Red Harvest (Warbler Classics Annotated Edition)

<p><em>Red Harvest</em> is a cornerstone of American crime fiction that ranks on the Crime Writers' Association list of The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time. This blistering unflinching portrait of a town poisoned by greed violence and corruption is set in Personville a bleak Montana mining town so rotten its own residents call it Poisonville where law has been replaced by the muzzle of a gun. When the nameless Continental Op a hard-edged detective arrives to meet a client he finds only a corpse and a city teetering on the brink of chaos.</p><p>Summoned to restore order the Op plunges into a world where every alliance is temporary and every handshake conceals a dagger. Hammett's relentless pacing razor-sharp dialogue and unsparing realism create an atmosphere thick with tension and moral ambiguity. The Op's crusade to clean up Personville ignites a gang war that leaves the streets awash in blood-yet the deeper he digs the more he is forced to question his own motives and the very possibility of redemption.</p><p>Inspired by Hammett's own experiences as a Pinkerton detective <em>Red Harvest </em>is more than a detective story-it is a searing critique of a society where power is bought with violence and innocence is a rare commodity. With its unforgettable antihero and stark vision of American life this classic novel set the standard for hardboiled fiction. </p>