What do you think?
Rate this book
JUDGE ME NOT. by John D. MacDonald
Judge Me Not, one of many classic novels from crime writer John D. MacDonald, the beloved author of Cape Fear and the Travis McGee series, is now available as an eBook. One way or another, change is coming to Deron, New York. The city has long been terrorized by Lonnie Raval, a ruthless bully whose political machine carried him all the way into the mayor’s office. After suffering through years of corruption, kickbacks, and psychological torture, the people of Deron have finally achieved a wave of reforms. Bright young go-getter Teed Morrow has been hired as part of the team cleaning up city hall. There’s just one problem. Teed has his own laundry list of bad behavior—and that includes getting involved with Lonnie’s wife. He knows he’s playing with fire—but it’s not until he wakes to find her murdered that Teed realizes how badly he’s about to get burned. Features a new Introduction by Dean Koontz Praise for John D. MacDonald “ The great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller.”—Stephen King “My favorite novelist of all time.”—Dean Koontz “To diggers a thousand years from now, the works of John D. MacDonald would be a treasure on the order of the tomb of Tutankhamen.”—Kurt Vonnegut “A master storyteller, a masterful suspense writer . . . John D. MacDonald is a shining example for all of us in the field. Talk about the best .”—Mary Higgins Clark
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1951
50 people are currently reading
160 people want to read
About the author
John D. MacDonald
557 books1,355 followersJohn D. MacDonald was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, 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.
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.
In the years since his death MacDonald has been praised by authors as diverse as Stephen King, Spider Robinson, Jimmy Buffett, Kingsley Amis and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.. Thirty-three years after his passing the Travis McGee novels are still in print.
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.
In the years since his death MacDonald has been praised by authors as diverse as Stephen King, Spider Robinson, Jimmy Buffett, Kingsley Amis and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.. Thirty-three years after his passing the Travis McGee novels are still in print.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
December 19, 2022
Judge Me Not was one of McDonald’s early novels, among the four published in 1951. In this one, McDonald tackles the theme of organized crime and corruption. The lead character, Teed, is the assistant to a reformer coming to town to defeat the corrupt mayor who is doing the mob’s bidding. Teed Morrow nevertheless is sleeping with the current mayor’s wife, Felice. There’s a standard plot line with Teed being set up to take a fall by the mob boss running the show and running around trying to stay out of jail. It culminates with an explosion of violence as Teed and a lawyer singlehandedly take on the mob in a complete battle scene that will leave few survivors. All in all, a well-crafted hardboiled thriller. There were a few side plots that could have been cut such as the 17 year old daughter of Teed’s boss falling for him and the hooker with a heart of gold who turns out to be a better person than most.
April 23, 2024
Protagonist has had a nice swim and a nice lay at his Adirondack cabin. The gal is the mayor’s wife, which is kind of dangerous if you are the assistant to the new city manager who is trying to clean up the gangster led corruption of an upstate New York City. But when you’ve been a love em and leave ‘em cad all your life, what’s the big deal, hm? After all, you are about to dump the woman — who fakes orgasms and looks like a monkey. Well, the title says it all — Judge our protagonist not. Even though the result of his actions ends up with a bunch of broken lives, a body count Mickey Spillane would envy, and underneath it all, a simple arrogance that being on the right side of a fight makes you a right guy.
McDonald is a fine writer — good enough that I respect the craft even when he (frequently) pushes my buttons as a reader. However, the plot in this one is not so good. The hero is a pretty shabby character and does not seem to feel the moral weight of what he has done. If that were the point — this could have been a Jim Thompson masterpiece. Instead, it’s another in a long line of should have been better stories.
McDonald is a fine writer — good enough that I respect the craft even when he (frequently) pushes my buttons as a reader. However, the plot in this one is not so good. The hero is a pretty shabby character and does not seem to feel the moral weight of what he has done. If that were the point — this could have been a Jim Thompson masterpiece. Instead, it’s another in a long line of should have been better stories.
September 5, 2018
This is John D. MacDonald's fourth novel, and having read his previous three, I'd say it was the best he wrote to that date. It provides great and thrilling suspense, and a solid and pulpy criminal plot that I did not predict by the time the ending came -- well done!
