Nightmare in Pink : A Travis McGee Mystery (A Travis Mcgee Novel)

Rating:
Summary: We all miss John
Review: A classic McGee. Which is to say . . . THE BEST

Rating:
Summary: Second installment in the Travis McGee series
Review: I once dated a guy who was always quoting Travis McGee. It's not often that a genre fiction hero is a source of quotes. But it is the philosophical aspect of McGee that keeps this series from being a totally dated antiquity. Travis loves women. Travis is a chauvanist, but a thoughtful one. This is only my second McGee novel (trying to read them in order) but I find myself most entertained by his musings on women, loyalty to friends, work and - in this book - the role of New York in the downfall of humanity.

The plot is described only too well in other reviews. Suffice it to say that most of the action takes place in the third quarter of the book with a medical scenario that would make Robin Cook proud. It's all a bit far-fetched but the pages turn easily enough. I'd give it 3 and 1/2 stars overall if the system allowed.

Rating:
Summary: Spooky, and probably the craziest episode in the series....
Review: John D. MacDonald's salvage consultant goes to New York City to help out the kid sister of an old friend. She's a babe, of course, and McGee helps her unravel a complicated financial scam while curing what ails her with some of his own, patented expert hay rolling.

Along the way, he makes a major error and winds up trapped in a crooked mental hospital straight out of "Shock Corridor" but with nurses delivering doses of refried LSD and brain melting sedatives.

This is a creepy installment. An early rant by MacDonald, about how one day a minor altercation on the streets of New York will lead to a riot that will wipe out the city, sets the tone; things get really nasty when Trav slips and falls into the clutches of the scheming Dr. Varn -- I don't think MacDonald was much of a recreational drug user but his descriptions of the wrong kind of hallucinations do a good of depicting a bad trip.

Before McGee escapes, some pretty terrible things happen to him; he also has to resort to some seriously dirty tricks and, by the end, he's a basket case. This being only the second outing by McGee, it's odd to think that MacDonald would bang up his tough guy hero so badly, so early. Which makes "Nightmare in Pink" a great, chilling read but probably not the best place for a new reader to begin.

Rating:
Summary: Spooky, and probably the craziest episode in the series....
Review: John D. MacDonald's salvage consultant goes to New York City to help out the kid sister of an old friend. She's a babe, of course, and McGee helps her unravel a complicated financial scam while curing what ails her with some of his own, patented expert hay rolling.

Along the way, he makes a major error and winds up trapped in a crooked mental hospital straight out of "Shock Corridor" but with nurses delivering doses of refried LSD and brain melting sedatives.

This is a creepy installment. An early rant by MacDonald, about how one day a minor altercation on the streets of New York will lead to a riot that will wipe out the city, sets the tone; things get really nasty when Trav slips and falls into the clutches of the scheming Dr. Varn -- I don't think MacDonald was much of a recreational drug user but his descriptions of the wrong kind of hallucinations do a good of depicting a bad trip.

Before McGee escapes, some pretty terrible things happen to him; he also has to resort to some seriously dirty tricks and, by the end, he's a basket case. This being only the second outing by McGee, it's odd to think that MacDonald would bang up his tough guy hero so badly, so early. Which makes "Nightmare in Pink" a great, chilling read but probably not the best place for a new reader to begin.

Rating:
Summary: Edge of your seat riveting...
Review: Nightmare in Pink is my second Travis McGee (and the second in the series), and it is even more riveting than the first.

McGee gets a call from an old war buddy who is in a VA hospital. Mike Gibson is blind and disabled, and when he asks McGee to check something out for him, McGee acquiesces-mostly out of guilt. Mike's beautiful and younger sister, Nina, is engaged to be married when her fiancé is mysteriously killed in a mugging. While cleaning out his things, Nina discovered $10,000 (we're talking 1960's here) and thinks he was in on something shady. The police haven't been able to solve the mugging and they haven't been told about the money, so McGee agrees to snoop around. Unfortunately, the case is in New York City and this Florida boat-bum is literally a fish out of water.

