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103rd out of 236 books
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Pale Gray for Guilt (Travis McGee #9)
With an introduction by CARL HIAASEN
JOHN D. MacDONALD
"...the great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller."
--STEPHEN KING
"...a master storyteller, a masterful suspense writer."
--MARY HIGGINS CLARK
"...a dominant influence on writers crafting the continuing series character."
--SUE GRAFTON
"...my favorite novelist of all time."
--DEAN KOONTZ
"...the consummate pr...more
JOHN D. MacDONALD
"...the great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller."
--STEPHEN KING
"...a master storyteller, a masterful suspense writer."
--MARY HIGGINS CLARK
"...a dominant influence on writers crafting the continuing series character."
--SUE GRAFTON
"...my favorite novelist of all time."
--DEAN KOONTZ
"...the consummate pr...more
Mass Market Paperback, 320 pages
Published
February 21st 1996
by Fawcett
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Travis McGee is a Florida boat bum who finances his extended vacations by trying to get back money that has been conned or stolen from people who can’t use legal means to try and recover it. His old buddy ‘Tush’ (1968 Winner For Worst Nickname Ever) Bannon owns a small marina and hotel, but his land stands in the way of some crooked developers, and they’re using their influence with local politicians to squeeze him out. Tush refuses to sell and turns up dead on what is ruled a very messy suici...more
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Okay, I've been avoiding the mystery writer John. D. MacDonald (not to be confused with mystery writers Ross MacDonald and Philip Macdonald) because of the eye-poppingly sexist crap on his jacket blurbs, wherein naked women and dead people appear to be the only folks populating his world.
But this jacket blurb wasn't like that, so I read it.
Holy crap, do I love John D. MacDonald!
You know what kind of women populate his novels? The kind who can show a cheesy, se...more
But this jacket blurb wasn't like that, so I read it.
Holy crap, do I love John D. MacDonald!
You know what kind of women populate his novels? The kind who can show a cheesy, se...more
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This is number nine in the Travis McGee series, John D. MacDonald’s collection of thrillers/mysteries featuring one Travis McGee, “salvage consultant”. Just as mobsters are often euphemistically described as “waste management specialists”, McGee the salvage consultant is actually an unlicensed private eye of sorts, who helps people get things back that have been taken (or swindled) from them.
This time out, Trav is called upon to help a friend (a guy named Tush - seriously) whose tin...more
This time out, Trav is called upon to help a friend (a guy named Tush - seriously) whose tin...more
As I've explained, my dad read all of these books back in the day and since then they've all sat on a bookshelf in his house. As a kid, I'd look at them and wonder about them - so I finally decided to go ahead and read them.
The funny thing is, dad said he wasn't really sure what got him into this series in the first place. Um, dad? I replied, you were in your mid/late 20s and an over-the-road truck driver. They were cheap paperbacks. Why wouldn't you have read them?
The funny thing is, dad said he wasn't really sure what got him into this series in the first place. Um, dad? I replied, you were in your mid/late 20s and an over-the-road truck driver. They were cheap paperbacks. Why wouldn't you have read them?
My first Travis Mc Gee book I ever read, Pale Gray for Guilt, was something I picked out of a trunk full of old books that Dr. Simons had stored in Egypt to read while he was there on his expeditions. So, I read this in my tent and I was hooked. Even though this is technically not the 1st Travis McGee book, it is where I started. I suggest you start with the first one, though if you haven't read any (The Deep Blue Goodbye). And yes, they all have a color in their title, how cool is that?
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Obviously, by the puny two stars, this is not the best of MacDonald's McGees; at any rate, I yawned my way through the complicated financial shenanigans that had destroyed Jan and Tush Bannon's dreams and their lives but eventually saved Jan Bannon's future. However, it is McGee, and he would have to work awfully hard to keep me away from the rest of the series.
Page turner with likable folks and some nuanced bad guys. Mystery not quite predictable. Florida setting a delight! Travis McGee is a bit over the top in brawn and physicality but still captures my attention. No wonder author was role model to so many good writers!
Travis McGee, dashing beach bum and salvage expert, helps out the widow of murdered friend. His attitudes toward women are a bit creaky, he's fond of overexplaining his world philosophy, and this time I out couldn't follow all the financial workings to his con job. But I still enjoy reading his capers from time to time, as I did with this title.
The con is a little slow, but it's fun to watch Meyer learn how. Good babe and bad-girl, and usual sharply sketched minor characters. Recipe for The McGee martini variant.
A solid Travis McGee yarn, if not an overly exciting one. In the place of the usual action and adventure we get to see John D. MacDonald flexing his Harvard MBA, as McGee finds himself working a con on some very bad Florida real estate con men, to avenge the murder of his old friend Tush Bannon. This novel also features Meyer in a significant role, supporting the con with his financial expertise. And, of course, lots of McGee Philosophy. An enjoyable read, with some interesting supporting ch...more
The quintessential Travis McGee mystery. If there is only one Travis McGee mystery you should read, this is it.
Read them as a tween. Love them all.
I thought this story started out slow and rambled a bit. In the last 1/3 of the story MacDonald wrapped it all up and the ending was exciting. My opinion is that the who "Puss" part of the plot was unnecessary.
So, how did I miss adding all these Travis MaGee's earlier?
He's still my fav!
He's still my fav!
This one started out extremely slowly, but ended as the strongest yet. It is the first in which Meyer plays an active role. Travis and Meyer undertake a major long con to settle a score and thus the plot is more entertaining and complex than is usual. The poetic descriptions of human nature and Florida in the sixties are firmly in place and make the reader feel at home in a McGee novel.
It's written with complexity: Travis McGee is both one nails-tough customer and a sort of armchair philosopher capable of being hurt. After he's sprung the cold steel jaws of his vengeance on the callous and strangely pathetic people responsible for his friend's death, you can see the personal cost of both his lifestyle and his profession.
The machinery of his plan was a joy to behold.
The machinery of his plan was a joy to behold.
This is my choice for one of the best Travis McGee books. MacDonald's hero, who takes his retirement incrementally rather than wait for old age, investigates the death of a friend. As usual in a McGee story, he helps those in need and encounters the banal evil of small time creeps trying to cut to the head of the line.
Travis McGee loses a lady friend and pulls an elaborate stock scheme called the "pigeon drop" on the shady businessmen who killed his friend. Lots of classic McGee interior monologues about sex and real estate development, maybe too much about the ins and outs of the con.
One of the best. If you can make it to the end of the series, this book will be a strong reminder and you will want to read it again. The book leaves the reader full of emotions and yearning to know more about Travis.
McGee investigates the death of his friend Tush Bannon who was driven into bankruptcy by developers who wanted his land for a factory. McGee and Meyer run a con on the people involved. One of the better McGees.
A splendid tale of revenge. The characters are so vivid and vital and the story so compellingly told that it was easy to overlook the implausibilities in the plot.
loved this one. revenge stories are always a favorite, a la Count of Monte C., The Partner by Grisham, that Stephen Fry novel, Debt of Honor by Clancy, etc.
What can I say? Travis McGee.
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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. After war service in the Far East he wrote hundreds of stories for the pulps and over seventy novels, including the 21 in the Travis McGee sequence.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Mac...
More about John D. MacDonald...
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Mac...
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