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lkbp17's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
The book was interesting but I wish the plot had moved quicker as it lagged it some places
atarbett's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
spacecomics's review against another edition
5.0
Four and ¾ stars. Not quite a page-turner clear through; there were a few long paragraphs about the backgrounds of newly introduced characters that slowed it down a bit for me in the middle. But it contains fascinating subject matter for a mystery novel: (Intermediate Spoilers) Clues point to some sort of religious cult, which Travis McGee infiltrates and then learns of it's involvement with some sort of terrorist organization. So most of the "slow" parts are still a page-turner as the fascinating details of the bad guys' operations are revealed. Then there are the fast-paced parts . . .
genej101's review against another edition
5.0
Rereading the entire series. It's actually quite amazing to see the number of authors, most I like, who have issued quotes for John D. MacDonald calling him the greatest American thriller writer and more, he was so far ahead of the rest of us in environmental concerns as well, socially too in many ways. But the list of people who admire him starts with some very big names themselves. Still love the books and the writing.
wampusreynolds's review against another edition
3.0
One of the best crime writers ever barely delivers here. A great beginning with a loss described with great emotion and effect should lead to an investigation that impresses upon McGee to use his wits and instinct to decode and solve. Instead he lands in one place and goofballs basically just walk up to him and reveal all that's going on. The main set piece of revenge isn't that interesting or well-managed. Still, MacDonald not at his best is still pretty good.
pussreboots's review against another edition
3.0
The Green Ripper by John D. MacDonald is the 19th Travis McGee mystery book. It was on my wishlist, on their early enough and for long enough I don't remember why I added it. But that's part of the fun of reading through the list.
The book follows on the heels (from what I've read) on The Empty Copper Sea where Travis had fallen in love with a woman named Gretel. She though dies mysteriously in the first chapter and sends Travis into a rage. First he wants revenge and then, coming to his senses, he wants to stop whomever is behind this deaths.
The book starts in Florida, on a yacht. It set me up with expectations for a mystery that takes advantage of the Florida setting. I was completely taken aback by the abrupt change in tone when Travis's research takes him to a commune in Ukiah California, of all places. I just wasn't expecting it to end up in my backyard.
So the book goes from being a murder made to look like natural causes, to infiltrating a domestic terrorist compound dressed up to like a hippy commune. While the second half was well written and thrilling, I never quite recovered from the genre whiplash I felt when the book changed locations and tone so abruptly.
The book follows on the heels (from what I've read) on The Empty Copper Sea where Travis had fallen in love with a woman named Gretel. She though dies mysteriously in the first chapter and sends Travis into a rage. First he wants revenge and then, coming to his senses, he wants to stop whomever is behind this deaths.
The book starts in Florida, on a yacht. It set me up with expectations for a mystery that takes advantage of the Florida setting. I was completely taken aback by the abrupt change in tone when Travis's research takes him to a commune in Ukiah California, of all places. I just wasn't expecting it to end up in my backyard.
So the book goes from being a murder made to look like natural causes, to infiltrating a domestic terrorist compound dressed up to like a hippy commune. While the second half was well written and thrilling, I never quite recovered from the genre whiplash I felt when the book changed locations and tone so abruptly.
darwin8u's review against another edition
4.0
Will review later. Straight forward crime/espionage novel. Less crime than normal McGee, more espionage. Macro not Micro.
clambook's review against another edition
4.0
Travis McGee stands the test of time, right along with Lew Archer. Always a good re-read when headed to Florida.
danmc's review against another edition
2.0
The Green Ripper I had some hopes for. I found a leatherbound copy in an old used book store in Boston, where interesting quotes by the author were scotch taped to the ends of aisles because the owner loved him so much. Could I have found that delightful hidden treasure of a book that used book prowlers always hunt?
