Genre: Novels
Grade A++++++
Notable People: John D. MacDonald
Title: Travis McGee books
Review: When I was in college, I first read these books by John D. and remember liking them a lot….but recently found myself in Mexico without reading material and a closet full of these very old and frayed paperbacks. I read three in a week and have been continuing to read these little works of brilliance; each with a cute color in the title (i.e.- “A Tan and Sandy silence”, “The Deep-Blue Goodbye”),the idea of which was originated with John D’s publisher- so people going through airports could easily remember which of the series they had already read when looking for a book hastily at the airport gift shop. This Man is an American Master. Having revisited him, I am inclined to think he is possibly the greatest American writer of the last half of the 20th century. A cross between Hemingway and Dash Hammett, MacDonald (and McGee) are so purely American, so larger than life yet humbled and fragile, so much a creature of their times….these books are flat out brilliant. From his boat slip (F-18) at Bahia Mar Marina in then undeveloped Ft. Lauderdale. McGee goes in search of adventure to support his on and off again retirement; often with his faithful sidekick, Meyer, the hairy gentle-giant economist. The books are a jumble of social consciousness, early environmentalism, sex oozing adventure, philosophical questioning on the purpose of man and life…..and whooping whodunits. There are over 40 of them, which he wrote between the early 60s and his untimely death in 1986. If you are any kind of serial reader, and have not read these……..RUN out an find a few. An afternoon whiled away aboard the Busted Flush..…is an afternoon to remember.