MacDonald, John

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About timeless beauty
The ancient Romans created a provocative architecture.

Hadrian's Villa and Its Legacy
William L. MacDonald , and John A. Pinto
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0300053819

Book Description

The great Villa constructed by the Emperor Hadrian near Tivoli between A.D. 118 and the 130s is one of the most original monuments in the history of architecture and art. In this beautiful book, two distinguished architectural historians describe and interpret the Villa as it existed in Roman times and track its extraordinary effect on architects and artists up to the present day.

Customer Reviews:

About timeless beauty.......2004-03-03

First of all, it is a beautiful book. For anyone who already has visited the Villa, just the cover is truly moving, with the line of trees next the palestra, as moving is the Piranesi graffiti photo. The reader must also understand the book is about a ruin and accept some degree of frustration with descriptions and the current outlook of monuments, but MacDonald and Pinto are very sucessful in freeing our imagination to wander among the profound design and intentions of Hadria's Villa. A collection of monuments that is too the empire, the memories of a life and a message to the future. Even the authors seemed amazed, for instance, by the Maritime Theater plan or the use of landscape. It is a book to be read again and again.

The ancient Romans created a provocative architecture........1998-02-16

MacDonald/Pinto assert that Hadrian forged a new and innovative architectural system which integrated buildings with nature and human use. Hadrian's goal was to create an arrangement of buildings which were functional and yet challenged the intellect to contemplate the unseen world. They also make a very strong case for the pervasive influence which this complex villa has had on archtecture from ancient times to the present. This book makes one realize that Roman architecture is indeed relevant to the present.

Average customer rating:

If you are just starting this series, I'm jealous
A Classic
An Outstanding start. I'm hooked.
read this one first
Good writing - not so good material

Deep Blue Good-by
John D. Macdonald
Manufacturer: Fawcett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Nightmare in Pink (Travis McGee Mysteries)
Purple Place for Dying
Quick Red Fox
Deadly Shade of Gold (Travis McGee Mysteries)
Bright Orange for the Shroud

ASIN: 0449223833
Release Date: 1995-05-31

Book Description

TRAVIS McGEE
He's a self-described beach bum who won his houseboat in a card game. He's also a knight errant who's wary of credit cards, retirement benefits, political parties, mortgages, and television. He only works when his cash runs out and his rule is simple: he'll help you find whatever was taken from you, as long as he can keep half....
With an introduction by CARL HIAASEN
JOHN D. MACDONALD
"....the great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller."
--STEPHEN KING
"....a master storyteller, a masterful suspense writer."
--MARY HIGGINS CLARK
"....a dominant influence on writers crafting the continuing series character."
--SUE GRAFTON
"....my favorite novelist of all time."
--DEAN KOONTZ
"...the consummate pro, a master storyteller and witty observer."
--JONATHAN KELLERMAN
"...remains one of my idols."
--DONALD WESTLAKE
THE TRAVIS McGEE SERIES
"...one of the great sagas in American fiction."
--ROBERT B. PARKER
"...what a joy that these timeless and treasured novels are available again."
--ED McBAIN

Customer Reviews:

If you are just starting this series, I'm jealous.......2007-02-17

I read the entire series as they came out starting 40 years ago, and am now listening to the unabridged audiobooks with delectible slowness.

If you are lucky enough to be reading reviews to contemplate starting this series, you have a wonderful journey ahead of you. I think Travis McGee, along with Nero Wolfe, are the two best (albiet very different) characters ever in the mystery/crime genre.

Since it is now 43 years since this book was published, you will be astounded at the amazing contemporary nature of the books.

This is one of the more complicated plots with as many characters as any story in the series, perhaps as befits the first one written. It is a great story, but as MacDonald hits his stride around the third or fouth book in the series, the plots simplify, the number of characters goes down, and the depth of each charcter intensifies.

You can read other stuff about the plot, characters, et. al. The purpose of this review is to tell you that when you finally get to the 21st book in the series, The Lonely Silver Rain, you'll be writing a review like this and be looking forward to your second visit to The Deep Blue Good-by as you start the adventure all over again.

A Classic.......2007-02-06

The first in the John Macdonald "Travis McGee" series, this book sets the stage for the rest of the series. You get to know a little about McGee, and get a good mystery story. It's a little "dated" now for younger readers, but I think most adults who like mysteries would enjoy "The Deep Blue Good-bye", along with the rest of the Travis McGee series.

An Outstanding start. I'm hooked........2006-08-30

Like the title of this review says "I'm hooked".

Travis McGee is the best find I've had in fiction in years.

Sort of a blend of Parker's Spenser and Cussler's Dirk Pitt.

McGee's that cool.

A great, thoughtful read with great incite into life and a few shocks to keep things fresh.

Junior Allen (the bad guy of the book more or less) is absolutely
chilling. A true picture of the human predators that do exist in real life. Not the "mine is an evil laugh" stock bad guys you find in most fiction.

This was my first MacDonald book but, far, far from the last.

read this one first.......2006-06-22

I've recently started re-reading this series - this time in order. While it's true you don't have to read the books in order, it does make sense to do so. Like all other mystery series, the author will refer to things (good/bad/whatever) that happened previously. Unlike others, John D. MacDonald will refer to them in passing & not rehash the whole story. If you want continuity, start here.

It's especially important to read this one, and the next - Nightmare in Pink - first. What happens in this book is referred to many times - as far ahead as Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper. Possibly further, but I haven't gotten that far yet.

Good writing - not so good material.......2005-04-02

While the writing was excellent, the material lacked interest for me. For a thriller/action/mystery there was very little sleuthing and very little action. Three-quarters of the book dealt with seven broken women coming to Travis McGee for a word of philosophy and sexual healing. This was a treatise on women's self worth, as explained through the cavalier Jimmy-Buffet lenses of Travis McGee.

