The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
rumbledethumps's review against another edition
3.0
Not as good as I remember when I was sneaking the McGee novels off my parents' bookshelves. Fairly standard hard-boiled PI stuff, but it sets everything up for subsequent books. I should probably visit a couple more of the series before making a final verdict.
christopherwilson13's review against another edition
3.0
3.5. Pulpy beach noir, some slick action and investigating. It makes total sense Lee Child wrote the introduction for this because McGee is a proto-Reacher in that he's multiple steps ahead of everyone (until he's not, which is a fun twist), every woman in the book wants to sleep with him and most of the men he encounters deeply respect him. If you were teaching a class on male gaze, this would make a great text.
[Got this at Lemuria Books in Jackson, MS. The proprietor, John Evans, recommended it to me when I asked him if they had any Elmore Leonard. (They had plenty, and an autographed framed photo because Dutch used to swing by back in the day.) I cannot recommend that place enough.]
[Got this at Lemuria Books in Jackson, MS. The proprietor, John Evans, recommended it to me when I asked him if they had any Elmore Leonard. (They had plenty, and an autographed framed photo because Dutch used to swing by back in the day.) I cannot recommend that place enough.]
matt4hire's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A looooong time ago (back when I was working at Borders), I was on a huge detective fiction kick, and a friend suggested I should try out the Travis McGee books. So I grabbed the first one and…was left completely cold by it.
Over 10 years later, I decided to try again, and guess what?!!? Younger me was a dummy. This book’s pretty great! McGee’s an interesting protagonist, with something sad about him that a lot of the other detective fiction protagonists that I like don’t have. He’s not as angry; in fact, he’s practically serene (though troubled) until he sees an injustice.
Macdonald also has a really great writing style. Lots of vernacular, interesting ruminations, an engaging plot.
Definitely worth your time if you like reading detective stuff.
Over 10 years later, I decided to try again, and guess what?!!? Younger me was a dummy. This book’s pretty great! McGee’s an interesting protagonist, with something sad about him that a lot of the other detective fiction protagonists that I like don’t have. He’s not as angry; in fact, he’s practically serene (though troubled) until he sees an injustice.
Macdonald also has a really great writing style. Lots of vernacular, interesting ruminations, an engaging plot.
Definitely worth your time if you like reading detective stuff.
craigkocur's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
lshum's review against another edition
1.0
I almost didn't bother to finish this book because it was so bad. Plot was tepid and the writing was so blatantly misogynistic that it was painful to read.
kodermike's review against another edition
4.0
As someone who grew up in the 80's, I can only point at this book and say this - this is where all of my favorite TV shows were born. This is where the Rockford Files were seeded, Simon and Simon conceived, Riptide docked. This is where the Burn Notice was lit. If you've ever watched a show where the good guys are only mostly good, and every week they are helping some other unfortunate soul that's been dealt a rough hand fight back, then this book is for you.
The Deep Blue Good-By isn't a deep novel. What it is a great escape from the mundane, to a world where a guy living on a houseboat can solve crimes, right wrongs, and still has time to sip a beer at sunset. While at times a little dated, given the fact that it was published in the 60's, it stands up pretty well.
The Deep Blue Good-By isn't a deep novel. What it is a great escape from the mundane, to a world where a guy living on a houseboat can solve crimes, right wrongs, and still has time to sip a beer at sunset. While at times a little dated, given the fact that it was published in the 60's, it stands up pretty well.
mattydalrymple's review against another edition
5.0
Just read this classic and enjoyed it thoroughly! Although the 1964 take on relations between men and women can read a little jarring in 2015, the characters are wonderfully drawn and the language is arresting--for example, I loved his description of a sterile modern Florida house: "When they are emptied after occupancy, they have the look of places where the blood has recently been washed away." Now I'm on to the second book of the Travis McGee series!
mickeymole's review against another edition
5.0
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.
Here’s McGee describing himself:
“...Travis McGee, that big brown loose-jointed boat bum, that pale-eyed, wire-haired girl-seeker, that slayer of small savage fish, that beach-walker, gin-drinker, quip-maker, peace-seeker, iconoclast, disbeliever, argufier, that knuckly, scar-tissued reject form a structured society.”
“I tried to look disarming. I am pretty good at that. I have one of those useful faces. Tanned American. Bright eyes and white teeth shining amid a broad brown reliable bony visage. The proper folk-hero crinkle at the corners of the eyes, and the bashful appealing smile, where needed. I have been told that when I have been aroused in violent directions I can look like something from an unused corner of hell, but I wouldn’t know about that. My mirror consistently reflects that folksy image of the young project engineer who flung the bridge across the river in spite of overwhelming odds, up to and including the poisoned arrow in his heroic shoulder.”
Descriptions of other characters:
“I could see that she was elderly by Chook’s standards. Perhaps twenty-six or -seven. A brown-eyed blonde, with the helpless mournful eyes of a basset hound. She was a little weathered around the eyes. In the lounge lights I saw that the basic black had given her a lot of good use. Her hands looked a little rough. Under the slightly bouffant skirt of the black dress were those unmistakable dancer’s legs, curved and trim and sinewy.”