Mike and Nina quickly join forces (in more ways than one) and uncover a complicated financial scam to rob the fiancé's former boss of millions. Of course, the closer they get to solving the crime, the more they expose themselves to danger. At one point, McGee is even drugged, kidnapped, and held against his will in a mental hospital, where he is subjected to experimental hallucinogens. How he escapes will have you on the edge of your seat.

McGee again continues with many profound observations. One that I especially liked is "A good listener is far more rare than an adequate lover."

Nightmare in Pink had only two drawbacks that I could see. As with The Deep Blue Good-By, this book is a bit light at 143 pages. Also, while the plot was riveting, it was also unbelievable in spots. But John D. MacDonald has a new fan, and I have A Purple Place for Dying up next.


Rating:
Summary: Pink Elephant Time
Review: This 2nd of the Travis McGee series takes place in New York City where Travis fits about as well as Crocodile Dundee. John D. has not quite found his way with Travis yet, and it shows.

Travis is enjoined to look out for a buddy�s little sister in the big bad city. Little sister is a babe (surprise!) and has her share of troubles. Her fiancé has just been murdered, and she has found a stash of $10,000 that she fears he scammed. Nina is distressingly a �will you respect me in the morning� type of young lady that rings no truer now than it did in the early �60s, and Travis� famous philosophizing is really put to the test, however enchanted he is.

�Nightmare in Pink� is worth the price of admission just for the middle third of the book where Travis is captured in a private mental hospital and loaded with psychedelic drugs. His hallucinatory terrors are brilliantly and horrifyingly described, and the after-effects linger through the entire book.

The plot is a convoluted financial scam that MacDonald loves, but doesn�t suit Travis too well (Meyer is not yet on the scene). Also cold, urban settings are not kind to a knight errant beach bum. Grade C-

Rating:
Summary: Pink Elephant Time
Review: This 2nd of the Travis McGee series takes place in New York City where Travis fits about as well as Crocodile Dundee. John D. has not quite found his way with Travis yet, and it shows.

Travis is enjoined to look out for a buddy's little sister in the big bad city. Little sister is a babe (surprise!) and has her share of troubles. Her fiancé has just been murdered, and she has found a stash of $10,000 that she fears he scammed. Nina is distressingly a 'will you respect me in the morning' type of young lady that rings no truer now than it did in the early '60s, and Travis' famous philosophizing is really put to the test, however enchanted he is.

'Nightmare in Pink' is worth the price of admission just for the middle third of the book where Travis is captured in a private mental hospital and loaded with psychedelic drugs. His hallucinatory terrors are brilliantly and horrifyingly described, and the after-effects linger through the entire book.

The plot is a convoluted financial scam that MacDonald loves, but doesn't suit Travis too well (Meyer is not yet on the scene). Also cold, urban settings are not kind to a knight errant beach bum. Grade C-

Rating:
Summary: Chemical Warfare
Review: This is the official 'second' in John D. MacDonald's series about Travis McGee, the slightly tarnished knight from Lauderdale, whose chosen steed is a 52 foot houseboat. Second also in setting the general pattern of McGee books - a friend convinces McGee to take the case of another friend, usually a beautiful woman, and McGee grudgingly comes to the rescue - sometimes out of a sense of honor, and sometimes just for the money.

This time the 'asker' is Mike Gibson, a war buddy of McGee's who now lives as a permanent resident of the veteran's hospital. The 'fixee' is Nina, Mike's sister - distraught when her boyfriend (Howard Plummer) dies in a mugging. Nina finds a large bundle of money in a closet and becomes convinced that Howard was up to no good. Now Mike wants to help her out of her depression, even if she is unwilling. McGee, as usual, to the rescue.

As you might expect, Plummer's death was not what it seemed, and McGee finds himself enmeshed in a spectacular fraud that is bilking a company of millions while sending its victims to a mental ward. Which is where McGee winds up as well, in a nightmarish twist that plays like 'On Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.' Dropped into a hole from which there is no way to escape, McGee must fight for survival against a medical staff determined to steal his mind from him.

