John D. MacDonald: Five Complete Travis McGee Novels: We Are Fishing

Of the 21 novels in the Travis McGee series, this collection is an excellent representation. The five books are from MacDonald's "middle period" and two of the five are among his best: "The Green Ripper," a dark and violent story of revenge against a supposed cult religious group, and "The Dreadful Lemon Sky," a skillfully crafted Floridian tale of follow-the-money.The remaining three: "A Tan and Sandy Silence," "The Empty Copper Sea," and "Freefall in Crimson" are all solid contenders and may be a favorite. I particularly enjoyed all the visual imagery of "Freefall in Crimson." Travis gets involved with hot air balloons, takes his first ride and falls in love with the experience. You know someone is eventually going to fall, be tossed or otherwise have something particularly bad happen to him/her up in the air; but this just lends spice to the proceedings. "The Empty Copper Sea" features intricate plotting and fine character development. To my way of thinking, "The Tan and Sandy Silence meanders a bit and Travis broods overmuch, but some folks count it as their favorite McGee. I am subtracting a star from the otherwise great collection because it is full of typos, far more so than the originals. This is not a major deterrent for me, but some readers find it very irritating. The book is well bound with an attractive dust jacket and a good table of contents. A bonus is the left hand page always is entitled with the current story making it much easier to find your place. This would make a good gift for a MacDonald fan.

Over the years I've read hundreds of novels in a variety of genres, but for pure fun and enjoyment it's hard to beat Travis McGee. Some of the books are better than others, but they're nearly all worth a couple of lazy summer days. They are the ultimate summer time, quick-read beach books. At their core, they're good mysteries. But Travis McGee is such a great character, with such a wry outlook on life, that often the mystery seems secondary to McGee's views on whatever topic author John D. McDonald has selected for his soap box. Most of them take place in Florida, (a Florida no one will ever see again given they were written mostly in the 60s and 70s) and all have a color in the title. Don't take them too seriously, just have fun in the sun.

Having been a T. Mcgee fan for many years, I can say that having these 5 fine examples in one place has been great. I think I have gone through these 5 at least 3 times over the years, and I love them all -- especially the green ripper, which brings out a new, darker, side of Travis.