The Big Sleep

This first Philip Marlowe novel hasn't been diminished by time. Published in 1939, it tells the story of the Sternwood family, as dysfunctional a group as you're likely to run into this side of Yoknapatawpha County. Chandler's writing is moody, sexy, and down to earth. Marlowe is the epitome of the noir detective, hard-shelled with a soft center. As difficult as it may be not to imagine Humphrey Bogart as Marlowe, Elliott Gould's performance resonates with truth. He sounds like the quintessential Marlowe. Lurking in his heavy baritone are just the right touches of mockery and cynicism. As Marlowe, he manages Sternwood's daughters with seeming disdain for their charms; and as the daughters, he switches from the troubled Carmen to the mysterious Frances with the sureness of the gifted actor that he is. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine