JOHN D. MacDONALD – The Dreadful Lemon Sky and A Purple Place for Dying.

   Was gonna write two separate reviews but now it’s been too long since I read them back to back a month ago and they bleed together.

   So started with Dreadful Lemon Sky because I was visiting my mother’s house for the weekend and figured two books would see me thru. But I finished those two and had nothing to read but the books I’d collected in high school on my old bookshelf. And I noticed a hardcover of The Dreadful Lemon Sky I’d bought at some library sale last century. And I thought, okay. I’ll read that one.

   And I really liked it a lot. Which surprised me. Because while I really dig all the John D. standalones I’ve read, I didn’t like the Deep Blue Goodbye. Mainly because I didn’t like Travis McGee. I just didn’t like him. And unlike unlikable characters in the standalones — this was a series character who literally could not die. Like James Bond.

   Which to me takes away from his feigned vulnerability. In fact, any vulnerability was only revealed to women as a seduction method. And the objectification of women. While John D. dissects women’s body parts with lascivious lechery, as well as the pleasure of the reader, in all his novels, somehow it’s worse in McGee.

   In the standalones you feel like John D. is just painting a picture, telling you a story. And whatever the people are thinking and seeing, that’s what they’re thinking and seeing. That’s all. But in the McGee books you feel like John D. is philosophizing. That he really buys all shit McGee is selling.

   It’s like the difference between watching Ricky Gervais in The Office versus watching his standup. In The Office, Gervais is funny because he is playing a daft asshole in charge. But in his standup Gervais IS the daft asshole in charge. And you’re supposed to laugh with him. I can disagree with the characters in a novel and still enjoy the book. But I can’t enjoy a philosophy lecture when I fundamentally disagree with the philosophy.

   Anywho, which is to say, I still meant to read Dreadful Lemon Sky because it’s the one Jonathan Yardley raved about years ago here.

   Yardley’s right. Dreadful Lemon Sky is terrific. I couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed it. I read it in a day because I literally could not put it down. And what was I thinking about McGee being a dink? He’s alright! In fact I really like his philosophy. He’s cool, he’s calm, he’s collected. He’s an environmentalist. He’s independent. Financially and in all the ways. He’s on a houseboat. Hey maybe I should buy a houseboat? Wouldn’t that be better than living in a house? Because it’s also a boat!

   And hey, you know, McGee really is doing a service for all the needy women in the world. He’s not using them. He’s just an attractive guy living an attractive life and what woman wouldn’t wanna come aboard at least one night? Maybe I was just jealous!

   So I loved Dreadful Lemon Sky so much that when I got home I dug thru all my McGees and did some internet research about which one I should read next and remember reading somewhere that the Purple Place for Dying is one of the more violent ones, so on that basis I picked that one. Plus I happened to have it in a fancy new trade paper edition (another library sale victim).

   So I hung with it, expecting nothing but the best.

   Similar setup, of course. A damaged waif in need of a big strong man. She comes to him. Woman seeking man. Big strong man. I can see the personal ad now.

   And like a genie, McGee magically appears. How can I grant your wish, dear maiden?

   And before I grant your wish, or by way of farewell, should we consummate your request with a……no. We’d better not. Perhaps another time.

   But no. There will be no other time. Because the woman in need is DEAD!!!! Old Travis he tried his best, but it was just too late! If only she’d come to him before. Earlier. Before this trouble started. Or at least while it still simmered. Before it boiled over.

   But it’s okay. Because Travis will stop at nothing til justice is served, the hardboiled killer battered and fried on a platter. The killer who started all this in the first place.

   And of course, on his journey, just like in Bond movies: the first beautiful woman he meets dies almost immediately; the second woman he meets is terribly shy, seemingly cold, and somewhat damaged too. But this time Travis is not too late. He’s just in time. To save the timid gorgeous little thing with his magic ding dong. Of course, she’s not interested in any long term commitments. No, Not with a man like Travis. No. A wild stallion tirelessly and compassionately spraying his seed along the Florida coast like a bee come to pollinate the broken flowers.

   So yeah. Like the joke goes. I shoulda quit while I was a head.

   The verdict? Unless you are and/or aspire to be a McGee, do not gobble down a bunch of these in a row. The addict experiences diminishing returns. Rather than higher tolerance, you’ll build lower tolerance. For McGee. Starting A Purple Place for Dying immediately after the last page of The Dreadful Lemon Sky was a mistake. Plain and simple. And now both books are diminished in my mind.

   So anyway. I guess what I’m saying is this. Of the three McGees I’ve read, if you can only read one, make it the Dreadful Lemon Sky. If you plan to make it more than one, plan a buffer zone between the two. Say, War and Peace, or something.