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Book Description
An outstanding work

Comprehensive Neurosurgery Board Review
Jonathan Stuart Citow , Robert MacDonald , Richard, M.D. Kraig , and Robert L., M.D. Wollmann
Manufacturer: Thieme Medical Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Neurosurgery Board Review: Questions And Answers For Self Assessment
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ASIN: 0865778892

Book Description

In Comprehensive Neurosurgery Board Review, you'll find all the information you need to answer every type of question you'd find on the neurosurgery boards. Co-written by a physician who recently placed second in the U.S. on the neurosurgery boards and a renowned team from the University of Chicago, it provides "everything you need to know" to thoroughly prepare for these exams.

Customer Reviews:

Book Description.......2005-12-31

Description: This is a valuable and helpful resource that contains most of the fundamental information that a neurosurgery resident needs to know in order to pass the written boards. The book is written by specialists in a variety of disciplines, mainly neurosurgery, neurology, and pathology from the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Purpose: The book is targeted to junior and senior neurosurgery residents, who typically have little time available to absorb the massive amount of literature pertaining to the neurosurgical science. The purpose is primarily to provide a comprehensive board review for neurosurgery residents. This is a worthy and important objective and the book largely meets it. The material can also be very helpful to academic neurosurgeons engaged in teaching activities, physicians from variable specialties, medical students, and other health care professionals attentive to the field of Neurosurgery.

Audience: "Young Neurosurgeons preparing for the hurdles for professional examinations will find this to be a most valuable aid". The authors are credible authorities and have an exact understanding of what their audience wants and needs from this comprehensive review.

Features: A wide variety of topics are concisely reviewed with a special focus to deliver take home messages. The sequence of chapters is defined in the preface and the book is divided into six chapters: Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology and Radiology, Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Critical Care. The index is very helpful and the book is supplemented by a considerable number of fine quality illustrations.

Assessment: This is a valuable neurosurgery review book for the written boards. It has a dense amount of high yield information and represents an excellent resource for neurosurgery residents. "It is remarkable that the chief editor had the ability to write this book while still in residency", which makes it very useful to its intended audience. Readers are encouraged to supplement their readings with other in depth detailed sources.

An outstanding work.......2000-06-02

I finally found myself in that book. I thought I was lost going through big texts of neurosurgery and I could not grasp all the information needed to pass my exam. Now that this amazing book is available I'm sure I will pass the exam . It provides a good frame for studying and contains all one needs to prepare for the neurosurgery exam. It saves time and a lot of effort . I envy younger neurosurgeons because this work is now available at their hands.. study will be much easier.

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Standard McGee
Free-standing, but a sequel to FREE FALL IN CRIMSON
Gets better with age
Good Old Storytelling at its Best
Classic McGee - on a mission for a friend

Cinnamon Skin (Travis McGee Mysteries)
John D. Macdonald
Manufacturer: Fawcett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Lonely Silver Rain (Travis McGee Series)
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ASIN: 0449224848
Release Date: 1996-04-20

Book Description

When Travis McGee's friend Meyer lent his boat to his niece Norma, and her new husband Even, the boat exploded out in the waters of the Florida Keys. Travis McGee thinks it's no accident, and clues lead him to ponder possibilities of drugs and also to wonder where Evan was when his wife was killed....

"Proves again that MacDonald keeps getting better with each new adventure."

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Customer Reviews:

Standard McGee.......2005-10-22

To paraphrase a cliche: Travis McGee books are like pizza; even when they're not great, they're still pretty good.

But usually the major narrative faults don't fully occur to me until after I've finished them. During "Cinnamon Skin," though, I was noticing them left and right.

The main villain -- a chameleon who marries women, drains their money and murders them -- is pretty old hat. The story is extremely low on action (one clumsy fight; one badly sketched death by auto accident; one shoot-out that ends rather ludicrously). And did this book really need the appearance of a well-connected Mayan princess? Well, maybe... but it strains credibility.

"Cinnamon" isn't without its virtues: It's cool to see Meyer get such a big supporting role; cool, also, to see the rare sight of McGee clearly botching a relationship and, later, baiting his ex in a pretty high school way. He's not the fresh tough guy he used to be and even, at one point, gets mad at younger characters for moving too fast for him.

This was the first McGee I'd read that was written in the 80s. It's funny because whenever I visualize MacDonald's novels, I always see them in stark, CinemaScope, Technicolor terms. I visualize them existing in much the same, bright, 60s, go-go world as "Point Blank" and "Harper," with the later jaunts perhaps resembling "The Parallax View." So it was funny to me to read references to things whose appearance in the pop culture world I remember: McGee actually reads "Cujo" at one point, and grouses about the loser kids at a videogame arcade. Startling at first, but eventually pretty amusing.

Free-standing, but a sequel to FREE FALL IN CRIMSON.......2005-07-14

"My God, McGee, can't you come up with something more original?"
"I thought it was."
"It's a song, you idiot. Piel Canela: Cinnamon Skin. They sing it all over Mexico."
- sometimes a compliment just doesn't work

CINNAMON SKIN begins on an ominous note; McGee's gentle, scholarly friend Meyer, a year after the events of FREE FALL IN CRIMSON, is still suffering from having broken in the face of some very heavy threats by a particularly murderous psychopath. (As CINNAMON SKIN is self-contained - McGee summarizes Meyer's situation for his current, unusually long-running girlfriend Annie Renzetti at the start of the book - it isn't necessary to read CRIMSON first, although since it introduced Annie as well as Meyer's problem I'd recommend having it handy at least to read afterward.)

However, just as the reader may begin to suspect that this book will follow a predicable formula - Meyer helps McGee with a salvage operation, regains his self-respect - two separate plans to try to help Meyer out yield unexpected results. An old friend and colleague has arranged for Meyer to give a talk in Canada, while Meyer's only living relative, his niece Norma, arranged to visit with her new husband Evan Lawrence, and thanks to crossed wires Meyer's out of town for part of Norma's visit while she and Evan stay aboard his houseboat, the JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES.

Consequently, when Meyer's boat is bombed and lost with all aboard while on a fishing jaunt, Meyer himself isn't there. He's lost the last of his family, his home, and nearly everything he owns thanks to a self-proclaimed terrorist attack - but *that* snaps him out of his frozen depression. He's determined to see Norma avenged, and McGee (of course) is in on this from the start.

