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jeffmauch's review against another edition
4.0
The Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald are beach reads for men. Never too complex of a plot, enjoyable characters, just simple, enjoyable stories. McGee is still a favorite literary character of mine. He's a cynic who lives by his own code, brutal and quick witted when necessary, but a knight in shining armor when duty calls, though with a bit of rust on the suit. He's almost always accompanied by Meyer, his neighbor, who brings an intellectual ying to McGee's more physical yang. Throw in a beautiful women and some kind of money problem and a seedy character or two and you've got an enjoyable two to three hundred page romp. I love this character and have enjoyed every book in the series thus far, to the point where I'm now trying to pace myself so as to savor each one. 4/5
atarbett's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
buckbanks's review against another edition
4.0
I grew up reading John D. McDonald's Travis McGee series and the books still hold up. The casual violence, the casual sex, the laid-back semitropical setting, all combine to make for a very satisfying diversion.
cafo6's review
5.0
These books were all written in the 60s, with different tech and cars and names. But the things that he writes about ailing society - they’re the same. Same issue with the environment. Same issue with the news cycle. Same issue with it seeming as though there are more broken, cruel people than before. And yet in all of these books there is a sense of hope, that together we can enjoy the sea and sun and pleasures of life.
curtispaulostler's review against another edition
2.0
I sought a Travis McGee mystery based upon an article in Crimereads that suggested Travis was one of the best mystery protagonists.
While there was some charm in the character, I found the story quite unrealistic and too groovy. Mostly, how7ever, I could not get past the blatant sexism of the whole thing.
While there was some charm in the character, I found the story quite unrealistic and too groovy. Mostly, how7ever, I could not get past the blatant sexism of the whole thing.
alesia_charles's review against another edition
3.0
Ay ay ay, some serious nightmare fodder in this one.
darwin8u's review
4.0
"We're all children. We invent the adult facade and don it and try to keep the buttons and the medals polished. We're all trying to give such a good imitation of being an adult that the real adults in the world won't catch on." - John D. MacDonald, A Tan and Sandy Silence
John D. MacDonald's pulp novels are a perfect beach read. They are unassuming, consistently over-deliver, produce better one-liners than a George Carlin set AND seem to have captured perfectly a very American, libertarian ethos of the mid-60s to late 70s. Travis McGee is consistently drawn into scrapes that he would rather avoid, beds girls he would prefer to ignore, and kills men he without relish. He perfectly fits Morrell's reluctant hero archetype:
"a tarnished or ordinary man with several faults or a troubled past, and he is pulled reluctantly into the story, or into heroic acts. During the story, he rises to the occasion, sometimes even vanquishing a mighty foe, sometimes avenging a wrong. But he questions whether he's cut out for the hero business. His doubts, misgivings, and mistakes add a satisfying layer of tension to a story"
MacDonald has perfected using the reluctant hero's questions, doubts, misgivings, and mistakes to add heft to his novels. McGee isn't a dime-store hero. He doesn't want the job, but doesn't mind the money, and it seems no one else is qualified to fix the huge mess that has fallen into his lap and seems destined to take him away from the bikinis, boats and beaches for a season.
John D. MacDonald's pulp novels are a perfect beach read. They are unassuming, consistently over-deliver, produce better one-liners than a George Carlin set AND seem to have captured perfectly a very American, libertarian ethos of the mid-60s to late 70s. Travis McGee is consistently drawn into scrapes that he would rather avoid, beds girls he would prefer to ignore, and kills men he without relish. He perfectly fits Morrell's reluctant hero archetype:
"a tarnished or ordinary man with several faults or a troubled past, and he is pulled reluctantly into the story, or into heroic acts. During the story, he rises to the occasion, sometimes even vanquishing a mighty foe, sometimes avenging a wrong. But he questions whether he's cut out for the hero business. His doubts, misgivings, and mistakes add a satisfying layer of tension to a story"
MacDonald has perfected using the reluctant hero's questions, doubts, misgivings, and mistakes to add heft to his novels. McGee isn't a dime-store hero. He doesn't want the job, but doesn't mind the money, and it seems no one else is qualified to fix the huge mess that has fallen into his lap and seems destined to take him away from the bikinis, boats and beaches for a season.
gengelcox's review
3.0
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 [a:Robert Parker|7789447|Robert Parker|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1530826133p2/7789447.jpg] 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?
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