Cinnamon Skin: A Travis McGee Novel

I love John D. McDonald's work. Especially his Travis McGee series. This is by far the best book I have read from this author. I wish he had lived long enough to write more.

I realized that I had first hardback editions of four of John D. MacDonald's final five Travis McGee novels. "Cinnamon Skin" was missing. I'm glad I chose Glands of Destiny First Edition Books for a replacement. I know the book is worth the care in packaging that David Humphries took. My highest marks.

I've read all the Travis McGee novels at least three times. It is good to pick one up once in a while to see how a superior writer can make reading really enjoyable. If you think I am prejudiced, you are correct. I read constantly and have never found anyone better.

A boat explodes off the Florida, killing three people under mysterious circumstances. Its owner, Travis McGee's best friend Meyer, loses his last living relative. It all seems an unfortunate tragedy. Until Travis McGee starts to dig into the details. Suddenly, he and Meyer are on the track of a killer..."Cinnamon Skin" is a well-constructed thriller by John D. MacDonald. McGee and Meyer will follow their killer back through time, to a tragedy in West Texas almost a lifetime ago. From there, they must go to confront a killer, on his own ground. And someone won't be coming back from this one. Well recommended to fans of the series.

I discovered the Travis McGee Series by accident. I was a big fan of the Lee Child Jack Reacher series. I noticed that Lee Child had written the forward to the series (which in itself is a great read). After the first novel, I was hooked. My only regret is that now I only have one left in the series! I may need to start at the beginning again. Travis McGee and Meyer are such wonderful characters. When I am in Florida, part of me longs to find the "Busted Flush" in its mooring at Bahia Mar.

My husband recommended something by John MacDonald when I said I was missing fiction. This book was a page-turner and full of great characters. Not gorey, not scary, not even particularly suspenseful, but as a reader I was as curious as the protagonist Travis Magee to find out more about the sinister things that may or may not have happened to the mysterious man who supposedly blew up on a nearby fishing boat. I also loved the foil/sidekick/client (who is also Magee's great friend and appears in the new book I'm reading now), Meyer - who puts an economist into a pulp fiction novel? And then manages to make him a complex and compelling character? MacDonald, apparently. All around, a great read. The four stars instead of five are only because the ending was a little bit of a disappointment, but the rest of the book was so much fun, I would still highly recommend it.

My nephew, Dan Karb, told me about John MacDonald. He was right, MacDonald is good!

John D. MacDonald probably was considered good in the 19080s. Much like other detective novelists, Hammett, Chandler, and Ross, the authors write to their character's times. Whereas Hammett or Chandler are dated enough to make their current times interesting, MacDonald seems to only make the 80s seem primative. MacDonald's attempts at McGee's philosophizing only slow the novel's pacing and date the book. The plot is formulaic. The ending astoundingly contrived. The "romance/sex" seems at times to be shoehorned in, although the relationship with the hotel manager threads fairly well throughout providing the required breaks for the reader as well as humanizing McGee, but, like Marlowe in the 30s & 40s, he appears to be a man of his time and an embarrassment now. A friend asked me to listen to a Baldacci novel earlier this year, while we traveled together. In comparison to that trash and Dan Brown, McDonald is a genius. Trying to listen to "The Lonely Silver Rain" now, and am disappointed at how awkward and formulaic it is as well.But... he's better than Brown or Baldacci.

The next to last in one of the finest detective serials out there: prescient, wonderfully written, fascinating flawed characters, unputdownable. Travis McGee living on his houseboat barge in Florida, and his friend the economist Meyer, are tracing down the untraceable, a man addicted to finding women, pursuing an intense seemingly mutually satisfactory relationship, then stealing - and killing. All slowly emerges but with clues all along the way as the pursuit goes from Florida to Texas to New York state to.........along the way both Meyer and McGee whose livelihood depends on a version of salvage,( finding that which is lost), grow and change themselves. So this remarkable novel works as a study of character, of locale, and as a mystery and thriller. Addictive and also predictive in MacDonald's criticisms of greed, as well as a running commentary as to whether evil is inherent or triggered by trauma. And also hilarious funny and absorbing. The best of the best.

Thoroughly enjoyable reading

EXCELLENT

If you've never read any of John D. MacDonald's books, you're missing out.Get out there and buy one !