Here is the beginnings of Travis McGee in the early 1950s. His name here is Sam Glidden. He is 6'4" tall, 245, 32, and bronzed, wirey, and cutesy smart. Hm. Sound familiar? his is not one of JDM's more popular novels and I don't know why. Only reason I gave it a 4 and 1/2 rather than five is because of its Hollywood ending. MacDonald's only flaw. ( )

I need a new tag for this book. It's not a mystery, and there's only a modicum of suspense. What it really is is a 175-page commentary on corporate raiders circa 1957, when it was first published. The thing is, though, the commentary isn't dated at all. You can see T. Boone Pickens, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, or the Enron gang as substitutes for the principal villain in this book without stretching your imagination at all.

The story revolves around a corporate shark's attempt to take over a publicly-traded but closely-held manufacturing firm. One of the firm's rising executives is trying to block the takeover, expecting that the company will be gutted and sold after the stock price has been manipulated upwards. The raider has brought the principal shareholders and the exec to the Bahamas for a wine-and-dine weekend, hoping to persuade them all to sign proxies over to him. Tragedy follows, including a barracuda attack which kills one of the stockholders.

The story is a good moral tale fraught with questions about loyalty and self-valuation. ( )