But the facts don't add up. The supposed Chilean outfit that claimed responsibility doesn't seem to exist, and nobody else involved in Meyer's only Chilean-related project has ever been threatened. Who was the intended victim? Hacksaw Jenkins, a straight-arrow charterboat row captain known to stay away from drug action? Norma, a rising young field geologist for a Texas oil company? Evan, a footloose good ol' boy?

The scene quickly moves from Florida to Texas as Meyer and McGee begin digging into the recent past of Norma and Evan. The necessary formalities of settling Norma's estate quickly set them on the beginning of a very long trail, where the missing pieces are the most significant of all: missing people, and missing money. The most notable settings in the book are Texas in high summer (various places, Meyer and McGee do a lot of driving without many fast-talking scams) and Cancun (which was a very new development at the time of the action of the book).

Several nice touches, a few of which I'll mention. McGee's relationship with Annie, the very successful manager of a hotel in Naples, has issues other than his long field trips for his job: *her* job involves working for a large company, with up-and-out promotion prospects. Various discourses all over the map, from a brief chat with a farm equipment supplier on the smartest farmer in his county (who works his land with mules) to time-shares in Cancun to various grieving relatives of several people who surely would hate for the state to take several years to try this case and then call it second-degree.

I rather enjoy Michael Pritchard as a reader for unabridged McGee stories, but tastes may vary.

Gets better with age.......2004-11-23

If there's anywhere I'd rather go with Travis McGee other than Florida, it's Mexico. John D. MacDonald dives into the country's culture and landscape in "Cinnamon Skin" with his patented combination of cynicism, idealism, lechery and expertly rendered action, and you'll be really glad you came along for the ride.

"Cinnamon" is one of the later books in the series, and finds Travis and Meyer a little the worse for wear, time and loss having taken a toll. Travis starts the book by losing yet another good woman, and Meyer's still traumatized by events in the book before. That's what makes this series so great--the author's willingness to bring us along as his characters age, suffer and make mistakes.

I'm a younger, female reader, but have yet to find any mystery writer working today who even comes close to MacDonald. Basically, when I need a mystery fix, I'm more likely to re-read one of these than bother with the hacks that clutter the best-seller lists. Warm thanks to the publishers who brought out these spiffy new editions--even though a big part of the fun of discovering MacDonald is stumbling across the tattered original paperbacks with 1970s reciepts used as bookmarks and "Valley of the Dolls"-like babes on the covers.
Enjoy, and don't waste any more time on the inferior imitations!

Good Old Storytelling at its Best.......2003-06-28

A boat blows up coming into harbor in the Florida Keys. Within hours a Chilean Terrorist group claims responsibility for planting the bomb with intent to kill the famed economist Dr. Meyer. Private Detective Travis McGee is suspicious and tracks Meyer -- a good friend -- down and finds he was in fact, not aboard the ill-fated boat.

Photographs from a nearby boat reveal that a man Evan Lawrence also may not have been aboard the boat. Lawrence recently married Meyer's niece, and when McGee's suspicions seem confirmed, the two friends (he and Meyer) begin a hunt to find out about Evan Lawrence's past.

Thus begins Cinnamon Skin, a taut, fun mystery thriller that leads two friends through the criminal past that formed a killer. Some of the most deft touches in the novel come when MacDonald describes the lives of people along the Rio Grande Valley in southwest Texas. At one point, I actually got out a road map and traced their quest from Eagle Pass to El Paso and back all the way to Brownsville. MacDonald blends fact with fiction at just the right pitch in this, his twentieth Travis McGee novel.

MacDonald writes like a writer who has earned it, man. He seems to know his story so well, there is very little drift in the way he tells a story. Each sentence is exact or darn near exact, and the end result is a taut mystery that is very fun and very entertaining -- the kind of novel you'll want to talk about with friends.

I highly recommend Cinnamon Skin to folks who like good old storytelling at its best, most genuine form. It is the perfect airplane, poolside, vacation novel to help you beat the heat this summer. And its depth will leave you feeling satisfied at any time of year. Good stuff.

Please hit the "helpful" button if you found this review helpful. I like to know you care.

Stacey

Classic McGee - on a mission for a friend.......2003-02-20

For McGee afficionados, this is a must read. Travis is in classic form, driven to avenge the wrongful death of the niece of his closest friend, Meyer. Tracking down the killer by digging into his past is the best part of this book. About 2/3rds of the way through it, I said to myself, "this is definitely a five star book." However, the story gets bogged down in Mexico as McGee waits out the perfect opportunity to trap his prey. I felt like there were about two or three too many chapters written after Travis/Meyer's arrival to Cancun. As a side story, Travis is again torn between his woman of the book, versus his beach bum lifestyle, as she takes takes a career progression move out of Florida. Will he move with her? Of course not, John D. MacDonald wasn't finished with Travis yet. Never fear, McGee couldn't come out alone at the end, could he?

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Saving not-so-maidenly damsels in distress
Possibly the weakest of the Travis McGee novels.
Classic Travis
Like eating potato chips...
Cinematic McGee

Quick Red Fox
John D. Macdonald
Manufacturer: Fawcett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Similar Items:

Purple Place for Dying
Nightmare in Pink (Travis McGee Mysteries)
Deadly Shade of Gold (Travis McGee Mysteries)
Deep Blue Good-by
Bright Orange for the Shroud

ASIN: 0449224406
Release Date: 1995-06-27

Book Description

From the author of A Purple Place for Dying and The Deep Blue Good-by comes the republication of the bestseller starring Travis McGee, a real American hero. Reissue.

