents you with a puzzle, he also makes you care for his characters. He may have you disliking and distrusting some of the characters such as the father and the boy friend in this book, and then have you caring in one way or another for them.

If you haven't discovered Ross MacDonald yet, it's time you did. And if you have, you don't even need to be reading this review. (Although I'm glad you are)

I've liked everything I've read so far by MacDonald, and Zebra-Striped Hearse is no exception. What I found different is Archer's travels, be it Mexico, Nevada, and up and down California. In particular, his portrayal of an American colony in Mexico of drunks, artists, and others just hiding out, read true. Same with the surfer kids in their zebra striped hearse. It's the kind of writing that gives you a slice of what the early sixties was like, but in a way that doesn't sound dated, but accurate.

The novel as a whole is moody, its story a dark (and very sad)one of sexual depravity, psychological cruelty, a deliberate red herring or two, and of course, murder(s). To some extent I felt novel had too many characters, and it was hard to keep track of all the motivations, not to mention Archer's frenetic movements between Mexico, California, and Nevada. But with MacDonald you get a master of character creation who possesses excellent descriptive powers. He can create a memorable character, with a history in the space of a paragraph or two. He's amazing. And his scenes can very suggestive, very dark. In one, a little girl looking at a comic book suggests (possible) crimes of a much greater scale. But MacDonald doesn't dwell on it. He leaves you hanging, effectively haunting you for the rest of the book. You never know for sure, but it's that not knowing that shows MacDonald at his best. Within the scope of the novel, it's a small moment, but MacDonald cares about those small moments as he builds a whole.

If there is convolution in Zebra Striped Hearse, it's a small sin blown away by the fine descriptive powers of a master.

This is my first Ross MacDonald, and it won't be my last. I found The Zebra Striped Hearse to be an insightful, intriguing, tightly written page-turner. This story could easily have been twice as long in the hands of a more recent author in the genre; instead it packs a complex study of both people and crime into a package you'll want to read in a single sitting. One of the best detective stories I've ever read.

Ross MacDonald received the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award, and it's easy to see why. Though this novel is over thirty years old, it is a meticulous, finely written, moody, introspective novel which can be read and enjoyed today easily. It is hardly dated at all, with the exception of some minor details.

Full of interesting complex characters, this book is full of the stuff which excellent detective novels are made of: good, evil, and motives galore.

As with MacDonald's books, it is complicated and moves to and fro to a degree that careful reading is necessary, but definately well worth it. While you're reading, the pace increases, the tension rises, the scenes are wonderfully interesting and the characters are delightfully real. The clues are precisely set out and carefully explained as the novel progresses. An excellent read for detective novel fans!

The bad news about this wonderful novel is that it is not Ross MacDonald at his very best. The good news is that it is still far better than most mystery novels that have been written. Of the three great masters of the American hardboiled detective novel, MacDonald never achieved the brilliant prose style of Hammett and Chandler, but neither of those two came close to the meditations on the vagaries of the human soul that MacDonald made his subject over and again. All of MacDonald's novels deal with the consequences of original sin, of an evil that seems to be greater than any individual human being, an evil that constantly threatens to overwhelm human beings when they least anticipate it. Frequently, we discover in MacDonald that, as in the Old Testament, the sins of the fathers have been visited on the second and third generations. Often in his novels, the roots of the crimes of the present lay twenty or thirty or forty years in the past. In this novel, Lew Archer at one points explains to his client, "The past is the key to the present," thus stating explicitly one of the fundamental principles underlying all of MacDonald's fiction. Ironically this novel extends less into the pass than almost any of his other novels. One of his truly great novels such as the incomparable THE CHILL or THE INSTANT ENEMY will extend decades into the past, which MacDonald brilliantly links to the present. Often one gets the sense that MacDonald's is revealing the secret history of his character's lives. This one does as well, but instead of going forty years into the past, he goes merely a few years.

I loved the locales of the novel. Although I wish he physically described the areas Archer visits, MacDonald was always more of an ethicist than a sociologist. He was always less interested in communities and the way society worked than in the way that humans worked and how the decisions they make ripple down through the lives of other human beings. Thus he visits Lake Tahoe, but there is a kind of timelessness to the area he described. In reading Chandler, on the other hand, there is often a deep consciousness of the character and nature of the places where the stories occur. These technique benefits both authors, by providing a concreteness to Chandler's stories that is often missing in MacDonald's, while lending a sense of timelessness to MacDonald that is impossible in Chandler. Most hardboiled writers have tended to follow more in Hammett and Chandler's footsteps than MacDonald's, though James Ellroy is one notable exception.

Though this is not one of MacDonald's best novels, it is still exceptionally enjoyable. It is also one of his least typical. Some people survive you anticipate meeting violent ends (the body count for his central characters is usually quite high). As always, he unrolls his plot skillfully. The characters are all vividly drawn. And unlike many of his other novels, there is more than one unexpected twist at the end. This is as fine a place as any for any newcomer to MacDonald to start, and any MacDonald veteran who has not read it certainly should. It may not contain the glories of his great masterpiece THE CHILL (which more than one critic of the genre considers to be the supreme novel of the entire detective genre), but it is nonetheless a very fine book.

Ross Macdonald was in top form when he wrote The Zebra-Striped Hearse. I found this engaging Lew Archer mystery to be an incredibly compelling page turner of a novel.

The narrative begins with ace PI Lew Archer being hired by Mark Blackwell, a wealthy, puritanical, ex-army colonel. Blackwell's daughter Harriet has taken up with a penniless artist named Burke Damis. And quite naturally, Dad does not approve. So he hires Archer to look into Damis' background.

Archer's subsequent investigation takes him to a number of different locales in California, Nevada and Mexico and proves to be quite fruitful. He learns a number of disturbing things about Mr. Damis, including the fact that Damis is not his real name.

But that's only the beginning. Archer and the reader eventually learn that nothing is at it appears. As the suspenseful plot unfolds, a hidden web of intrigue, deception and family dysfunction is skillfully unmasked. And ultimately, the multifaceted plot all comes together at the stunningly effective conclusion.

The Zebra-Striped Hearse is a prime example of Ross Macdonald at his very best. An enthusiastic 5 stars.

When I first started that book, I was glad to be able to read another Marlowe story even though I had read them all before. It was Chandler without its cold humour. But after some pages I realized it was a true original novel and not only a copy of the master. I eventually enjoyed it, with its own style. The scenario is good, the character is interesting etc. I would recommend it to anybody that would like to read classical black novels.

Ross Macdonald (1915-1983) is the most important American crime writer of his generation. This mystery takes his brilliant and biting private detective, Lew Archer, in search of a rich man's missing daughter. Deep strains, fears and crimes of the past are dug up all over the place--classic Macdonald.

Everyone seems to agree that Ross MacDonald ranks right up there with Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler as one of the greatest detective mystery writers of all time. The Zebra-Striped Hearse is yet another example that proves this is true. Ross MacDonald at his usual excellence.