Reviews

Cinnamon Skin by John D. MacDonald

nancykorb's review against another edition

4.0

Cinnamon Skin depicts McGee and his longtime friend Meyer, noted economist as they uncover the path of murder who killed Meyer's niece, noted petroleum engineer, The scene is south Florida where the two men live aquatic lives on two separate boats.

cimorene1558's review against another edition

3.0

Meyer's niece and her new husband get blown up during their honeymoon on Meyer's boat (while he's in Toronto, lecturing at a non-existent college), and he and McGee set off on the track of the mythical South American terrorists who set the bomb. Much nastiness is uncovered, and McGee's latest woman is causing him grief. Things are pretty much as usual, in other words, for Travis McGee.

jefffrane's review against another edition

4.0

Back in the day, I'm pretty sure I read every single Travis McGee novel in the original paperbacks, always with the slightly racy cover featuring a sultry woman. I devoured them once I found the series but somehow never thought to revisit them. Random House has republished the series in very handsome (and discreet) trade paperbacks (and Kindle). Cinnamon Skin in one of the last MacDonald wrote but he certainly hadn't lost his touch. Wry, observant (occasionally a bit pedantic) and suspenseful, which is how I remember them. Clearly it's time to start with the Deep Blue Good-by and reread them all.

anatrary's review against another edition

4.0

Great casual writing style, but the end was anticlimactic, so four stars.

psteve's review against another edition

4.0

I knew I had read this book before, but didn't remember when, I thought it was much earlier in the 80s, so didn't expect to see it here on this list. First time I've read him in many years, and I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It has all the things I remember from the McGee books: every character, no matter how minor, gets their own story and real description, none are cardboard. McGee & Meyer are always making some general comment about the state of the world, some hold up better than others after 30 years, and there's plenty of action, though McGee is always more about figuring and manipulating character than using violence. This one had a great ending, a good story while they are tracking down the bad guy, and not enough Florida.

jitteryjoe's review against another edition

4.0

I was born when this was published. I'm glad I read it. McGee is so annoyingly typical. He was so sad to learn his woman was going away I almost felt sorry for him. The gloom went away like a snap of a finger after meeting another one. A hotter woman, in my opinion. Sooooo typical, one that gets so sad but cannot commit. I love it!

darwin8u's review against another edition

3.0

I think this is my sixth MacDonald (and fifth Travis McGee) novel. There is something trashy but smooth about all of MacDonald's work. They are probably mid-tier pulp from a plot sandpoint, but woven through out each is a bunch of philosophy, economics and politics that braids the novels with a form of libertarian conservatism that is kinda attractive. This isn't Ayn Rand trash. This is John D. MacDonald. So the politics/economics/philosophy is soft, the writing is good, and the covers are all soft-core.

The math with John D., however, is interesting. His plots can vascillate (meh to great), his political philosophy can also move and vary (meh to great), as does his writing about women and sex (ugh to blah). Generally, I prefer his books when the politics is dialed up, the sex is dialed down, and the plot is hard and fast. Cinnamon Skin came through. It wasn't brilliant, but it made my flight from Phoenix to Dallas easy. Hopefully, the person who finds my yellowed copy in Seat 14D will appreciate it as much as I did.