Customer Reviews:

Saving not-so-maidenly damsels in distress.......2005-07-11

"Suddenly I knew what she reminded me of. A vixen. A quick red fox. I had seen one in heat long ago on an Adirondack morning in spring, pacing along well in front of the dog fox with a very alert and springy movement, tail curled high, turning to see if he still followed, tongue lolling from between her doggy grin."
- McGee's first impression of red-haired sex symbol Lysa Dean

A mutual screenwriter friend in San Francisco, one of two real male friends Lysa has, recommends Travis to her to resolve a very sordid blackmail problem: after wrapping a movie a year and a half before, she'd taken three weeks holiday with a now-departed boyfriend who, apparently out of spontaneous boredom, brought in several casual acquaintances of both sexes for fun and games, which a month later turned up in a series of very candid anonymous photographs.

Lysa paid off the anonymous photographer at the time, her reputation for professional reliability being a little too precarious and her conservative fiancee being *far* too rich for her to risk either by sending hired muscle after the blackmailer. But now a set of copies of the photos have begun turning up in Lysa's mail with threats that suggest a potential sexual predator has gotten hold of a set of prints and created new negatives, and that Lysa's life as well as her reputation may be at stake this time.

Travis' job is to find the blackmailer and account for all the photographs and negatives rather than to protect Lysa, who is *not* the female lead this time out. (Travis has a streak of the prude in him.) Instead, Lysa's confidential secretary/personal assistant, Dana Holtzer, is assigned to accompany Travis, assist, and monitor the situation. Travis misreads Dana at first as a repressed prude not worth his respect and is set firmly straight to his great embarrassment; she knows a *lot* more about some kinds of tragedy than he does.

Yet another fine example of Travis' adventures as a knight in tarnished armour; not only is Ms. Dean a far-from-innocent lady fair, but Dana has some very complicated issues herself, though of a more wholesome variety. Travis comes to respect Dana as being worth at least ten of her employer.

The story is a kind of morality tale, in a way, as Travis tracks down the other players in that orgy in the land of eternal summer and finds a trail of broken relationships and torn-apart lives, each tragedy apparently unrelated to the rest save that the kind of people who'd be involved in that sordid holiday might be expected to come to grief. Each is an interesting and individual problem, apart from the puzzle of how the blackmailer happened upon Lysa's indiscretion and why a second set of photos has now turned up.

Points of interest:
- Lysa turns up years later in FREE FALL IN CRIMSON with a separate problem and further information about how certain events played out.
- MacDonald does *not* turn Travis' cynical insight loose upon the Hollywood culture in general, but there's plenty of philosophical musing along the way.
- Meyer is mentioned in passing, but doesn't actually appear in a book until DARKER THAN AMBER, to the best of my recollection.
- Interesting photographer friend of Travis' is introduced in passing as a consultant.
- Rather negative portrayal of some female homosexual/bisexual characters herein may offend some readers.

Possibly the weakest of the Travis McGee novels........2005-07-03

It's still a fairly good read, lively, suspenseful, generally worthwhile. But there are two major flaws that bring its rating down considerably. One is that the main romantic interest is NOT the "damsel in distress"; that position is occupied by a thoroughly unsympathetic character, one who McGee is manipulated by in ways that we rarely see. The other is that, while it isn't uncommon for some aspect of this series to seem rather outdated these days, generally, the main character's attitudes seem remarkably reasonable if a bit old-fashioned; in one scene in this book, he is demonstrated to be completely clueless and utterly unsympathetic towards lesbians. While I wouldn't have been surprised or offended had he proved somewhat clueless and condescending, his attitude in that scene (and clearly, that of the author) were neolithic and downright hostile enough to really grate on my nerves. Really ruined what otherwise would have been a pretty fair to middling book.

Classic Travis.......2004-08-31

Even though I still find "Flash of Green" to be my favorite MacDonald book, there's something so appealing about the Travis McGee series that keeps me coming back to them. The "Quick Red Fox" is a perfect example is why. It is well-paced and the central mystery is engrossing. The minor characters are all well-drawn and memorable. And, of course, it's Travis!

I hope that MacDonald continues to gain in popularity, as I feel he is horribly overlooked.

Like eating potato chips..........2004-07-31

Reading John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series is like eating potato chips: you can't eat just one. But unlike potato chips, each book tastes better than the last. In The Quick Red Fox, the 4th book in this series, MacDonald really hits his stride.

Film-star Lysa Dean calls in McGee on a top secret and very sensitive job. Dean was at a party with nine other people when some compromising pictures were taken. The actress has been blackmailed once over these photos, and a year after the original blackmail scheme, she receives more photos and a threatening letter. Afraid that the release of these pictures will jeopardize her film career and interfere with her planned marriage to husband number five, she asks McGee to investigate. She also gives McGee her young, beautiful and efficient, but very frosty personal assistant, Dana Holtzer.

McGee and Holtzer crisscross the country trying to interview the other members from that fateful party. Some are scarred, some are missing and some are mysteriously murdered. But despite all the odds and lots of dead ends, McGee is able to assemble the pieces of this intriguing puzzle.

The Travis McGee series continues to get better and this was the best one yet. I can't wait to start number five.

Cinematic McGee.......2004-07-19

Maybe it's because of the Hollywood commentary in this mcGee outing (Trav helps a vain movie star track down photos of her, taken during a drunken beach house sex party) but this jaunt seems like one of the most vivid, cinematic of the books.

Carefully detailed, pleasantly sordid and joltingly violent, "Quick Red Fox" is easy to imagine, on my mental movie screen, as directed by a period late noir helmsman like Robert Rossen ("The Hustler") or Robert Aldrich ("Kiss Me Deadly"), in crisp black-and-white Cinemascope with Paul Newman or Steve McQueen in the lead.

It's not as big in scale as some of the books, but it bobs and weaves in odd directions. Trav's confrontations with a prissy ski instructor; a pair of menacing, trailer park lesbians; and a spookily rendered German trophy wife may not be politically correct but they typify what's best and occasionally worst about MacDonald's style. McGee's warnings about women who kick for the crotch chafe against political correctness but make for one hilarious scene.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting book.......2006-11-10

This book is interesting not just because the stories are good, but it's also interesting to look at stories that depict a future that has since passed.

