A review by mwgant
Nightmare in Pink by John D. MacDonald

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.