What I did not like was the over the top violence that takes place now and then. I'm someone who can tolerate violence, so that's not the issue... it's just that reading about it in such excessive detail can get... well, boring, when MacDonald's suspenseful writing usually can't stop me from turning pages.
That criticism however, is minor. Generally, this book was a compelling read in MacDonald's usual style. And sure, we see a glimmer of elements in this book of Travis McGee who turns up in later novels as MacDonald's main protagonist.
If you're a fan of MacDonald, this book won't disappoint. From my experience, MacDonald generally never does.
What I did not like was the over the top violence that takes place now and then. I'm someone who can tolerate violence, so that's not the issue... it's just that reading about it in such excessive detail can get... well, boring, when MacDonald's suspenseful writing usually can't stop me from turning pages.
That criticism however, is minor. Generally, this book was a compelling read in MacDonald's usual style. And sure, we see a glimmer of elements in this book of Travis McGee who turns up in later novels as MacDonald's main protagonist.
If you're a fan of MacDonald, this book won't disappoint. From my experience, MacDonald generally never does.
June 20, 2025
Still Crap
These early ones are a bit better than his late ones, but they're still crap.
A fairly good story, but there are a few unrealistic events.
I guess I don't have to mention the Love At First Sight bullshit he always shoe-horns in. You feminist women should be outraged: it's obvious he's trying to lure in lady-readers.
I guess there's some middle-ground lady-readers: the ones who want some murder mixed in with their Harlequin romances. Love-at-first-sight; cut-his-dick-off at second-sight. Something like that.
This guy was either the most cold-blooded misanthrope or a retard going around and around in circles on his tricycle.
These early ones are a bit better than his late ones, but they're still crap.
A fairly good story, but there are a few unrealistic events.
I guess I don't have to mention the Love At First Sight bullshit he always shoe-horns in. You feminist women should be outraged: it's obvious he's trying to lure in lady-readers.
I guess there's some middle-ground lady-readers: the ones who want some murder mixed in with their Harlequin romances. Love-at-first-sight; cut-his-dick-off at second-sight. Something like that.
This guy was either the most cold-blooded misanthrope or a retard going around and around in circles on his tricycle.
December 30, 2022
Published in 1951, this is one of John D. MacDonald's earliest novels. To my mind, it's a perfectly competent book, but it's not among the author's best.
I always have a problem with a book which opens with the protagonist doing something incredibly stupid and then having to spend the rest of the story trying to escape the mess that he or she has created. A little voice is always going on in the back of my mind saying, "Well, you dumb moron, if you hadn't done X at the beginning of the book, you wouldn't be in such deep crap!" This inevitably diminishes my enjoyment of the book, and such is the case here.
The story takes place in an unnamed town in New York which is tightly controlled by a cabal of mobsters, crooked cops, and corrupt politicians, including a mayor who, though useful to the bosses, is not particularly bright. The citizenry, having tired of the situation, pass a referendum to introduce the city manager form of government to the town in the hope of cleaning it up and making it a fit place for women and children to live.
The new city manager is an experienced reformer named Powell Dennison. Dennison's right-hand man and principal investigator is Teed Morrow. The two begin digging up dirt so that they can expose the corruption that has blighted the town and send all the evil doers to prison. So far, so good.
Teed Morrow is the book's protagonist and as the story opens, Morrow has, incredibly, decided that it would be an excellent idea to have an affair with the mayor's wife. It apparently doesn't ever occur to him that such an affair, especially if exposed to public view, might have very negative consequences, like perhaps seriously undermining his boss's efforts to clean up the city.
A child of five would understand that this affair is going to blow up in Morrow's face and, by extension, his boss's, and inevitably it does. Before long, Morrow is in the frame for a horrible crime that he didn't commit and he will have to spend the rest of the novel attempting to extricate himself and somehow save the reform effort in the process.
Again, it's an okay story with several of the themes that would mark much of John D. MacDonald's work, but I spent much of my time with the book shaking my head at Teed Morrow's incredible stupidity which set everything into motion. There's a violent climax at the end of the book which also strains credulity. Again, a reasonably good book but certainly not one of my favorite MacDonalds.
I always have a problem with a book which opens with the protagonist doing something incredibly stupid and then having to spend the rest of the story trying to escape the mess that he or she has created. A little voice is always going on in the back of my mind saying, "Well, you dumb moron, if you hadn't done X at the beginning of the book, you wouldn't be in such deep crap!" This inevitably diminishes my enjoyment of the book, and such is the case here.