Exellent.......2006-03-24

This little book has some intresting sc-fi tales,I stumbled across it in a small ass town and got it very cheap and it's not disappointing at all.

Wonderful.......2005-07-12

If you enjoy SciFi then this one's for you. These are obviously very short stories since 50 of 'em are crammed into such a small book - but many of them have a hidden depth that transcends their brevity. Some are deeply philosophical, and many contain clever Rod-Serling-esque twists at the end. Very highly recommended. Turn off the TV and read this instead.

The best SciFi collection ever.......2005-05-02

This book was my first scifi short story collection. I was given it when I twelve by my great aunt. It is so incredibly classic and so powerful, it probably slanted me toward sciences even more than I had been.

If you enjoy Gardner Dozois (editor) anthologies, you'll love this. If you think Dozois' anthologies are sometimes weak, well... you've got Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, and Leiber to name a few in this 1963 packed paperback. The only regret you will have is that there are only 287 pages.

Great bite-size Science Fiction for fans and newcomers.......2000-08-05

I have read this book 5 years ago. The stories are great and the writing techniques superb. Some stories are only a page long and yet they will stay in your head for a long long time. I loaned my first copy to a friend and he lost it! Bought the second copy from Amazon and promised myself not to lend it out again!

Book Description

Travis McGee is the strikingly handsome and ever resourceful invention of John D. MacDonald. Born in the author's imagination in 1964, McGee drifted into the world on a 52-foot diesel-powered houseboat, the Busted Flush, which he has used as a base of operations through many adventures.

In A TAN AND SANDY SILENCE, news of a former girlfriend's mysterious disappearance leads McGee to the West Indian island of Grenada. There he takes on a whirlwind plot of double-dealing, shady financing and shifting identities.

"MacDonald is the thinking mystery lovers' answer to Ian Fleming and Mickey Spillane." (San Francisco Chronicle)

Customer Reviews:

Read this one last, or near the end.......2007-03-22

I do not wish to write a review that says too much, spoiling it for a future reader. I just wanted to say that this one was a disappointment for me. This one was predictable, had Travis doing things that unpleasantly surprised me, and the ending was something cheap and quick. I never felt like I was "there" with him as I have in other books.

As far as being a tired effort from the end of MacDonald's career, "The Lonely Silver Rain" was written in 1985 and was much better in my mind. I would just save "A Tan and Sandy Silence" for later or last. Go through the ones that are just gold first.

from the Jimmy Buffett school of detective fiction.......2005-08-19

A colleague of mine left this book on my desk one day. Reading it made me wish he had left the hardbound version, since that way it would have hurt more when I threw it back at him!

It's a detective story, you see, featuring the inimitable Travis McGee, the beach bum cum gumshoe who appears in over a dozen MacDonald outings.

What can I say about this book? In one stroke, MacDonald has managed to outstrip Flaubert, Dostoevsky, and Joyce, making them all look like mewling infants.

Here's just a sample of MacDonald's deathless prose:

"And I suppose you had an affair with her."
"Gee, honey. I'd have to look it up."
I caught her fist about five inches from my eye. "You bahstid," she said. [p. 32]

Of course, MacDonald cannot be accused of being a superficial writer! Consider these penetrating philosophical musings:

"I own some Sears electric clippers with plastic gadgets of various shapes which fit on the clippers to keep you from accidentally peeling your hair off down to the sukull. I find that long hair is a damned nuisance on boats, on the beach, and in the water. So when it gets long enough to start to make me aware of it, I clipper it off, doing the sides in the mirror and the back by feel. The sun bleaches my hair and burns it and dries it out. And the salt water makes it feel stiff and look like some kind of Dynel. Were I going to keep it long, I would have to take care of it. That would mean tonics and lotions and special shampoos. That would mean brushing it and combing it a lot more than I do and somehow fastening it out of the way in a stiff breeze." [pp. 123-124]

But perhaps Travis, our hero, is at his most debonair when he's beating the snot out of recalicrant women:

"I smiled at her, pulling her a half-step closer and said, 'If you get loud and say nasty things, dear, if you get on my nerves, I can hold you like this, and I can take this free hand and make a big fist like this, and I can give you one little pop right here that will give you a nose three inches wide and a quarter inch high.'
'Please,' she said in a rusty little voice.
'You can get a job as a clown. Or you can see if you can find a surgeon willing to try to rebuild it.'" [p. 136]

In sum, if you're in the mood for sappy, incoherent, misogynistic, and, well, all-around cruddy fiction, you can't go wrong with the peerless Travis McGee!

(The author, John MacDonald, died in 1986, and therefore -- it tickles me to announce -- will not be inflicting any more of these books on us! God be praised!)

I just can't stop reading these things.......2002-09-13

Another Travis McGee book. This one seemed to take forever to get going, to set up the problem, and then as soon as you understood the problem, MacDonald popped you a good one, and the rest of the book was a catch-up from that moment. But that's the simple "mystery" of this McGee novel, and as such is never that special. The attraction of McGee, at least in these later books, are MacDonald's comments within them on the human condition, both specifically with regard to the Quixotish nature of McGee, as well as a general feeling of malaise which centers around money and violence. The McGee novels are as much about philosophy--ethics, particularly--as they are about mystery. Or maybe the point is that the philosophy is the mystery, and as we get to know McGee better, we understand more about his philosophy. I seem to remember the Spenser novels of Robert Parker to be similar to this as well. Are there other mystery series in which the character growth is as important, if not more so, than the particular story of the time?

Fun in the sun.......2002-03-15

Over the years I've read hundreds of novels in a variety of genres, but for pure fun and enjoyment it's hard to beat Travis McGee. Some of the books are better than others, but they're nearly all worth a couple of lazy summer days. They are the ultimate summer time, quick-read beach books. At their core, they're good mysteries. But Travis McGee is such a great character, with such a wry outlook on life, that often the mystery seems secondary to McGee's views on whatever topic author John D. McDonald has selected for his soap box. Most of them take place in Florida, (a Florida no one will ever see again given they were written mostly in the 60s and 70s) and all have a color in the title. Don't take them too seriously, just have fun in the sun.

