Dashiell Hammett's "Red Harvest" opens the door into a California town called Personville, in which the Op takes part of a job to clean the town up. After being called for a job, Hammett's protagonist opens and exposes the town after a critical murder.
Hammett keeps the reader engaged with character shifts and plot twists at a page's turn. Hammett shows an abnormal, yet extraordinary, approach by the Op's identity a being unknown through the book, and exposing the character's true thoughts and emotional changes. Hammett keeps your pulse pumping with each word while still satisfying the reader's perception of justice and killing. Hammett's views and meanings in the book coincide with the text, resulting in a true emotional attachment, sympathy, and hatred toward characters. Despite keeping the text reserved to only the events in Personville, Hammett shows the harsh decisions a detective has to make, and the cruel world of mobs and gangs. The reader feels the world of Personville crumbling around him as the Op digs deeper into the twisted,corrupted web of the town.
"Red Harvest" has the traditional detective feel, with a fresh breath. The book flows through moral decisions such as following regulations, the "fun" of killing, and true allies. As the Op solves the murder and cleans the town(with the help of some alcohol), the reader is bound to be swept away as the Op retells his views of the case, and how he was unwilling to keep with the codes. After reading "Red Harvest", you will never be able to view Sherlock Holmes as the true detective.
