Cover of The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep

Raymond Chandler, 1939

American novelist, 1888–1959.

The Big Sleep is a 1939 novel by Raymond Chandler.

Essential
  • Critics' Darling

In crime and mystery

On 6 of the 16 lists it was eligible for.

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At a glance

Author
Raymond Chandler
First published
1939
Length
512 pages (UK paperback)
Genre
Crime and mystery

Is The Big Sleep worth reading?

6 of the 16 best-of lists it could have made include it, among them 100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph) and 100 books of the century (Le Monde).

ListPlaceOriginal
100 books of the century (Le Monde, 1999)No. 96See the list
100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph, 2009)No. 34See the list
100 novels that shaped our world (BBC Arts, 2019)ListedSee the list
All-Time 100 Novels (Time, 2005)ListedSee the list
The 100 best novels written in English (The Guardian / Observer, 2015)ListedSee the list
The 100 greatest novels of all time (The Observer, 2003)ListedSee the list

Best edition of The Big Sleep

The edition we link to is the Penguin Classics paperback (2023), 512 pages.

Publisher
Penguin Classics (paperback, 2023)
Pages
512
ISBN
9780241654149

How critics, prizes and readers rate The Big Sleep

Critics rate it most highly: it earned 54% of the points available on critics' lists, against 0% on prize lists and 0% on readers' and booksellers' lists.

Critics
54%
Prizes
0%
Readers and booksellers
0%

Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work

Books like The Big Sleep

If you liked The Big Sleep, try Rebecca, The Hound of the Baskervilles or The Name of the Rose.

Lists used on this page