Expectations fairly well met. The central twist was fairly well telegraphed from the beginning but the journey was fun and exciting. Marlowe's disdain for cops was appreciated and there were points where my attention was careless enough to be taken in by his bald-faced lies despite that I had been along for the ride every step along the way and seen exactly what he was lying about. Still fun, and I still hope to find modern detectives more like this classic, but also a long way off the brilliant shock that was The Big Sleep.