Fri 9 Sep 2022
A PI Mystery Review by Tony Baer: JOHN D. MacDONALD – The Drowner.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[8] Comments
JOHN D. MacDONALD – The Drowner. Gold Medal k1302, paperback original, 1963. Reprinted several times.
Paul Stanial, private investigator, is hired to investigate the drowning of a young, fit woman in a lake. The authorities have determined that it’s an accidental drowning. But her family doesn’t buy it.
Stanial focuses his investigation on the drowner’s love interests: her rich playboy husband, from whom she is estranged; and her current boyfriend, a rich middle aged land developer currently facing tax fraud charges.
MacDonald is masterful at altering his dialogue to fit the speaker. Obviously a bible thumper doesn’t talk the same as an unrepentant redneck. But you wouldn’t know it from many of the novels out there. With MacDonald he’s got the patter down. The dialogue rings true.
About halfway thru the novel, the meaning of title changes from ‘the drowner’ as victim to ‘the drowner’ as the perp, as Stanial closes in on the suspect.
It’s quite good. Maybe my second favorite MacDonald next to Soft Touch — another one where the meaning of the title horrifically shifts in the course of the book.
September 10th, 2022 at 3:51 am
About 2/3 of the way thru, the murderer is revealed to the reader (but not to the detective), and the book switches from a detective novel to a thriller as ‘the drowner’ goes after the detective.
September 10th, 2022 at 8:29 am
MacDonald was one of the most capable novelists of his time or any other.
September 10th, 2022 at 9:56 am
I’ve never read this one, and I’m surprised for two reasons, the first being that I’ve read of a lot of MacDonald’s work, starting way back in high school, but I seem to have let this one slip by. The other reason is that I have finally learned that the protagonist in it was a PI, and PIs have always been my favorite detective fiction heroes.
In fact so that at one time I set myself a goal of collecting all of the PI novels ever written.
I of course soon disabused myself of that idea, but this sounds like one I’m sorry I missed.
September 10th, 2022 at 3:12 pm
Steve: I picked it up based on the great cover art as well as the fact that it made Ed Gorman’s top ten list of Macdonald standalones: https://mysteryscenemag.com/blog-article/3389-my-10-favorite-john-d-macdonald-standalone-novels
September 10th, 2022 at 8:03 pm
This was adapted as an episode of KRAFT SUSPENSE THEATER (Jan, 02, 1964) as “The Deep End” starring Clu Gulager as Stanial, his name changed to Dan Walsh. Despite being trimmed down to an hour it is fairly faithful to the novel.
It was available to watch on YouTube.
September 10th, 2022 at 9:47 pm
Right you are. Thanks, David!
Here’s the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1ix-p4hLNQ
They changed the title of the series to CRISIS when it was shown in syndication.
September 11th, 2022 at 10:10 am
Watched “The Deep End†last night. David’s right: it hits all the major plot points. But I doubt I’d have been able to follow it if I hadn’t read the book first. It really felt like they were, if anything, too faithful to the story—trying to squish a novel into a 50 minute episode.
Minor complaint is that (SPOILER ALERT) the motive for the murders is glossed over a bit in the TV adaptation and the perp isn’t a 20 year old scantily clad blonde bombshell of Amazonian stature. In the book, it’s uniquely compelling that the blonde bombshell murderess is an evangelical Christian w/ a Joan of Arc complex who murders to effect God’s will in the service of virginity, and the eradication of fornication, lust and sun.
September 21st, 2022 at 3:06 pm
Another take:
http://therapsheet.blogspot.com/2010/01/book-you-have-to-read-drowner-by-john-d.html