The Barbarous Coast

By: Ross MacDonald

Narrated by: Tom Parker

In The Barbarous Coast, Lew Archer's pursuit of a girl who jackknifed too suddenly from high diving to high living leads him to an ex-fighter with an unexplained movie contract, a big-time gambler who died by his own knife, and finally to an answer he would rather not have known.More mayhem? Try our other Lew Archer mysteries.©1956 Ross Macdonald (P)1996 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"Tom Parker reads with great skill, shading primarily by accent rather than by tone or volume....This is an excellent presentation of an excellent crime novel." (AudioFile)

fun and great ride. awesome time piece.

This is a little out of my wheelhouse, but I really did enjoy the narration, the story, and to look back in time. Really well written.

Love this!

I'm a fan of the hard-boiled detective, call me nostalgic. MacDonald is a master of it, along with Hammett and Chandler. Barbarous Coast is one of his best for witty dialog, tough-guy private eyes, and hilarious similes. Five stars!

Good as it gets

Wonderful performance of a classic noir mystery. Spare writing with a great private eye, who has great psychological and social insight into the people he meets, which makes him a detective with a sympathetic morality. You will love it.

Not his best

Other than Archer, there was pretty much no one to care about or even be really curious about in terms of character. As usual, it was an interesting plot and not predictable but also not as engaging as many of his others. The performance was excellent.

Good not great

not Ross MacDonald at his best. Performance was good story was ok. It had some great moments but for me at least the conclusion was something of a let down.