The story takes place in an unnamed town in New York which is tightly controlled by a cabal of mobsters, crooked cops, and corrupt politicians, including a mayor who, though useful to the bosses, is not particularly bright. The citizenry, having tired of the situation, pass a referendum to introduce the city manager form of government to the town in the hope of cleaning it up and making it a fit place for women and children to live.
The new city manager is an experienced reformer named Powell Dennison. Dennison's right-hand man and principal investigator is Teed Morrow. The two begin digging up dirt so that they can expose the corruption that has blighted the town and send all the evil doers to prison. So far, so good.
Teed Morrow is the book's protagonist and as the story opens, Morrow has, incredibly, decided that it would be an excellent idea to have an affair with the mayor's wife. It apparently doesn't ever occur to him that such an affair, especially if exposed to public view, might have very negative consequences, like perhaps seriously undermining his boss's efforts to clean up the city.
A child of five would understand that this affair is going to blow up in Morrow's face and, by extension, his boss's, and inevitably it does. Before long, Morrow is in the frame for a horrible crime that he didn't commit and he will have to spend the rest of the novel attempting to extricate himself and somehow save the reform effort in the process.
Again, it's an okay story with several of the themes that would mark much of John D. MacDonald's work, but I spent much of my time with the book shaking my head at Teed Morrow's incredible stupidity which set everything into motion. There's a violent climax at the end of the book which also strains credulity. Again, a reasonably good book but certainly not one of my favorite MacDonalds.
June 8, 2018
“Judge Me Not,” by John D. MacDonald is the story of a man living below his potential in a small town held lightly in the grip of corruption by local bosses. Teed Morrow, clearly a MacDonald name, is the assistant to the newly hired straight-shooting city manager, Powell Dennison, whose goal is to break the grip of corruption. The bosses seem to think Teed is the weak link in stopping Dennison. It’s a compliment to MacDonald that you don’t like Teed as the hero, at least for a good way into the story. There’s believable characters throughout, including the woman Teed’s having an affair with. The copy I read was published in 1951, a paperback with yellowed, crispy pages. But, I kept imagining it happening today and enjoyed the story immensely.
October 19, 2018
A coming of age story in a bizarre way
We worry about the violence of our era, the mass shootings. This story is a reminder that people have a long history of violent behavior. While the story is fantasy just as RoboCop was fantasy, it does speak to both the darker and brighter side of human character. Is human nature really changing for the better? We must hope so of we can manage right billion or more of us living on this globe.
The story itself is an example of MacDonald's ability to show rather than tell. While a contemporary audience won't identify with everything the evocation of human nature comes through. There is certainly a vivid depiction of late forties America.
We worry about the violence of our era, the mass shootings. This story is a reminder that people have a long history of violent behavior. While the story is fantasy just as RoboCop was fantasy, it does speak to both the darker and brighter side of human character. Is human nature really changing for the better? We must hope so of we can manage right billion or more of us living on this globe.
The story itself is an example of MacDonald's ability to show rather than tell. While a contemporary audience won't identify with everything the evocation of human nature comes through. There is certainly a vivid depiction of late forties America.
June 14, 2025
This was the first book that I ever read by this author, probably because he was writing before my time. But Talking Books sent me this book and when I read the opening by Dean Koontz I decided to go ahead and read it. It was not my usual genre but it was good. Corruption in a small town government, nothing too unusual, but this author did write very well.
February 19, 2025
Two straight-shooting civil servants are hired to clean up a corrupt town. Things get ugly when one of the two starts an affair with the crooked mayor's wife. A real page-turner. The ending is anything but cliche. Recommended.
January 31, 2020
Great read
Romantic but not too much. Characters very human . Plot kept me on the edge of my seat. Will read another
Romantic but not too much. Characters very human . Plot kept me on the edge of my seat. Will read another
August 16, 2023
A repellent portrait of local politics as floating on oceans of blood. (Is 'political noir' a category?)
