Read this in one day. A perfect antidote for Peter Rabe's awful "Kill the Boss Goodbye". I have read perhaps 10 other MacDonald books, but I have been saving the McGee novels until I had the complete set. I'm still lacking one, but it is well into the sequence. This is typical MacDonald, with McGee uttering the same sort of moral pronouncements that MacDonald the author or his other lead characters do in the other novels. It has the same flowery prose whenever a love--scratch that--sex scene rears its head. And it has the same compelling fascination that makes you keep turning the pages. Because despite his faults, MacDonald is an author who knows what he is doing. This book is exciting, it is exasperating, it is heartbreaking, and it will keep you so engrossed that you won't regret the time you spent with it. And perhaps it will give you the illusion that you've actually done a bit of living yourself. ( )

John D. breaks most of the rules of good fiction as you might learn them in an MFA class and is insufferably shauvanistic toward woman,but writes incrediably exciting and entertaining books just the same. "The deep Blue Goodbye" started one of the best detective series in the world and it holds up just as strong today as it ever did. ( )

This is a double addition as this is the hardback printing put out by the Mystery Writers of America. Use the review of the original entry. ( )

Think 1964... 44 years ago... you have to get in the mid set of the author... it is not politcally correct writing but it is classic Noir... "Home is the Busted Flush", 52-foot barge type houseboat, Slip F-18, Bahia Mar, Lauderdale".... like 411 Baker Street the home of our Hero Travis McGee. Our knight in tarnished armor... a Korean War Vet... good vs. evil... commentary on the times ... interesting plot twists and good writing... "Cathy introduced us. Christine stood there inside her smooth skin, warm and indolent, mildly speculative. It is that flavor exuced by women who have fashioned an earthy and simplified sexual adjustment to their environment, borne their young, achieved an unthinking physical confidence. They are often placidly unkempt, even grubby, taking no interest in the niceties of posture. They have a slow relish for the phyical spectrum of food, sun, deep sleep, the needs of children, the caresses of affection. There is a tiny magnificence about them, like the sultry dignity of she-lions."... My dad turned me on to John D ... so long ago... I reread them all every few years... it is always worth the trip. ( )

Reading this book began a relationship with John Dann MacDonald AND Travis McGee that's lasted for 40 years (so far). This bronzed beach bum helps out a woman friend who has been used and abused by Junior Allen. We meet the first of JDM's monsters here in this first novel of an amazing 21 books (soon to be 22 if I have my way!). If anyone doesn't grok this guy, let me know. I haven't met anyone who hasn't loved the series. Foreword by Carl Hiassen is nice. ( )