A Bland and Silent Story.......2001-05-05

If this was your first Travis McGee book, don't worry. Most of them are much, much better. This book suffers from an overload of the author's rambling commentary on society. After the introduction to jealous husband, you have to slug through 100 pages before you begin to get into typical Travis McGee action. The action is often illogical, and too often Travis - err - Gavin stumbles into old friends at the most unlikely places, bailing him out of trouble. Sorry, this one just didn't click for me. In many ways, it reminded me of the Pale Gray for Guilt story, but there was much less action in this book.

The Long Lavender Look (Travis McGee Mysteries)

Average customer rating:

A long, lovely read for McGee
Cool mystery
Probably one of the top three McGees
A top notch Travis McGee tale
incredibly re-readable

The Long Lavender Look (Travis McGee Mysteries)
John D. Macdonald
Manufacturer: Fawcett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper (Travis McGee Mysteries)
Dress Her in Indigo
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Turquoise Lament
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ASIN: 0449224740
Release Date: 1996-03-09

Book Description

While driving along a darkened stretch of Florida road, Travis McGee and friend Meyer encounter a young girl wearing little more than a frightened look as she leaps out from the shadows directly in line with their headlights. A skillful swerve saves the girl but finds McGee and friend upside down in ten feet of swamp water. Not two minutes later they are dodging bullets fired from a speeding pickup. McGee reports these unusual events to the local sheriff and finds himself arrested for murder!

Customer Reviews:

A long, lovely read for McGee.......2004-11-01

While I still find "Flash of Green" to be my favorite John D. MacDonald book, there's something so appealing about the Travis McGee series that it keeps me coming back to them. And "The Long Lavender Look" is just another addition to the spectrum of colors that his novels get their titles from. Also "The Long Lavender Look" has such a gripping opening sequence of events, and such an array of fascinating characters, that you cannot put this mystery down.

And while I know that MacDonald enjoyed popularity in his time, it seems that his popularity is running out of gas. I hope I am wrong because he is horribly overlooked.

Cool mystery.......2004-07-12

John D. MacDonald's mysteries are as tasty as the hamburgers of the same name! I love all the Magee books!

Probably one of the top three McGees.......2004-07-08

Early every summer, I knock back one McGee mystery before July and, try as I might to resist, I usually end up reading at least one or two more by the time fall arrives. I have Hemingway that's unread; I have Mailer and Faulkner that continually remains uncracked; and I've been meaning to tackle "The Corrections" forfreakingever. And yet... I can't help it, there's something about sun-bleached days and cricket-filled nights that lends itself incredibly well to this series.

This is definitely one of the best of the McGee adventures. Trav and Meyer run afoul of backwoods law enforcement and McGee spends the rest of the book stripping away layers of vicious, small-town corruption with the admirable ease of a man peeling a banana.

All the great MacDonald hallmarks are here: there's a surprising amount of eroticism, several tense face-offs and twists and turns, some slick legal manuvering, a couple of pretty scary discoveries and a cast of cool characters: the top-heavy, man-hungry waitress Betty; a pill-popping psycho with a badge and a prostitution ring; and, best of all, a crazed, superhumanly strong, swamp-bred superbabe who likes to lift up Pintos and coo in womens' ears when she's torturing them. Added to which is a great ending, plus a nice vacation from the nautical details and dense business technicalities which are staples of the series but which, as proven here, don't have to be on full display every time around.

A top notch Travis McGee tale.......2003-01-13

Aside from the first Travis McGee story, this (the 11th in the series) may be the best. Here Travis and his buddy Meyer are driving on a remote road through the south Florida Everglades returning from a friend's duaghter's wedding, when trouble erupts. A girl runs across the desolate road, causing McGee to swerve and rollover into the swamp, and before McGee has gathered his wits he and Meyer are being shot at, and ultimately locked up and charged with murder.

The local sheriff, a "by the book" lawman with a history of deep personal loss, lets McGee out of prison while he investigates the case, confining McGee to the local county. Before we know it, McGee is bedding down a lonely but optimistic waitress, uncovering secrets about this sleepy little Everglades town including a call girl ring.

McGee is confident and clever, but there is a sense of vulnerability about him that is refreshing for a mystery series since you sense that he realizes the trouble he is in, as the bodies start piling up. I also thought some of the minor characters in the book, including the waitress Betsy Kapp and the evil Lilo, were very skillfully drawn. Without giving away any of the story, let me just say there were a handful of great twists and turns in the plot, with MacDonald building the suspense nicely. This is not War and Peace, but I give it 5 stars as one of the better mystery novels I have read in awhile.

incredibly re-readable.......2002-09-06

I'm constantly amazed at the hold that MacDonald asserts over me as a reader, certainly with this character. The beginnings always seem to jump right off, even when they also seem to ramble, like in this one (McGee talking of late night rides, fishing, his old Rolls Royce truck) or the McGee novel that starts with McGee and Meyer fishing by the bridge. There's hook there, yes--a bit of action occurs within the first three pages that sits the novel rolling--but it isn't the immediate hook of the short story or the long rambling set ups of most novels (I'm thinking of the info dumps that start most SF/F/H novels).

The hook isn't the only thing going for MacDonald, though. The sentences and chapters seem to flow, to beg to be read. Since I was reading this novel on breaks, at lunch, and other different odd times, I tended to read only a chapter or two at a time. Rarely did I end a chapter when I didn't find myself unconsciously moving on the beginning of the next. Part of this is due to the standard technique of cliff-hanging chapters, which MacDonald has down well. But MacDonald's cliff-hangers aren't just situations, it seems to me, but the words themselves. I need to examine the chapter endings to see if I can identify what he is doing. Since I'm reading the McGee novels in chronological order, I'll try to do it with the next.

Darker Than Amber (Travis McGee Mysteries)
Average customer rating:

Introducing Meyer on a little fishing jaunt that hauls up a girl

Stronger and stronger...

Love that Travis!

A Travis McGee novel.