December 15, 2014
so this is maybe #6 or 7 from macdonald for me...paperback i have, fifth printing, march 1964 says the copyright is 1951. description says 1948. an early macdonald, regardless, hey?
story begins:
when the woman left his side he turned, in his sleep, toward the window.
the late october sun slanted across west canada lake, rebounded from the locked shutters of the other camps, shone with faint warmth through the open window of teed morrow's rented camp, shone red through his closed eyelids as he let himself drift slowly up from a nap of pure exhaustion.
okee-dokee then, onward and upward, as the good doctor said.
update, notes to myself after reading chapter one, 14 dec 14
macdonald tells a good story...and though this is at most #7...i think i've read in at least 3 of 7 that is you take a hair...there on the brush in this case, and pull it through your fingers...kinda like one does with christmas ribbon?...it should curl back on itself...this is how you tell you're healthy. heh!
and...the word simian applied to a woman's face...i know it was used in my last macdonald, One More Sunday and it is used here...to describe the woman-portion of an affair. nice, too, how in this story, we see the end-of-the-affair (isn't that a graham greene title)...or we see what could be the end...and in the other read, of more than one affair, we don't read the end until close to story's close.
teed morrow turns 31 and a friend of his from the war (ww2)enlists his help in cleaning up a town, much as they did in germany after the war. that's another repeated image in macdonald's stories...politics...town politics. should be interesting to see how it plays out in this story.
update at page 72, chapter seven, 14 dec 14
want to record it because it seems important to me...there has been another repeated image/scene...teed...dreaming...running up a stairwell...repeated, or actually, this could be the original as the repeated image is in that other one, One More Sunday, though i forget who to attribute the dream in that one...and in that one, seemed like the dream image continued past the top of the steps...until the dreamer was out in space, like willey e coyote, legs pumping.
anyway...good story so far. the characters are solid. there's a sense of place, always...you know where they stand on the set. there is very little in the way of...minor characters, peripheral characters...the set is alive and well, as are the characters...and at times...in the lake at the camp, swimming...inside...planning...at other times, i would like to get a sense of activity elsewhere...so that the set is not a stage-set...though it would be unfair to describe these sets thus. but that is one thing lacking...i think...peripheral characters, scene/setting characters...they're all around us, all the time, but not here in the story though the story is still good. i'd hazard that if i did index this one like i have in the past...that list of 'minor' characters would be slim...couple boys, who teed played catch with...who knew the man who dropped the car was not teed...that one scene was more alive because of those three minor peripheral characters. so...strange, hey? that the story can still be good?
reminds me of the last story i read...or, one of the last ones...The Silent Wife...i think there were some peripheral characters there...thinking...thinking...but there was that back/forth him/her...almost like first person eye-narration though it was third. ummm.
update, finished, monday monday, 15 dec 14
good story...the battle for control of a city/town...the bag guys running the "good" guys and a few "good" guys do battle...both sides lose something or all. wondered if the "bad" guys...at times...i'm thinking toward the end...raval...if he wasn't a tad 'toonish. you'll never get me, coppers!...that sort of thing...guy talking out of the side of his mouth. heh! i'm not sure that jake's plan went over as well with me...thinkin...ummm, how'd that work? real? really? but you go with the flow, it is a story...and one can allow for it...but not without saying something about it didn't ring true. come to think of it...jake seemed a tad off throughout...a fantasy. anyway...still a good read. onward upward.
story begins:
when the woman left his side he turned, in his sleep, toward the window.
the late october sun slanted across west canada lake, rebounded from the locked shutters of the other camps, shone with faint warmth through the open window of teed morrow's rented camp, shone red through his closed eyelids as he let himself drift slowly up from a nap of pure exhaustion.
okee-dokee then, onward and upward, as the good doctor said.
update, notes to myself after reading chapter one, 14 dec 14
macdonald tells a good story...and though this is at most #7...i think i've read in at least 3 of 7 that is you take a hair...there on the brush in this case, and pull it through your fingers...kinda like one does with christmas ribbon?...it should curl back on itself...this is how you tell you're healthy. heh!
and...the word simian applied to a woman's face...i know it was used in my last macdonald, One More Sunday and it is used here...to describe the woman-portion of an affair. nice, too, how in this story, we see the end-of-the-affair (isn't that a graham greene title)...or we see what could be the end...and in the other read, of more than one affair, we don't read the end until close to story's close.