I wanted to believe the inciting event wasn’t a classic girlfriend-in-the-fridge moment when Travis McGee’s girlfriend, Gretel, was poisoned. Countervailing details included that the death was nothing to do with McGee (she found and recognized a guy involved in a vast conspiracy), and that he read Emily Dickinson poetry at her funeral (MacDonald, 481-2; unattributed, and mistitled “Parting”). The Dickinson seemed off-script and touchingly humanizing to me, a different voice than McGee speaks and thinks in and somehow more than simply exploiting her to start the revenge plot. Nevertheless, her background raised my suspicion, especially when I confirmed that Gretel had only appeared in the previous book.
And I really wished for more of Gretel memories later, because all of his interactions with other women in the story were more screwed up. He spent most of the book infiltrating a Soviet-backed religious cult that is training brainwashed members to become terrorists. The description was probably chilling to people in the 70s.
One of the two women in the group was a former prostitute “reformed” by the cult, but perfectly happy to play comfort woman when she drew the short straw. She was not particularly pretty, buuuut he slept with her anyway. Then at the end when he had to kill his way through all the dozen people at the camp to survive, he started by trying to knock her out but accidentally cracked her skull and killing her. Oops. The other woman in the group he failed, in manly-man fashion, to bring himself to kill (even though she was as bad as the rest) and the plot had to make her accidentally drop a grenade on herself to save him from the inevitable reward for his stupidity. McGee’s buddy the brilliant economist’s dire prediction about the decline of western civilization seems pretty funny looking back now. As a committed Polyanna, I found the pronouncements yet more support for my assertion that people only like Cassandras more than Polyannas because they forgive a Cassandra for being wrong faster than they admit a Polyanna was right. (Like, for example, the original Polyanna, who was spectacularly right in her own story.)
In the end, although the narrative of The Green Ripper avowed that he was deeply scarred and all that, he sailed off into the sunrise with a sexy golddigging widow who’d hit on him hard at Gretel’s wake, while her husband was still alive. Yeah, you’re scarred, McGee, but what the hell are you doing with yourself, you slut?
I wanted to believe the inciting event wasn’t a classic girlfriend-in-the-fridge moment when Travis McGee’s girlfriend, Gretel, was poisoned. Countervailing details included that the death was nothing to do with McGee (she found and recognized a guy involved in a vast conspiracy), and that he read Emily Dickinson poetry at her funeral (MacDonald, 481-2; unattributed, and mistitled “Parting”). The Dickinson seemed off-script and touchingly humanizing to me, a different voice than McGee speaks and thinks in and somehow more than simply exploiting her to start the revenge plot. Nevertheless, her background raised my suspicion, especially when I confirmed that Gretel had only appeared in the previous book.
And I really wished for more of Gretel memories later, because all of his interactions with other women in the story were more screwed up. He spent most of the book infiltrating a Soviet-backed religious cult that is training brainwashed members to become terrorists. The description was probably chilling to people in the 70s.
One of the two women in the group was a former prostitute “reformed” by the cult, but perfectly happy to play comfort woman when she drew the short straw. She was not particularly pretty, buuuut he slept with her anyway. Then at the end when he had to kill his way through all the dozen people at the camp to survive, he started by trying to knock her out but accidentally cracked her skull and killing her. Oops. The other woman in the group he failed, in manly-man fashion, to bring himself to kill (even though she was as bad as the rest) and the plot had to make her accidentally drop a grenade on herself to save him from the inevitable reward for his stupidity. McGee’s buddy the brilliant economist’s dire prediction about the decline of western civilization seems pretty funny looking back now. As a committed Polyanna, I found the pronouncements yet more support for my assertion that people only like Cassandras more than Polyannas because they forgive a Cassandra for being wrong faster than they admit a Polyanna was right. (Like, for example, the original Polyanna, who was spectacularly right in her own story.)
In the end, although the narrative of The Green Ripper avowed that he was deeply scarred and all that, he sailed off into the sunrise with a sexy golddigging widow who’d hit on him hard at Gretel’s wake, while her husband was still alive. Yeah, you’re scarred, McGee, but what the hell are you doing with yourself, you slut?
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