“Willy Lazeer is an acquaintance. His teeth and his feet hurt. He hates the climate, the Power Squadron, the government and his wife. The vast load of hate has left him numbed rather than bitter. In appearance, it is as though somebody bleached Sinatra, skinned him, and made Willy wear him.”
“She was a tall and slender woman, possibly in her early thirties. Her skin had the extraordinary fineness of grain, and the translucence you see in small children and fashion models. In her fine long hands, delicacy of wrists, floating texture of dark hair, and in the mobility of the long narrow sensitive structuring of her face there was the look of something almost too well made, too highly bred, too finely drawn for all the natural crudities of human existence.”
“A few years ago she would have been breathtakingly ripe, and even now, in night light, with drinks and laughter, there would be all the illusions of freshness and youth and desirability. But in this cruelty of sunlight, in this, her twentieth year, she was a record of everything she had let them do to her. Too many trips to too many storerooms had worn the bloom away. The freshness had been romped out, in sweat and excess. The body reflects the casual abrasions of the spirit, so that now she could slump in her meaty indifference, as immunized to tenderness as a whore at a clinic.”
And, my favorite line:
“She was styled for abundant lactation, and her uniform blouse was not.”
MacDonald certainly knew how to turn a phrase--a brilliant artist using words to paint pictures that jump from the page. There’s something quote-worthy on just about every page of THE DEEP BLUE GOOD-BY.
“The wide world is full of likable people who get kicked in the stomach regularly. They’re disaster-prone. Something goes wrong. The sky starts falling on their heads. And you can’t reverse the process.”
“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.”
“People have their acquired armor, made up of gestures and expressions and defensive chatter.”
“He was in a gigantic circular bed, with a pink canopy over it. In all the luxuriant femininity of that big bedroom, George looked shrunken and misplaced, like a dead worm in a birthday cake.”
A special thanks goes out to my great friend, Bobby, who gave me this book.
Here’s McGee describing himself:
“...Travis McGee, that big brown loose-jointed boat bum, that pale-eyed, wire-haired girl-seeker, that slayer of small savage fish, that beach-walker, gin-drinker, quip-maker, peace-seeker, iconoclast, disbeliever, argufier, that knuckly, scar-tissued reject form a structured society.”
“I tried to look disarming. I am pretty good at that. I have one of those useful faces. Tanned American. Bright eyes and white teeth shining amid a broad brown reliable bony visage. The proper folk-hero crinkle at the corners of the eyes, and the bashful appealing smile, where needed. I have been told that when I have been aroused in violent directions I can look like something from an unused corner of hell, but I wouldn’t know about that. My mirror consistently reflects that folksy image of the young project engineer who flung the bridge across the river in spite of overwhelming odds, up to and including the poisoned arrow in his heroic shoulder.”
Descriptions of other characters:
“I could see that she was elderly by Chook’s standards. Perhaps twenty-six or -seven. A brown-eyed blonde, with the helpless mournful eyes of a basset hound. She was a little weathered around the eyes. In the lounge lights I saw that the basic black had given her a lot of good use. Her hands looked a little rough. Under the slightly bouffant skirt of the black dress were those unmistakable dancer’s legs, curved and trim and sinewy.”
“Willy Lazeer is an acquaintance. His teeth and his feet hurt. He hates the climate, the Power Squadron, the government and his wife. The vast load of hate has left him numbed rather than bitter. In appearance, it is as though somebody bleached Sinatra, skinned him, and made Willy wear him.”
“She was a tall and slender woman, possibly in her early thirties. Her skin had the extraordinary fineness of grain, and the translucence you see in small children and fashion models. In her fine long hands, delicacy of wrists, floating texture of dark hair, and in the mobility of the long narrow sensitive structuring of her face there was the look of something almost too well made, too highly bred, too finely drawn for all the natural crudities of human existence.”
“A few years ago she would have been breathtakingly ripe, and even now, in night light, with drinks and laughter, there would be all the illusions of freshness and youth and desirability. But in this cruelty of sunlight, in this, her twentieth year, she was a record of everything she had let them do to her. Too many trips to too many storerooms had worn the bloom away. The freshness had been romped out, in sweat and excess. The body reflects the casual abrasions of the spirit, so that now she could slump in her meaty indifference, as immunized to tenderness as a whore at a clinic.”
And, my favorite line:
“She was styled for abundant lactation, and her uniform blouse was not.”
MacDonald certainly knew how to turn a phrase--a brilliant artist using words to paint pictures that jump from the page. There’s something quote-worthy on just about every page of THE DEEP BLUE GOOD-BY.
“The wide world is full of likable people who get kicked in the stomach regularly. They’re disaster-prone. Something goes wrong. The sky starts falling on their heads. And you can’t reverse the process.”
“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.”
“People have their acquired armor, made up of gestures and expressions and defensive chatter.”
“He was in a gigantic circular bed, with a pink canopy over it. In all the luxuriant femininity of that big bedroom, George looked shrunken and misplaced, like a dead worm in a birthday cake.”
A special thanks goes out to my great friend, Bobby, who gave me this book.
alby829's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
fredosbrother's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75