The Last Days of John Lennon; The Thin Man

When I was around 15, I became obsessed with the Beatles. Listened to everything, watched everything, read everything. I read this one even though I knew I probably wouldn't like it (I didn't) because I was curious what Patterson's stable of writers would have to say. As it turns out, not much. 

First of all, the title is misleading. The book covered John's entire life (good thing, too, otherwise the book would have been very short). No real new information in it, the most I can say is at least the chapters were short. If you're looking for a really good book about John Lennon's final years, check out Fred Seaman's "The Last Days of John Lennon". Fred was John's personal assistant the last few years of his life and describes how miserable John was not making music and how excited he was to finally be creating again when he and Yoko made their last album, "Double Fantasy". It was fascinating. 

A few years ago, I watched the first few Thin Man movies starring William Powell and Myrna Loy and enjoyed the heck out of them. I tried to read Dashiell Hammett when I was in college and didn't particularly care for him, but since I found the movies so charming I thought I would give "The Thin Man" a chance. It was pretty good, I think I might have just been a little too young to appreciate his writing style. Maybe I'll try to read "The Maltese Falcon" again someday. 

"The Thin Man" stars Nick and Nora Charles, a wealthy couple who spend their days and nights drinking and going to clubs. Nick used to be a private detective, and was a darn good one. He and Nora come back to New York on vacation (they live in San Francisco) and Nick becomes involved in a murder mystery involving an old acquaintance of his, eccentric inventor Richard Wynant. Wynant is the main suspect in the murder of his former girlfriend and secretary, Julia. There's a whole cast of shady characters and high society folks who act worse than the gangsters do. It was a pretty good book, but I must say, I really liked the movie better.