1968 w/out the tropes; strong female supporting cast; well crafted lone wolf protagonist w/Meyer sidekick; land development scam morality tale; accountable for fellow man/actions ( )

One of the better Travis McGee novels, filled with mystery, shady financial dealings, and revenge, all set in a Florida that once was. ( )

I found this 9th entry in the Travis McGee series to be above average -- it had the social commentary that I like so much without the sometimes disturbing 1960s view of women & sex. Don't get me wrong, there are women and sex! But some of the earlier books in the series had a bit too much of a masculine 50s/60s attitude about women which bothered me and I found that happily missing in this one.

As I have mentioned in some of my other reviews of the McGee books, Travis McGee is clearly the forerunner of the TV show Leverage; his job is to help out the guy who has been 'done wrong' by the rich & powerful. Usually the deal is for McGee to "recover" what was taken for a 50% cut but this time what was taken was his college buddy Tush Bannon's life. Perhaps the con he arranges with the help of his friend Meyer to punish the men who were trying to snatch Bannon's property is illegal or immoral but the reader is rooting for McGee to succeed all the way. ( )

I am rereading the McGee series and have not been disappointed. They have held up quite well. In the middle of this one, though, I almost started skimming. The details of the scam McGee runs to gain revenge on his friend’s killers didn’t make sense and my eyes glazed over. But then I came to the last two chapters and everything about this book changed. Those chapters are the best of MacDonald and of McGee. It boosted my rating from three to four stars and I left the book anticipating #10. ( )

This is likely the lowest rating I'll ever give a MacDonald novel. They're all pretty good and some are great. This one is just average which is unusual. I'll keep reading until I've read them all! ( )