Reviews

Nightmare in Pink by John D. MacDonald

jaydeereading's review against another edition

mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

dwhite1174's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? No

2.0

ogreart's review against another edition

5.0

The second Travis McGee book was thoroughly enjoyable. I was a little disconcerted that most of it took place in New York City instead of Ft. Lauderdale. MacDonald threw in some really unexpected turns and I like that in a book. At one point McGee was in my version of Hell on Earth. There are passages in the book that are pure joys to read independent of the story itself. This series is shaping up to be well worth my time!

papidoc's review against another edition

3.0

Second in the Travis McGee series. McGee agrees to help the sister of an old friend from his military days. Her soon-to-be husband having been killed under suspicious circumstances, McGee enlists to help her recover what was stolen from him before he was killed. In the process, he finds himself subjected to hallucinatory drugs - remember, this was written in 1964, when that was likely considerably more shocking and unusual than now. Of course, the righteous McGee manages to overcome all and restore what is rightly hers to the damsel in distress, and go back to his intermittent retirement.

_lilbey_'s review against another edition

2.0

Found at a Little Free Library and it looked insane. Well, it kinda was. Even though apparently this is the only the second book in this series, I felt like I was just thrown into this story with no preamble- I actually checked to make sure the first chapter or two weren't missing from this copy. Lots of objectification of women, who apparently only find their validity through being sexually attractive to men, specifically the main character. Offenders didn't make sense- their motives weren't thoroughly explained. I dunno. I guess I was looking for insane and got it.

dozylocal's review against another edition

An "old fashioned" type of writing style sometimes made the reading slow going, but generally a good story although it started slowly.

hagbard_celine's review against another edition

3.0

Good ol' pulp. Skip the "sexy" bits and you have a perfectly outrageous yarn.

mwgant's review against another edition

4.0

I first read the Travis McGee series in my early 20's. I loved it. I wanted to be Travis McGee. Saving damsels in distress, living retirement one job at a time, getting the best of the bad guys most of the time. The ocean, the beach, the boat all of it.

I recently read an article about the right age to read a book at this link. There is a line in the article that know one ever reads the same book twice. It's true. Depending on our age and our life experiences, a book will have a different impact.

I'm reading the series again from the first book in order to the end. I don't plan to review every book but I still enjoy the books. Yes, they are dated. The series started in the late 60's after all. I don't want to be Travis McGee anymore. I don't think Travis McGee wanted to keep being Travis McGee forever, either. I enjoy them now for the quality of the writing. Here's a short excerpt from Nightmare in Pink. It illustrates the "show, don't tell" technique for writing. This is Travis as he realizes he's been drugged,

She came back from the ladies' room. She sat and smiled at me. I said, "Let's get another drink up at the Plaza."

That is what my mind told my mouth to say. But the fit of the words in my mouth felt strange. I heard, like an after-echo, what I had said. "Let's get a down with the ending ever."

She was leaning toward me, with a narrow and curious avidity. "Darling," she said. "Darling, darling." It had an echo-chamber quality. She opened her mouth wide enough so that I could see the pink curl of her tongue as she formed the d.

(Sorry, couldn't figure out how to indent the first line of the paragraphs.)

I love that passage. It goes on for several more paragraphs with Travis describing his experience without telling us what happened.

throatsprockets's review against another edition

3.0

Starts out fine but fizzles out by the end.

johnlway's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0