Preview
  • Playback

  • A Philip Marlowe Novel
  • By: Raymond Chandler
  • Narrated by: Scott Brick
  • Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (109 ratings)

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Playback

By: Raymond Chandler
Narrated by: Scott Brick
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Publisher's summary

Crime fiction master Raymond Chandler's final novel featuring Philip Marlowe, the "quintessential urban private eye" (Los Angeles Times).

In noir master Raymond Chandler's Playback, Philip Marlowe is hired by an influential lawyer he's never heard of to tail a gorgeous redhead but then decides he'd rather help out the redhead. She's been acquitted of her alcoholic husband's murder, but her father-in-law prefers not to take the court's word for it.

"Chandler wrote like a slumming angel and invested the sun-blinded streets of Los Angeles with a romantic presence." (Ross Macdonald)

©1958 Raymond Chandler (P)2021 Random House Audio
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What listeners say about Playback

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So Marlowe

Excellent as always, audio production fits the story well. Liked music between chapters, so Marlowe.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not Chandler's finest, but Brick is always great!

Not Chandler's finest, but Brick is always great!
Not Chandler's finest, but Brick is always great!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Dramatic and very good

I agree the music trumpets the drama, but who deserves extras more than Marlow. Chandler's literary flourish may not be as top notch in this episode as in others, yet the depth of all characters here is striking~ Marlow accepts his dangerous psyche more than ever.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Overproduced

The music was too loud and distracting. I love Scott Brick - this was not one of his best .,,,

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    5 out of 5 stars

Raymond Chandler!…

…Philip Marlowe! Murder! Dames!

Read all of these as a late teenager… a few elements haven’t aged quite well, but they’re less upsetting to me than they may be for others. Otherwise: classic.

The moral rectitude, but not the unnecessary body count or over-complexity of early Hammett nor the high society cocktail party crime game of late Hammett. Just right.

Well read, too (could maybe have been more gravelly voiced?). Could have done without the music interludes and stuff… it dates these and makes listening to them feel like watching a black-and-white movie…. The writing style is so modern and immediate.

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Spontaneous traffic noises while driving

The music interludes were obnoxious and inappropriate. I don't know why you would use those.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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Annoying musical interludes

Sigh. What is this? Did Raymond really write this book? It's like someone TRYING to write like him, but they are an amateur. ChatGPT could spin a better more "Chandler" story than this. Don't buy this book.

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