Rating: 
Summary: A Master of Suspense creates a hero for the ages
Review: Sit back and relax. Start at page 1 and take the ride of your life with Travis McGee. This first book in the series is an excellent starting point for first-timers because all the ingredients for the McGee stories are here-a lady in distress, a stolen "treasure", and a brutal unrelenting villain. MacDonald had a talent for involving you so deeply that you find yourself going back to re-read passages that hit you hard the first time. Junior Allen is a perfect villain--A force of nature motivated by greed with an ever-deepening bent towards sexual brutality. This book contains storytelling so vivid that you feel the punches with McGee. This book, along with Donald Hamilton's Death of a Citizen, is the perfect example of the 50s-60s Fawcett Originals.
Rating:
Summary: Easy Reading
Review: This is a great book! John MacDonald is an amazing author who creates very vivid and easygoing characters. Travis McGee is my hero. MacDonald puts a unique spin on life and makes a very accurate portrayal of Florida in his story. A must read for any mystery lover. It's very easy reading and besides, Jimmy Buffett read the whole series so it must be good!
Rating:
Summary: Travis McGee, a knight in tarnished armor
Review: This is the first of 21 books John Dann MacDonald wrote featuring Travis McGee, a sometime detective who comes out of retirement when he needs money to pay the bills for his modest houseboat in Florida. When Travis is on a case the houseboat is often rigged to detect unwanted visitors. Seldom is the unflappable McGee caught off guard on his boat or anywhere else, for that matter. I've read all twenty-one books in the McGee series, at first not in order, but later systematically until I reached the last mystery, The Lonely Silver Rain. These books are a guilty pleasure. Sure, you could be doing something better with your time, but Travis McGee beats 80% of everything on TV. If you pick up one of these novels before bedtime, you might easily find yourself sleep deprived. Travis McGee is a knight in tarnished armor. I think we like him better for the fact that, like us, he has lots of faults; but he is true to his friends and when he gives his word to a client, he is not afraid to put himself in harms way to resolve the case. Like Sherlock Holmes, he has a bit of the bloodhound in him and relentlessly follows the trail of clues and leads until the action packed end of the story. Murder and mahem are an integral part of every Travis McGee mystery, but also thoughtful conversation with his economist friend Meyer and with McGee's own best friend, himself. He is a loner who is happy with his own company. He lives comfortably in the present until necessity or his own good will prompt him to act. The magic of all the Travis McGee books is that we think we know him, we like him, and we are delighted to be taken along on his travels when he is on a case, but we are just as satisfied when we evesdrop on his quiet conversations with Meyer and learn something of the McGee philosophy. Disagreeing with McGee, not often enough probably, is part of the fun. I was disappointed when I put down the last mystery, but I know that, like the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, I'll probably come back for a second reading.
Rating:
Summary: An Appetite Whetter
Review: This is the first of the Travis McGee books and quickly establishes why they have been so popular for so long. From the opening page the atmosphere is totally relaxed as we are welcomed aboard Travis' houseboat, The Busted Flush. Travis works only when he has to, which means, just before he runs out of money. The rest of the time he spends lazing around the Florida waters, living the good life. He is coaxed into action by the bad-luck story of a friend of a friend and quickly and professionally gets to work coming to her rescue. On the way, he acts as a knight in shining armour to a second woman who desperately needs help, going above and beyond the call of duty, firmly entrenching him as a helluva nice guy. This book was written almost 30 years ago, yet it is fresh enough to make one believe that it is set in today's world. It's an excellent introduction to the world of Travis McGee and has certainly whetted my appetite for more. Travis McGee is the ultimate laid back hero who carries his flaws as humbly as his talents.
Rating:
Summary: He can fight and shoot and cook and mix great drinks !!
Review: This remains my favorite of the series featuring Travis McGee. McGee is the tall, tanned beach bum, and just happens to be an excellent detective. He's always got the right answer and he get's there by showing his work, not through conclusory narrative. He's never preachy as he disseminates his somewhat cynical but still romantic world view. McGee makes his living by retrieving treasure that good folks have been cheated out of by the bad guys. He keeps half of whatever he retrieves, but his clients are always satisfied because without his help, they would have never retrieved anything. He can fight, shoot and cook and mix great drinks and nurse just about any down-and-out beauty back to health on his houseboat called "The Busted Flush" which he won in a poker game and is docked Lauderdale. Helping those leastest sparrows is always my favorite part. The Deep Blue Good-By, written in MacDonald's heyday, presents a truly battered soul in the character of Cathy Kerr. If only I could make a life sustaining egg-nog or egg-fizz whatever it is ! I guess, like a lot of guys , If I could become somebody else I would want to become Travis McGee. To me McGee is a real person and that says a lot about the late, great John D. Macdonald.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not great
Review: This was my first MacDonald book, and all things considered, it was an O.K. book. It is a traditional American mystery with a hansom, smooth talking, tanned Floridian (Travis McGee)as the hero of the story. It was a quick read and I recomend it for any fan of crime fiction. However, the book falls short for a few reasons. First, I find little originality in the plot. Right from the beginning of the novel, when the problem was introduced, I had no doubt how the story would conclude. Sure enough, I was right. To me, it seemed to be a generic, open-and-shut mystery novel with little real suspense and no plot twists like I would expect in a good mystery. Secondly, I'm no feminist, but the overt machismo in this book got tiring. All of them women in this novel were helpless victims throwing themselves at Travis Macgee, who always did his best to help out the poor little ladies. I understand that this was written in the 1960's when these sorts of things were not as important. That notwithstanding, I still got a little sick of his constant portrayel of men as the saviors of women. But please, don't just take my word for it. I may have given it three stars, but it seems like most people give it five stars. There are obviousley a lot of people who really like this novel. I just am not one of them. Go out and read it for yourself.
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