A dark tale that sparkles.

Darker Than Amber (Travis McGee Mysteries)
John D. MacDonald
Manufacturer: Fawcett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Bright Orange for the Shroud

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Purple Place for Dying

ASIN: 0449224465
Release Date: 1996-02-27

Book Description

A great bestseller starring Travis McGee, a real American hero--and maybe the star of a new movie franchise! Reissue.

Customer Reviews:

Introducing Meyer on a little fishing jaunt that hauls up a girl.......2005-07-10

"In that light the color of her eyes surprised me. Light shrunk the pupils small. The irises were not as dark as I had imagined. They were a strange yellow-brown, a curious shade, just a little darker than amber...She looked across at me and accepted the appraisal with the same professional disinterest with which the model looks into the camera lens while they are taking light readings."
- McGee sizing up Vangie, a very professional new acquaintance

I began reading the Travis McGee series at the wrong point - THE DREADFUL LEMON SKY - so it's a bit difficult for me to quite grasp the notion that Meyer, McGee's closest friend and a neighbour in the Bahia Mar marina, wasn't built into the series from the beginning. DARKER THAN AMBER introduces Meyer to the series as an already long-time friend, obscuring the fact that he's a new character, participating for the first time in one of McGee's cases from the moment a joint fishing jaunt turns into the rescue of a very tough pretty girl dumped off a bridge with a concrete block wired to her feet.

"I'm in the logic business, McGee. I deduce possibilities and probabilities from what I can observe. My God, man, compared to the mists and smokes of economic theory and practice, the world of actual events seems almost oversimplified. A corporate financial statement is the most nonspecific thing there is. If a man can't read the lines between the lines between the lines, he might as well stuff his money into a hollow tree."

Neither Meyer (whose preferred dealings with women are described here and seldom referred to again) nor McGee (who's just finished a short fling with a woman fleeing a bad marriage) are interested in a relationship with Vangie, but having saved her life and being impressed by her calm endurance, they'd like to help her if they could. A sometime call girl who turns out mysteriously to take frequent jaunts on cruise ships, she's been used as bait in a very complicated and profitable scheme a few too many times, and was being disposed of before her vestigial conscience could inconvenience, let alone threaten, some slick operators. Unfortunately (though perfectly in character), Vangie doesn't open up to Meyer and McGee, and McGee only begins uncovering the truth in the wake of a supposed hit-and-run, frustrated at the waste of someone he rather liked and wished well. "You feel good to do a thing like that. And then when they take what you saved and see how high they can splash it against a stone building, you get annoyed."

The first third of the book sketches in McGee's immediate past and introduces Meyer, then details their first successful rescue attempt, including a lot of analysis in passing about what type of situation Vangie must be mixed up in for such a murder attempt to occur, McGee's odd streak of prudery about women, and Meyer's coexisting cold-blooded analytic turn of mind and his ability to make friends with nearly anyone, anywhere. Investigating Vangie's place and her acquaintances turns up the only story elements that really fix it in time at 1966: a member of the housekeeping staff who's an undercover civil rights activist.

McGee's self-image as a knight in somewhat tarnished tomato-can armor fits well with this story, as the damsel in distress has been involved in the seamy side of the entertainment industry most of her life and the scam that brought about her death is *very* sleazy indeed.

Notable story elements:
- Florida's cruise ship industry is featured quite a bit, since it's integral to the scam Vangie was involved in.
- Oddly enough, Vangie's short stay on the Busted Flush isn't the point at which MacDonald brings in one of his standard sex scenes; that's done earlier in flashback as McGee reviews his recent first-aid fling with a newly separated woman.
- Interesting contrast between Noreen Walker, maid by day and civil rights activist by night, and various characters of color in THE GIRL IN THE PLAIN BROWN WRAPPER, a few books on.
- Some very clever bits of detective work, from Meyer and McGee's joint analysis of Vangie's character to McGee's location of Vangie's financial stash to the solving of the main puzzle.

"Time for one game?"
"If you promise if you get white not to open with that infuriating queen's gambit."
- McGee and Meyer

Stronger and stronger..........2004-10-09

Travis McGee is at it again in John D. MacDonald's 7th book in the McGee series, Darker Than Amber. McGee and his sidekick, Meyer, are minding their own business when a case is pretty much dropped in their laps. As the two men are fishing while tied up to a bridge, a woman is thrown off the bridge and sinks right in front of them like a stone. McGee dives overboard and is able to rescue the woman-despite the fact that her feet are wired to a cement block. The woman, Vangie, turns out to be a high-priced prostitute who was involved in a scam gone bad. It takes sometime, but McGee and Meyer are finally able to get the gist of Vangie's story, and they of course decide to help.

MacDonald does his usual job of providing a great tale of mystery, murder and intrigue. But one of the things I most enjoyed about Darker than Amber is that after having several cameo appearances in earlier books, we finally get to meet a fleshed-out Meyer. McGee and Meyer perform a good Dr. Watson/Sherlock Holmes routine, and their camaraderie rivals many of the other detective-sidekick combinations including Spenser and Hawk, and Poirot and Captain Hastings.

I am now 1/3 of the way through this 21 book series, and I have not been disappointed in a one. In fact, MacDonald just gets stronger and stronger with each subsequent book. It won't be long until I finish the entire series.

Love that Travis!.......2004-07-12

While I still find "Flash of Green" to be my favorite MacDonald book, there's something so appealing about the Travis McGee series that keeps me coming back to them. And "Darker than Amber" has such a quick pace, that you cannot put this mystery down. And Travis, well, he's just Travis--you gotta love this guy! I just hope that MacDonald continues to gain in popularity, as I feel he is horribly overlooked.

A Travis McGee novel........2004-04-23

The Travis McGee series is a very extensive (21 books) series by John D. MacDonald; the main character is a delightful personality, something of a cross between a standard hero and a con man antihero, and the books are all well-written and enjoyable, something of a cross between action-adventure and detective-mystery. There are certain similarities between the plots of the books, but there are generally enough differences to keep them from being truly formulaic.