Perhaps the beauty of this story, other than MacDonald's powerful writing, is that it turns the 'tough-guy detective' genre on it's ear for a bit as McGee struggles with induced insanity, falls in love, and barely survives by the skin of his teeth. This is a tough-guy with plenty of weaknesses and soft spots. McGee, who serves as narrator, doesn't try to explain away his moments, good and bad, but reports them with a straightforward touch that makes him and easy favorite.

While this may not be the best of the series, for some reason it rings true and is one of my favorites. It predicts many of the themes and tricks that will go on to be imitated time and again. But never with quite the élan than MacDonlad has.

Rating:
Summary: Chemical Warfare
Review: This is the official 'second' in John D. MacDonald's series about Travis McGee, the slightly tarnished knight from Lauderdale, whose chosen steed is a 52 foot houseboat. Second also in setting the general pattern of McGee books - a friend convinces McGee to take the case of another friend, usually a beautiful woman, and McGee grudgingly comes to the rescue - sometimes out of a sense of honor, and sometimes just for the money.

This time the 'asker' is Mike Gibson, a war buddy of McGee's who now lives as a permanent resident of the veteran's hospital. The 'fixee' is Nina, Mike's sister - distraught when her boyfriend (Howard Plummer) dies in a mugging. Nina finds a large bundle of money in a closet and becomes convinced that Howard was up to no good. Now Mike wants to help her out of her depression, even if she is unwilling. McGee, as usual, to the rescue.

As you might expect, Plummer's death was not what it seemed, and McGee finds himself enmeshed in a spectacular fraud that is bilking a company of millions while sending its victims to a mental ward. Which is where McGee winds up as well, in a nightmarish twist that plays like 'On Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.' Dropped into a hole from which there is no way to escape, McGee must fight for survival against a medical staff determined to steal his mind from him.

Perhaps the beauty of this story, other than MacDonald's powerful writing, is that it turns the 'tough-guy detective' genre on it's ear for a bit as McGee struggles with induced insanity, falls in love, and barely survives by the skin of his teeth. This is a tough-guy with plenty of weaknesses and soft spots. McGee, who serves as narrator, doesn't try to explain away his moments, good and bad, but reports them with a straightforward touch that makes him and easy favorite.

While this may not be the best of the series, for some reason it rings true and is one of my favorites. It predicts many of the themes and tricks that will go on to be imitated time and again. But never with quite the élan than MacDonlad has.

Rating:
Summary: enjoyable artifact
Review: Travis McGee lives aboard the Busted Flush, his 52 foot custom houseboat, in Slip F-18, Bahia Mar, Lauderdale. He is "purely McGee, that pale-eyed, wire-haired girl-finder, that big shambling brown boat-bum who walks beaches, slays small fierce fish, busts minor icons, argues, smiles and disbelieves, that knuckly scar-tissued reject from structured society, who waits until money gets low, and then goes out and takes it from the taker, keeps half, and gives the rest back to the innocent."

When McGee's old war buddy Mike Gibson asks him to go help his little sister Nina, he heads to Manhattan. Nina's fiance, Howard Plummer, was killed in what appears to have been a simple mugging, but then Nina found ten thousand dollars hidden in her apartment. Since Howard worked for Charles McKewn Armister IV, helping to manage his $60 million, Nina fears he may have been skimming money.

McGee starts looking around & becomes suspicious when he finds out that Armister had a nervous breakdown recently & has undergone drastic personality changes since then. Soon he uncovers a scam by Armister's attorney, Baynard Mulligan, and his personal secretary, Bonita Hersch, who have been siphoning off money from Armister's accounts. But just as he's getting close to breaking the case, McGee is slipped a mickey & wakes up in Toll Valley Hospital, the same mental institution where Armister was taken. There the malevolent Dr. Varn subjects him to a slew of psychoactive drugs & McGee is soon fighting to maintain his sanity & save his own life.

At some point, probably right after college, I read all 21 Travis McGee books. Like Mickey Spillane (Mike Hammer), Brett Halliday (Mike Shayne), Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe), etc., John D. MacDonald created a unique hero, set him down within the hard-boiled genre & cranked out million selling adventures. The Travis McGee books never rise above the genre, a la Chandler or Ross MacDonald, but they are an enjoyable artifact.

GRADE: C+