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The Deep Blue Good-By (Travis McGee Mysteries)

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The Deep Blue Good-By is a very well written mystery noir… The tale is laden with clever observations… Moored in Lauderdale aboard the 52-foot houseboat Busted Flush (won where else but in a private poker session), Travis McGee is introduced idling the afternoon away with Chookie McCall, a dancer and choreographer who hasn't known Travis long enough to figure out whether he really does find things for people, keeping half of its value. Chookie just so happens to know someone looking for something and has invited her over. McGee hears the woman out. Cathy Kerr is a dancer whose father served in the Air Transport Command in India and Burma during the war and brought home an item of awesome value. Cathy just doesn't know what it was. It was to have been a quiet evening at home. Home is the Busted Flush, 52-foot barge-type houseboat, Slip F-18, Bahia Mar, Lauderdale. Writing Travis McGee from 1964 to 1984, John D MacDonald earned admiration from a diverse but luminous cross-section of his fellow writers. Kingsley Amis, Stephen King, Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen have all praised him. The latter two are of particular note for crime fiction aficionados. With the possible exception of Charles Willeford, who came to prominence much later than MacDonald, no figure is more important to the development of South Florida crime fiction and ‘Florida noir’ than John D MacDonald. Following complications of an earlier heart bypass operation, MacDonald slipped into a coma on December 10 and died at age 70, on December 28, 1986, in St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was survived by his wife Dorothy (1911-1989) and a son, Maynard.

James Mangold had been gearing up to roll cameras on the movie starting next month in Florida. He has a script in hand and had been busy rounding up a cast to support Bale that included Peter Dinklage, Rosamund Pike and Nicola Peltz. This was my first journey into the world of Travis McGee. Boy, howdy, what a fun and fine trip! John D MacDonald’s writing is right up there with the best. Not only is this a great story, but MacDonald’s use of the English language is something akin to Chet Baker’s work with a trumpet. Pure magic. This is the first John D. MacDonald book I've read and probably won't be the last. MacDonald really knows how to build the suspense. Junior Allen is a first degree douche bag and a good villain. You can't help but read faster and faster, eager to see him get what's coming to him. The writing is really good and the characters of Travis and Junior are well done. The novel is fast paced and tightly written, free of bloat and well balanced with dialogue, social commentary and live action. The main appeal for me was in getting to know Travis and I look forward to spending more time in his company. I don't know yet if the novel was filmed, but I would sure be interested in a movie version. Christian Bale Eyed to Play Travis McGee in 'The Deep Blue Good-By' ". thewrap.com. July 15, 2014 . Retrieved July 17, 2014.Even when that means believing women are nothing more than objects of his sliding scale of deserved affection and taking advantage of those too weak or too kind or too grateful to say no. Already an established and successful writer, MacDonald was persuaded to create a franchise character, a recurring romantic hero to sell books. What he did was craft a personification for the world-weary angst of post-WWII riding shotgun on the tide of 60s alienation and disillusion. A very well told story. I get a little lost in the descriptions of the boat world because I can't find my way around. The job Travis takes on here concerns the theft of some mysterious war loot (WWII) that a friend of a friend of Travis had stolen. The thief is a real piece of work, who seems to thrive on raping and degrading women, leaving a trail of destroyed lives in his wake, and it is this trail that Travis starts to follow... I had that fractional part of consciousness left which gave me a remote and unimportant view of reality. The world was a television set at the other end of a dark auditorium, with blurred sound and a fringe area picture.”

Travis McGee is a private hardboiled troubleshooter… He is tough but compassionate… He boasts nitty-gritty wisdom… He scorns the system… McGee is an engaging character and I’m looking forward to reading the next two stories in this anthology, and also the forthcoming film version starring Christian Bale and Rosamund Pike (although this has been delayed as Bale has injured his knee). James Mangold will direct the film, and the script is being written by Dennis Lehane and Scott Frank. No, this really isn't a 4 star book, but it gets an extra one for being so popular & making such a wonderful break from the prudish 50's. One of the interesting things about McGee is that he has plenty of opportunities for casual sex with beach bunnies ready to hand &, while he occasionally indulges, he does so without much enthusiasm, more like a man who drops by McDonalds to simply satisfy his hunger. The meal isn't great, but it will do until he gets around to finding something better & he knows it. He's somewhat disappointed in himself for doing so. Of course he does find more meaningful relationships, but things rarely work out the way he plans. In his first adventure Trav helps Cathy, from Candle Key, in the Keys of course. Cathy, he helps Cathy. It's meant to be, it's in the stars, Trav. The relationship between Travis and Chook is wonderful, honest, loving, respectful, sexy, natural. The prose is open and honest and spare with good pacing. A delightful way to begin this first-of-series Travis McGee. It's clear than even in 1962, MacDonald is a proto-feminist. His instincts are honourable yet sexy, respectful but powerful. Awesome!John D. MacDonald was born in Sharon, Pa, and educated at the Universities of Pennsylvania, Syracuse and Harvard, where he took an MBA in 1939. During WW2, he rose to the rank of Colonel, and while serving in the Army and in the Far East, sent a short story to his wife for sale, successfully. He served in the Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.) in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations. After the war, he decided to try writing for a year, to see if he could make a living. Over 500 short stories and 70 novels resulted, including 21 Travis McGee novels.

Here he learns of a man who made what seems like an illegal fortune while completing military service India. For reasons I won’t go into, his surviving descendants never got to see any of this as they were conned by a man who has bad written all over him. Travis isn’t busy right now but neither is he particularly inclined to disturb his cosy routine of not doing very much. But hey, a payday is a payday so soon he’s engaged in the chase. It’s not going to be easy as there are few clues to the whereabouts of the conman or even the nature or scale of the potential bounty. But Travis is a rangy charmer with a nose for a lead and he’s soon on the scent. The Deep Blue Good-By (aka "Blue") is the first of 21 novels in the Travis McGee series by American author John D. MacDonald. All McGee novel titles incorporate a colour, and the novels have essentially been written as one long story on the life and times of Travis, or Trav as he likes to be called.

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Like Spielberg's shark in Jaws, we feel the presence of Junior without actually seeing him. This tension is intense and superb, and grows throughout the first 2/3 of the book. We know there's a battle to come, and its outcome is uncertain. Excellent.

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