teed morrow turns 31 and a friend of his from the war (ww2)enlists his help in cleaning up a town, much as they did in germany after the war. that's another repeated image in macdonald's stories...politics...town politics. should be interesting to see how it plays out in this story.
update at page 72, chapter seven, 14 dec 14
want to record it because it seems important to me...there has been another repeated image/scene...teed...dreaming...running up a stairwell...repeated, or actually, this could be the original as the repeated image is in that other one, One More Sunday, though i forget who to attribute the dream in that one...and in that one, seemed like the dream image continued past the top of the steps...until the dreamer was out in space, like willey e coyote, legs pumping.
anyway...good story so far. the characters are solid. there's a sense of place, always...you know where they stand on the set. there is very little in the way of...minor characters, peripheral characters...the set is alive and well, as are the characters...and at times...in the lake at the camp, swimming...inside...planning...at other times, i would like to get a sense of activity elsewhere...so that the set is not a stage-set...though it would be unfair to describe these sets thus. but that is one thing lacking...i think...peripheral characters, scene/setting characters...they're all around us, all the time, but not here in the story though the story is still good. i'd hazard that if i did index this one like i have in the past...that list of 'minor' characters would be slim...couple boys, who teed played catch with...who knew the man who dropped the car was not teed...that one scene was more alive because of those three minor peripheral characters. so...strange, hey? that the story can still be good?
reminds me of the last story i read...or, one of the last ones...The Silent Wife...i think there were some peripheral characters there...thinking...thinking...but there was that back/forth him/her...almost like first person eye-narration though it was third. ummm.
update, finished, monday monday, 15 dec 14
good story...the battle for control of a city/town...the bag guys running the "good" guys and a few "good" guys do battle...both sides lose something or all. wondered if the "bad" guys...at times...i'm thinking toward the end...raval...if he wasn't a tad 'toonish. you'll never get me, coppers!...that sort of thing...guy talking out of the side of his mouth. heh! i'm not sure that jake's plan went over as well with me...thinkin...ummm, how'd that work? real? really? but you go with the flow, it is a story...and one can allow for it...but not without saying something about it didn't ring true. come to think of it...jake seemed a tad off throughout...a fantasy. anyway...still a good read. onward upward.
August 23, 2012
In John D. MacDonald's fourth novel (1951 - following his debut in 1950), his protagonist is his prototypical 'competent man'. In this case, Teed Morrow is returning to the U.S. after being an executive of policy in restoring WWII Europe.
Domestic politics should be a cinch, but his romantic peccadilloes pose an impediment.
Teed Morrow is home from Europe and the post-War challenge of giving people back ''a measure of trust and hope''. He wants a break from getting involved. But the old evils of corruption and cruelty are there waiting for him in his new job. Teed is having an affair with the mayor's wife as he works to blow the lid of a town whose government is corrupt to the core. She dies, brutally; he's framed.
Domestic politics should be a cinch, but his romantic peccadilloes pose an impediment.
Teed Morrow is home from Europe and the post-War challenge of giving people back ''a measure of trust and hope''. He wants a break from getting involved. But the old evils of corruption and cruelty are there waiting for him in his new job. Teed is having an affair with the mayor's wife as he works to blow the lid of a town whose government is corrupt to the core. She dies, brutally; he's framed.
February 25, 2014
Tim said it best: "pulp at its finest". Indeed it is that. MacDonald's male protagonists always have flaws, but hearts of gold, and they bring out the best in the people they meet. They are also physically strong, but get beat up or shot, and Teed gets it all. There'a a woman involved, of course, and she is just as strong willed, if not as strong in body, and the two recognize themselves in each other, after the sex, of course.
Pulp it may be, and formulaic, but MacDonald's writing, and the philosphy and insights into human nature are what make his books worth reading.
Pulp it may be, and formulaic, but MacDonald's writing, and the philosphy and insights into human nature are what make his books worth reading.
February 27, 2010
This would have been a better (and shorter) book if the characters weren't constantly sermonizing. I need to read something humorous now to get the bad taste out of my mouth.
September 5, 2016
An early MacDonald book as brutally hard and depraved as the rest of his lexicon... and equally compelling.
October 7, 2016
Muito bom!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 27, 2010
Not much to say other than another good one.
February 6, 2018
Very enjoyable read.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews