Jul 24, 2017diaparalectdoxical rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
In Barbarous Coast Ross MacDonald continues with his ambitious and scathing critique of the political corruption and psychological and moral decay he saw in the American culture in the 1950s. L.A. is "the unreal city, a false front leaning on scantlings". The unlikely villain has "the face of evil, drawn by a vague and passionate yearning toward the deed of darkness it abhorred". MacDonald takes many swipes at the McCarthyism rampant in the society. You get the feeling he did not feel much at home in the society he was writing about.
Still all the critique is woven into a rollicking and constantly changing plot full of graphic violence and sexual titillation and it's great fun to read. I think this is hard boiled writing, there is scarcely an admirable character to be found.
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The Barbarous Coast