The Drowning Pool Paperback – June 3, 1996

I have been a fan of Ross MacDonald's Lew Archer series for decades and have re-read all the books in the series many times. I have been working my way through them again, in publication order, this time on my Kindle. The novels are as great as ever and I still enjoy them. But the Kindle editions are full of typographical errors. Some are random (e.g., he/she confusion), some are repetitive - not just within a books - from book to book (e.g., a car referred to as a "Chewy" rather than "Chevy". This is a minor annoyance and does not significantly detract from these great novels. But it does seem to imply that the publisher considers them "pulp" rather than serious novels. That strikes me as disrespectful to both the author (who is a recognized master) and the reader (who paid full price for these books).I've put this review under this book because it is the first in the series. But my comments apply to all the books in the Lew Archer series. The books are all very good. But the Kindle editions all contain typos.

This is a great private eye novel about Lew Archer, a detective who’s hired by a woman facing a blackmail threat. She won’t let him know what scandalous background she might have that she could be blackmailed over, just that she’s received a vaguely threatening letter and fears more, so he has to just start hanging out around her family to learn more. From there it gets violent and soap operative as a bunch of family secrets emerge and mix with an oil company’s efforts to drill on the family land. Archer is a cynical and witty detective whose voice and style is one of the major assets of this novel. It’s an entertaining thriller full of plot twists set in mid-century Los Angeles and its environs.

This and other Ross Mcdonald novels of the era are wonderful tales about the cases of a PI in the late '40's and early '50's in Southern California. They provide a wonderful sociological over of the life and times of this bygone time. Readers of genres other than the PI/mystery tale will also find his stories entertaining, educational and at times downright hysterically funny.

my first ross macdonald novel. pretty racy stuff for the early fifties. dialog and description clearly influenced by Raymond Chandler.

I came to Lew Archer via the Kindle Daily Deal. They had The Galton Case up for about $2.99. For those new to the series it's the 8th book in the series. I was seriously WOWED by that book and so much so that I wanted to start the Lew Archer series, from the beginning. Despite what others have said about the first and previous novel to this one (The Moving Target, I loved it! Many believe he just wasn't up to his later excellence but if that's considered one of the worst, along with this one, then I cannot imagine how incredible the others are.Compared to the first book, this one is even better, stylistically. You can actually see the improvement in his descriptive writing. Yes, he appears to be influenced by Chandler/Hammett, but the style is definitely his own. I thoroughly enjoy his approach to humor. It is quite subtle, and it's very dry. His vocabulary is what I really like. Much of his words are, according to Kindle's on-board dictionary, "archaic" but that is what makes it fun. Learning what these things are. I say: let's bring 'em back!The only real problem I have is in his characterization. You can see that MacDonald doesn't really understand women, very well. The ending is deflating and unrealistic. Naturally this is fiction, so of course it's unrealistic, but what I mean is there is something one does in the book that characteristically speaking, would never would ever have done. That bothers me. I would love to discuss this and see what others think. If you know of a place online where we can do this, please let me know in the comments.Also, a previous review mentions the harshness of Archer's treatment of his client, in the beginning. I was disappointed as well. Perhaps though that is a demonstration of his growth by the end of the novel. Whatever it was, it was a bit off putting but not a serious problem for me.Is it worth the read? I think so. Just be prepared for a bizarre ending that seems wrong. It's not a bad ending, mind you. There are other things that are rather fascinating. It's just the one thing that bothers me and I refuse to spoil it for anyone. For this reason, that being that the ending is entertaining on the detecting side.

I enjoy the Lew Archer character , honesty ,integrity, a decent guy all around. Nice plot and quite a few interesting characters.

I ordered this book after watching the movie of the same name, which starred Paul Newman. In the credits it stated it was based on Ross MacDonald"s book, and I was curious enough about the story to want to read it. While parts of the book differ from the movie, the general plot is the same, and I found it an engrossing story that is worth reading for anyone who likes mystery and suspense.

MacDonald gives you a fascinating mystery and clever characters, dialog and insights to enjoy along the way. You can't get a better deal.

I like detective novels especially written by popular writers. This book fulfilled my expectations.

Ross MacDonald's Archer shares a lot in common with Chandler's Marlowe; both centres around the doings of a Los Angeles private eye who see's the world through cynical and weary eyes but who nonetheless try their hardest to do some good for a naive and innocent underdog. Whilst MacDonald isn't quite up there when compared with Chandler's descriptive prose and witty dialogue, he still does sometimes come close, (how can anyone beat the master?). What you lose in one-liners you make up with in a well plotted novel and more rounded characters. Both of which aren't exactly Chandler's strengths.However, the reader must be warned that MacDonald's Lew Archer novels do seem to be rather formulaic; for instance his novels usually include one or more of the following plot devises:1) A wealthy family hiding a secret from the past which has come back to haunt them,2) The head of the family is usually a dominatrix who has a strained relationship with her sons and/or their daughter in laws,3) A key character that turns out not to be the person he claims to be,4) Another Key character with important clues who has a nervous breakdown and whose doctor prevents Archer from questioning them,5) A lawyer/Doctor who cannot disclose important Patient/Client information.Some of these plot devices have been used in the Drowning pool. Never the less, it is still a gripping read with plenty of plot twists, which keep you guessing right to the end. If you want to escape to post war LA, then this will give you plenty hours of pleasure. You could almost smell the warm sea breeze coming from the ocean and imagine the palms gently swaying as you drive down the pacific coast highway.

Some of the language seems dated as well it might. This is not a modern book nor a new author. In fact this is one of the authors that my father gave me to read as a teenager and I am now 68, so it has been a while. Once one gets past this sense of the past the story rattles along. It is not an original thought to say that Lew Archer is almost the stereotypical hard-bitten gumshoe; no let's call him detective. You may spot the murderer before the end. Certainly if you are familiar with the genre you may but this will not spoil things for you. I will now seek out more novels from this period of my life and more by this author.

Tremendous sense of place and full of memorable one liners; real class in parts of this book. Lew Archer is one very determined operative and never seems to give up despite the odds. There are some moderately graphic times ,but the author doesn't wallow in them ,thus making the serious point much more effectively.There are some areas which could become somewhat formulaic ; I think the secret is to space the reading of the other books in a wide time frame. Not brilliant value though and Penguin's pricing policy makes a nonsense of their promotional blurb .

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