Rating: 
Summary: don't mess with travis
Review: ...and whatever you do, read this one before reading "The Lonely Silver Rain". "Pale Gray" is vintage McGee, and a very fascinating exploration of the Big Con. There must be something more entertaining than these books, but I can't imagine what it would be.
Rating:
Summary: don't mess with travis
Review: ...and whatever you do, read this one before reading "The Lonely Silver Rain". "Pale Gray" is vintage McGee, and a very fascinating exploration of the Big Con. There must be something more entertaining than these books, but I can't imagine what it would be.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent!
Review: Enough double-crosses and triple-crosses to fill four books. After reading this book, I re-read the last two chapters of Lonely Silver Rain. Pale Gray is simply one of the best from the master!
Rating:
Summary: great !!! all of his books are the best!
Review: i have, and have read all of his books..started late, in 1965, and love every one, from the first travis to the last....and all the others......cannot choose a favorite, cause all are # 10'
Rating: 
Summary: Very poor McGee
Review: I'm sorry, but I completely disagree with the other reviewers. I found this book to be shockingly bad. While other McGee books sparkle with Travis' commentaries on social trends and peripheral characters, and possess intricate plots, this book was a straightforward revenge story, with McGee and his sidekick Meyer confidently and flawlessly triumphing over the evildoers. There is no suspense, and the book is written in a rather haughty style, glorifying the abilities and righteousness of McGee. I was nauseated by the final third, just trying to finish it up, shaking my head at the lack of suspense and the wooden tone. I think one has to have a simplistic devotion to the series and/or character to see this installment as among the best of the series, because it comes off as sort of a love letter from MacDonald to McGee. Try "Long Lavender Look" for a McGee with all this series has to offer, and don't read this one until you're thoroughly immersed in the series.
Rating:
Summary: Very poor McGee
Review: I'm sorry, but I completely disagree with the other reviewers. I found this book to be shockingly bad. While other McGee books sparkle with Travis' commentaries on social trends and peripheral characters, and possess intricate plots, this book was a straightforward revenge story, with McGee and his sidekick Meyer confidently and flawlessly triumphing over the evildoers. There is no suspense, and the book is written in a rather haughty style, glorifying the abilities and righteousness of McGee. I was nauseated by the final third, just trying to finish it up, shaking my head at the lack of suspense and the wooden tone. I think one has to have a simplistic devotion to the series and/or character to see this installment as among the best of the series, because it comes off as sort of a love letter from MacDonald to McGee. Try "Long Lavender Look" for a McGee with all this series has to offer, and don't read this one until you're thoroughly immersed in the series.
Rating:
Summary: The best of the McGee's
Review: In constructing Travis McGee, MacDonald took up where Chandler left off. A bold but introspective, thoughtful but hard-edged character, McGee is the rusty white knight in a world despising chivalry. Here, he and his best friend Meyer look into the suspicious death of an old friend. Their goal is to remove the pleasure that the plotters derived from the killing. They enter worlds of high finance, cheap scams, and political connections, seeking restitution and a reckoning. This, the best of the McGee series, offers a look at revenge that doesn't depend on blood. It is a superb book that crafts the McGee and Meyer characters into contemporary Quixotes, tilting at windmills and trying to redress wrongs.
Rating:
Summary: An intricate con game played for revenge.
Review: John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series was one of the first truly successful "hard boiled detective" genre series to make it big at the mass market level of sales. Written mostly in the 1960's and early 1970's the books could come across as somewhat dated time period pieces except that MacDonald was a suspense writer of the highest order whose gritty, hard edged characters come to life on the page just as readily today as they did back when written.In point of fact, these really aren't "detective" books at all; they are generally better classified as suspense novels. However, the formula utilized in the books, as well as the realistic, hard hitting writing style they displayed, set the stage for many a fictional detective series to follow. McGee advertises himself as a "salvage" specialist. He's more a high-end repo man. If you've lost something of extraordinary value that you do not want the police involved in recovering, he'll do it for you-for 50% of the fair market value of the lost valuables. Once he's made a big score he reverts to being a beach Bum in ft. Lauderdale Florida where he lives on the beach in a houseboat won in a card game. The Travis McGee novels break down basically into two types of story either (A) a "recovery" tale and (B) a revenge tale. The former is the far more common format. Pale Gray for Guilt is one of the latter. Tush Bannon, one of Travis' old high school buddies, is killed by developers who want his land for a project, Travis swears revenge. Along with his sidekick, Dr. Meyer, a nationally known economist and fellow beach bum, McGee sets in motion a complicated and dangerous scam to entrap and bankrupt the killers. On the whole I like the recovery novels better than the revenge novels, but this is one of the better of the latter sort. The plan is ingenious, the characters, as usual, well developed and the con victim so loathsome one is fully engaged in the effort to get the SOB. This is probably not the best book to start out with McGee but, once hooked, this will make a very pleasant read. A final note: MavDonald wrote many novels other than the McGee series-however, all McGee novels have a color in the title. If you're browsing for McGee, just select any novel with a color in the title, and there Travis will be.
Rating:
Summary: An intricate con game played for revenge.
Review: John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series was one of the first truly successful "hard boiled detective" genre series to make it big at the mass market level of sales. Written mostly in the 1960's and early 1970's the books could come across as somewhat dated time period pieces except that MacDonald was a suspense writer of the highest order whose gritty, hard edged characters come to life on the page just as readily today as they did back when written. In point of fact, these really aren't "detective" books at all; they are generally better classified as suspense novels. However, the formula utilized in the books, as well as the realistic, hard hitting writing style they displayed, set the stage for many a fictional detective series to follow. McGee advertises himself as a "salvage" specialist. He's more a high-end repo man. If you've lost something of extraordinary value that you do not want the police involved in recovering, he'll do it for you-for 50% of the fair market value of the lost valuables. Once he's made a big score he reverts to being a beach Bum in ft. Lauderdale Florida where he lives on the beach in a houseboat won in a card game. The Travis McGee novels break down basically into two types of story either (A) a "recovery" tale and (B) a revenge tale. The former is the far more common format. Pale Gray for Guilt is one of the latter. Tush Bannon, one of Travis' old high school buddies, is killed by developers who want his land for a project, Travis swears revenge. Along with his sidekick, Dr. Meyer, a nationally known economist and fellow beach bum, McGee sets in motion a complicated and dangerous scam to entrap and bankrupt the killers. On the whole I like the recovery novels better than the revenge novels, but this is one of the better of the latter sort. The plan is ingenious, the characters, as usual, well developed and the con victim so loathsome one is fully engaged in the effort to get the SOB. This is probably not the best book to start out with McGee but, once hooked, this will make a very pleasant read. A final note: MavDonald wrote many novels other than the McGee series-however, all McGee novels have a color in the title. If you're browsing for McGee, just select any novel with a color in the title, and there Travis will be.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent early McGee
Review: Many of Travis McGee's 1960s adventures seem a bit dated today. In his earlier incarnation, McGee was less cynical but more of a hedonist. He became a more appealing hero the more world weary he beacme. Nevertheless, "Pale Gray for Guilt" is the best of the earlier books because it has a classic McGee story that could be the plot of an old west movie. Bad guys kill the hero's friend and the hero sets out for revenge. Only with McGee, you know the revenge won't be conventional in nature.
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