The books are all capable of standing on their own; a new reader can start with any one of them without feeling that he is missing anything, and this book is a perfectly good place to start, although it is the seventh written. The stories were set in the contemporary world, and are thus a bit dated now as they were written in the sixties and seventies, but this book is less jarringly so than some of the others.

A dark tale that sparkles........2002-05-31

Part time white knight and full time beach bum Travis McGee rescues a rotten to the core damsel in considerable distress. Seems this beautiful sociopath has developed a serious case of the conscience, something her now former partners have not. When the girl meets her inevitable and quite bitter fate, McGee (always the one to right a terrible wrong, and this girl was behind some truly terrible ones) and his friend Meyer begin plotting revenge. MacDonald's writing, as usual, sparkles with wit, insight, and tension. Read any of MacDonald's novels and you'll see why he was such a highly respected author. Recommended.

Lonely Silver Rain (Travis McGee Series)

Average customer rating:

John D. MacDonald fan
A top quartile book ! Back from the past.
I had no idea MacDonald was so good
This One Should Have Been The Deep Blue Goodbye
Fittingly, last Travis McGee: entertaining, moving story

Lonely Silver Rain (Travis McGee Series)
John D. Macdonald
Manufacturer: Fawcett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Cinnamon Skin (Travis McGee Mysteries)
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The Scarlet Ruse

ASIN: 0449224856
Release Date: 1996-04-20

Book Description

Keeping himself alive is something detective Travis McGee has always taken for granted -- until his search for a wealthy friend's missing yacht places him square in the center of the international cocaine trade. Following a trail that leads him from Miami's lavish penthouse suites to a remote village in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, Travis finds himself the target of some of the most ruthless villains he"s ever met.

Customer Reviews:

John D. MacDonald fan.......2006-11-30

There will never be another John D. MacDonald. This is the last of the Travis McGee series, an exciting and dynamic read. McGee finds himself pitted against the usual evils, but also finds out an important fact from his past. Great read!

A top quartile book ! Back from the past. .......2005-11-14

OK OK, so MacDonald is little retrograde, a little 50's in attitudes, a little slick, even a little puerile. But man he can write. This is his last McGee book I think. A terrific read. If you can overlook the sexism et al

I read and rate 8 to 10 books in this genre each month. I rate each book based on a 0-5 point scale. This book rated as follows: Characters: 3.5. Realism: 4. Description: 4. Ah Ha: 3.5. The Read: 4.01 Overall, the book ranked 33 out of 366 books

I had no idea MacDonald was so good.......2005-01-29

My mother collects the paperbacks, and I bought her a bunch for Christmas this year, and, on a sick day when I had nothing else to read that felt right for a sick day, I picked up the Lonely Silver Rain and read it straight through. I wish I hadn't started with the last book in the series, but I was still quite glad to have read it. The writing in this book is several cuts above that of the average mystery; in fact, the mystery or adventure or whatever you want to call it is only about 1/3 of the book. The 2/3 that is the incredible, thoughtful voice of MacDonald as Travis McGee is what has me determined to dig up copies of the whole series and read it straight through.

Highly recommended.

This One Should Have Been The Deep Blue Goodbye.......2005-01-23

I read all of the Travis McGee books in the '60s and '70s. While they were all satisfying at the time, thoroughly enjoyed, I never remembered the story lines of any. Though a top-drawer suspense-story-weaving novelist, a Chandler, Hammett, or Ross MacDonald he was not. This is primarily why, I guess, I could never recall any of his meticuously constructed stories--except this one, which turned out to be his last. What always had jumped out at me more than anything else about McDonald's books were the titles. They attracted me to them, big time--books with such lyrical pronouncements shouting out: The Long Lavender Look, The Quick Red Fox, The Deep Blue Good-By, Nightmare in Pink, The Dreadful Lemon Sky. As each came out I eagerly gathered them up. ##### But this last, The Lonely Silver Rain, must have carried forth a premonition of his own death. In crafting the Travis McGee finale, I think John D. McDonald was predicting his own demise in an accutely Karmic way. ##### This one WAS memorable.

Fittingly, last Travis McGee: entertaining, moving story.......2004-12-29

We only recently "discovered" John D MacDonald, one of the most prolific authors of the 20th century, via his last non-series novel "Barrier Island". Having enjoyed it immensely, we wanted to try one of his famous Travis McGee stories, and just happened to stumble upon "Silver Rain", the very last in that series before the author's death. By now, McGee is late middle-aged, but still a macho bachelor able to fend for himself. He promptly solves the disappearance of a near million-dollar yacht for one of his friends, but the yacht came complete with three dead bodies on it. One was the daughter of a "connected" Peruvian diplomat, and revenge was a necessary matter of honor. Directing attacks against the boat's owner and then Travis was for show despite the mob-type villains who were the real culprits. To save his own life, McGee goes on to expose the killer and see to it that "justice" (of sorts) was carried out.

This interesting yarn held our attention nicely, but a sub-plot that only blossomed and matured near the book's end rather stole the show. Someone, seemingly as a prank, was leaving pipe-cleaner kitty-cats on McGee's houseboat. Finally he stays up late one night and catches the perp, who turns out to be a lovely young woman who claims she is his daughter! She goes on to berate Travis for using her mother as a sex toy, then throwing her away when he was done with her. McGee gets the girl to join him at his bank the next day, and retrieves a poignant letter from his safety deposit bank which explained the whole thing. The mother was actually a dying woman who singled out Travis to father her daughter, then returned to die with her own family. Her own moving account of the whole story had tears streaming down our cheeks. At book's end, Travis puts his life savings into trust for his college-bound offspring.

While we have heard that MacD planned one more final McGee novel, we can't help but wonder if he knew the end was near as he penned "Rain". The emotional conclusion had an air of finality about it that left us feeling like we had known a great man. Perhaps the author's best skill was a knack for philosophical discussion of the human condition with his reader while seeming to carry on little more than a fireside chat. We commend this wise and gifted author to your attention.

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