The Deep Blue Good-by by John D. MacDonald Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Deep Blue Good-by
Book Review: McGee makes colorful debut!
Summary: 5 Stars
"Home is the `Busted Flush,' 52-foot barge-type houseboat, Slip F-18, Bahia Mar, Lauderdale."Is there any address in American literature so readily identified? Probably not. It's the home of Travis McGee, "knight in tarnished armor," and central character of the over-20 volumed series by John D. MacDonald.
With quite a following of readers around the world (my first McGee was while vacationing in Torremolinas years ago and needing something to read while soaking up the Spanish sunshine and absorbing the sangria deliciosa!), MacDonald's hero, along with his sometimes bizarre assortment of friends, enemies, and hangers-on, goes from one adventure to another. Each of the McGee books contains a color in the title, easily recognizable. And it's not purple prose either! MacDonald, a best-selling novelist for years, has more than just a storyline to carry his books. Certainly, McGee is his principal concern. He's "retired" most of the time--he only goes back to work when he sees he's running out of money. He'd rather stay aboard his houseboat and entertain his friends that work. He claims he's taking his retirement one day at a time!
"The Deep Blue Good-by" is the first in this series, published in 1964. It is amazing, too, that in reading it here in the year 2000, the book still stands as relevant now as it was then. McGee, as usual, finds himself befriending and then helping out Cathy Kerr, who has come to him in desperation. Her misfortune has been to meet up with Junior Allen, "a smiling, freckle-face stranger" with depravity on his mind and a more odious person you don't want to meet. There is also something about missing inheritance. McGee is unable to resist and from the moment he accepts the challenge, the reader is glued to the pages.
MacDonald's style is terse (some would say Hemingwayesque--one of MacDonald's favorite writes, incidentally) and moves rapidly, a pace easy to keep up with but one that if you blink, you might miss something. But who wants to blink when MacDonald is on a McGee crusade! The author's knack for piercing characterization, his ability to capture the landscape and atmosphere of "Lauderdamndale," and his penchant for a good story make this first episode one not to be missed. True, the McGee books ordinarily don't have to be read in sequence, it's still a good idea. Over the course of the series, naturally, an affinity toward complete understanding of Travis, and his good friend Meyer, keeps readers truly involved.
"The Deep Blue Good-by" is a "hello" to a great series!
Billyjhobbs@tyler.net
Book Review: Meet Travis McGee- the true definition of hard-boiled.
Summary: 5 Stars
After reading all of John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee books, I would say that The Deep Blue Good-By is the best way to meet the greatest character of the detective-story genre. Imagine the best qualities of Hammett's Continental Detective Agency Operative and Sam Spade, Chandler's Philip Marlowe, and Cussler's Dirk Pitt combined with a unique personality that is impossible not to love. MacDonald's characterization is unmatched in almost all authors I have read, and his story-telling skills are amazing. But most impressive are his social commentaries voiced by McGee in interior monologue; nearly all the nigh-cynical observations voiced by Mcgee were true in MacDonald's time as well as ours. If you love a good story, regardless of whether or not you like mysteries, you will love this book. One word of caution, though-- once you read this, you will be hopelessly addicted to the world of Travis Mcgee.Book Review: Not Free SF Reader
Summary: 4 Stars
Fifty percent is better than nothing.
At least that is what you are desperate enough to take if you hire Travis McGee as a 'Salvage Consultant', to recover something lost that may just be of dubious legality. (Not sure what he will do if it is a racehorse, woman, or parrot, however).
Here, a friend asks him to help out another friend, both of whom are female dancers, and he reluctantly agrees, ending up in a sordid plot involving some treasure recovered in a now-jailed husband's army days, and a violent man (think rape and murder) trying to get his hands on it. Along the way, there is plenty of seedy Florida, broken women, and biffo.
If you like this sort of adventurer with booze and broads style of thing, not much doubt you will find this enjoyable. Good stuff.
Book Review: One of Best Writers in this Genre
Summary: 5 Stars
I messed up a long time ago. I began reading MacDonald's McGee series but did not do so in any order, nor did I record which ones I'd read. So now, though I'd love to pick up the ones I missed and read them, I can't recall which ones they are. In any case, every one I've read in the series of 21 volumes are true page turners. McGee is not a formal detective...he's more of an erstwhile private investigator who takes care of the terrible fixes his friends and acquaintances get themselves into. I happen to live in Florida, indeed in the backyard of where McGee kept his Busted Flush so I often notice landmarks and such. Often, writers are condemned or at least rebuked for inserting social or moral commentary into their fiction. And most can't make it work---it comes across as stiff and stilted. However, MacDonald pulls it off admirably. In fact, I've come to value Travis McGee's commentary almost as much as the racy adventure. McGee is not portrayed as a particularly moral person. In fact, at times he seems more like a playboy with a standard of morality he's set up independently of God or anyone else. However, his thoughts about life are fascinating and extremely insightful at times. In any case, I've read a lot of MacDonald's other novels, and, for the most part, I think the McGee series is his best stuff. Just don't do what I did. Record which of the 21 books you've read and read them all the way through to the Lonely Silver Rain. Have fun.Book Review: Simply the Best
Summary: 5 Stars
I have read all twenty-one Travis McGee novels and all are great. The Deep Blue Good-By is especially significant because it was the first. John D. MacDonald has shaped one of the most memorable detectives (eh, salvage consultants) in American fiction.McGee's philosophical sidebars and general commentaries on topics ranging from bikers, to bikinis, to beer, to sunsets give this character a depth that can not be found anywhere else. The storylines, however unrealistic, seem realistic. McGee does not always do the right thing. But who does. That's why we relate to Travis. When MacDonald died he took Travis McGee with him. But oh what a glorious ride it was.