The MacGuffin in "The Maltese Falcon" #FridayReads

When a local library in Honolulu decided to close its doors for good, I snagged a hard cover copy of Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon, the only full-length novel in which Detective Sam Spade appears. The statuette of a falcon, an object that has been lost for centuries, is the focus of a deadly search around the world. Guns are drawn. People die.

A MacGuffin in a book is an object or event that is necessary to the plot or its characters' motivation but is irrelevant in itself. The missing falcon is the MacGuffin in The Maltese Falcon as desire for its ownership drives the plot. The ring in J.R.R. Tolkien's saga and the Philosopher's Stone in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novel are both MacGuffins that give purpose to the novels' plotlines. I would include Stephen King's Dark Tower series, a tale of a gunslinger's quest for the tower which is reported to be the nexus of all universes. The tower is the MacGuffin that drives the plot but is irrelevant in itself.

While reading Dashiell Hammett's novel again recently, I thought about current day MacGuffins and how an event such as an upcoming wedding can indirectly control current actions. Preceding a wedding, the bride-to-be nervously over-eats her way out of her wedding dress; the groom has second thoughts and leaves town; the father of the bride embezzles company funds to pay for the wedding reception; or little sister of the groom shoplifts a wedding gift for her brother.

And then there are MacGuffins in movies!

*****      

#FridayReads THE MESSENGER 26 of 71 Reviews

 

Over the years, I’ve read many of Jan Burke’s Irene Kelly mysteries and always found them suspenseful and entertaining. The Messenger is billed as a supernatural thriller. I decided to step out of my comfort zone to read this novel. (I’ve found that setting a goal of reading 71 books in 12 months gives me the incentive to read a wide variety of genres. )

As always, Burke held my interest with the promise of a good mystery to solve. But she ratcheted up the tension with a new dimension of possibilities.

This story quickly brought to mind a powerful aspect of the Harry Potter novels, that of the young protagonist’s main nemesis and the series’ ultimate villain. Burke expertly weaves into her supernatural tale strands of reality that suggest plausibility requiring little “suspension of disbelief” on the part of the reader.

The back-of-cover synopsis states, “The mystery dates back two centuries, when a wounded British officer exchanged his life to become the messenger, a being who conveys the final thoughts of the dying to their loved ones.”

Even if the paranormal genre is not your usual cup of tea, you may want to venture into the arena for this fun and suspenseful read.

Next up for review is:

The Pearl Harbor Murders by Max Allan Collins