One Line Summary

Private eye Philip Marlowe dives into a case of blackmail and murder in sun-baked Los Angeles, where every favour carries a price and every truth is poisonous.

Opening Impression

The Big Sleep did not simply refine crime fiction, it reshaped it. Raymond Chandler replaces polite deduction with the hard-boiled conscience of Philip Marlowe, a man who keeps his integrity intact while the city corrodes around him.

Synopsis

Wealthy General Sternwood hires private detective Philip Marlowe to deal with a blackmail attempt involving his wayward daughters. What begins as a straightforward job spirals into a web of pornography rings, gambling houses and bodies left in cars and canals.

Analysis

Structure: Plot functions as atmosphere, confusion deepening rather than resolving.

Characterisation: Marlowe stands apart as an incorruptible observer in a city of compromise.

Themes: Corruption, isolation, and the cost of integrity.

Verdict

The Big Sleep remains the definitive noir, elegant, mournful, and startlingly modern.