Gripping and thought-provoking

Having read ‘Cape Fear’ and wanting another John D MacD (as Cape Fear was superb and surprisingly cerebral), I couldn’t find any more John D MacDs in print so turned to Audible. This novel is excellent in audio format, particularly as it’s so beautifully narrated by Robert Petkoff (his different voices for the various characters are so convincing that it feels more like a well-produced dramatisation rather than a straightforward narration). The only issue with listening to a novel rather than reading it is that one can’t turn down page corners to revisit some of John D MacDonald’s thoughtful philosophical riffs!
Highly recommend this.

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Genesis

Herein lies the genesis of Reacher, Ryan, Hope, and all the others which followed. Discovering this sixty years after its publication has been a privilege. Insightful characterisations just as poignant today as in 1964.
The narration was superb. Hard, tonal, introspective and gentle when needed.

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Brilliant Start to a Great Series!

Where does The Deep Blue Good-By rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the best. Travis McGee is great.

What other book might you compare The Deep Blue Good-By to, and why?

The other Travis McGee books in the series. They all have the same main character.

Have you listened to any of Robert Petkoff’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Not heard Robert Petkoff before. He handled this story fantastically

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, it was great but listening in pieces of stolen time was perfect for this book. Between times I was wondering what would happen.

Any additional comments?

Superb start to a wonderful series of books.

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2 people found this helpful

Good but dated in places

This starts out quite slowly but is a decent punchy little thriller. Overall it was pretty decent but I think I'll try a lot of other authors before coming back to this one for the reasons below:

Lists. Endless lists. It become quite common for Travis McGee to suddenly list things he doesn't like (credit cards, ID documents, savings accounts) or things in his boat or whatever. These lists add absolutely nothing to the story and just feel like the author ranting.

Travis becomes the author's mouthpiece far, far too often. Streams of internal dialogue about how the world's going to pot, how women aren't what they used to be, how the government is too big, how the labour market is too saturated. I ended up just tuning out the main character which isn't a good sign.

Travis is an inconsistent character, ready to murder the bad guy if necessary but not able to steal gems for him later? Not easy to empathise with in general.

The women are also portrayed oddly, falling into hysteria and bouts of submissiveness. Compared to Paul Temple (which was set in a similar era in the UK) the woman are almost unrecognisable.

And Travis's career is fairly stupid. The author's trying to find a modern day Robin Hood role but I can only imagine that will stretch further and further as the series goes on, unless the bad guys keep their money in a pot under the bed then there's little for old Trav to grab.

It was, however, a thrilling read once it got going. Good yarn but you'll find better without looking too hard.

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pulp at its very best

Easily the best book I've read this year. The ending is simply the best ever.

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Thought provoking

The insight and clarity of a woman. Just read it and explore a new dimension of understanding human nature. Enjoy.

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