Barrier Island [Mass Market Paperback]

John D. MacDonald (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 12, 1987

There are two kinds of men in Mississippi. They make natural enemies. And sometimes, but only if the balance between strength and weakness tips too far, unnatural allies.
Tucker Loomis is a hard and dangerous man with a ruthlessness all West Bay fears and respects, and an improbable amount of money. Wade Rowley is a common man who aspires to honor but gets caught up in the footwork of a skilled swindler.
In a pitiless game, with a few harsh rules and just one way of keeping score, the wrong man will die. And another will get away with more than murder.
"Lively, gritty . . . complex and convincing . . . Mr. MacDonald writes with passion!" -- The New York Times Book Review

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

MacDonald's storytelling gifts are admirably displayed in his new novel, a mesmerizing narrative encapsulating questions on viable economics and snail-slow programs to protect natural resources. In West Bay, Mississippi, Tuck Loomis fraudulently acquires Barrier Island, planning to turn the ecologically important land and waters into a posh recreation area. Loomis is accepted by the good ol' boys, wheeler-dealers who prosper from local developments, but not by real-estate agent Wade Rowley. Suspicious of Loomis, Rowley breaks up with his gullible partner, Bern Gibbs, when they quarrel over the wily crook's plan to use their business as a front for his operation. Rowley learns that Loomis has bribed a representative of the U.S. Prosecutor's office to influence a hearing on Barrier Island. Acting too late, the federal government intends to acquire the island as a national park, which means paying a fortune to Loomis because of his fake title to the property. Lighting a long fuse, the perpetrator sets off a figurative bomb that destroys himself along with others to whom morality is merely a word. 150,000 first printing; Literary Guild featured alternate.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Publisher

7 1-hour cassettes --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 259 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett; 1st edition (April 12, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449131793
• ISBN-13: 978-0449131794
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,061,864 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Master's last work: Pulp becomes Art, March 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Barrier Island (Mass Market Paperback)

I'm an unashamed MacDonald acolyte. A completely biased fan. Seek objectivity elsewhere.

This is MacDonald's last published novel. He died soon and suddenly before paperback publication of this swiftly and briskly told entertainment, full of the utterly believable characterizations for which MacDonald has always been particularly esteemed.

MacDonald has always been a writer's writer. From Stephen King to Dean Koontz and just about every kind of popular novelist from this half of the century (and from more than a few highly-admired literary novelists), you can read unstinting praise for MacDonald. His work influenced and inspired over a generation of popular novelists, and in his particular specialty, the procedural crime thriller, he may well be peerless.

In Barrier Island, the plot may keep you turning the pages (another MacDonald specialty: by the time he reached his artistic maturity his tales unfolded with the spooky, organic precision of an amoeba digesting a bit of flotsam; not a seam or dumb loose end to be found); but it's the mastery of language (and through it the mastery of character) that makes the page-turning worth doing: in this, his last novel, MacDonald had honed his prose down to an almost austere simplicity that camoflages his enormous craft. MacDonald advanced as a writer through the evolution of his language. Even in some of his early novels there are moments of Art, with a capital "A," but here, in this last work, there is Art everywhere. The irony of this clean prose revealing the utter messiness of human affairs (about which MacDonald knew more than most), is part of what makes this novel Art, not just another light entertainment.

And it is this very quality of language that will have the last page resonating in your head and heart long after you've closed the back cover.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A thoroughly believable tale featuring richly drawn characters., October 30, 2007

By 

Michael G. "mikefromrochester" (Rochester, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Barrier Island (Paperback)

Who would have guessed that the world of Mississippi real estate could be so dicey? Tuck Loomis is a compulsive womanizer who makes his living as a land developer. He has purchased one of the barrier islands off the Mississippi gulfcoast ostensibly to develope it as an exclusive enclave consisting of million dollar homes. But his real plan is to sell the island to the U.S. Parks Department at an overly inflated price, thereby making a killing without having to really do much of anything.

Wade Rowley is a realtor with a finely honed sense of right and wrong. When Wade figures out what Tuck Loomis is up to, he sets out to thwart the deal. Imagine Wade's reaction when he discovers that all the right people have been bribed, making Tuck's scheme unstoppable.

Barrier Island by John D. MacDonald is a very strongly written work of fiction featuring several interesting subplots and a diverse cast of characters all of whom are well fleshed out and completely believable. Moreover, the book's considerable appeal is enhanced by MacDonald's vividly evocative prose and his gently voiced message of environmental sanity.

This is a masterfully crafted work notable for great plotting, superbly drawn characters and wonderfully detailed descriptions. Highly recommended.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars MacDonald makes literature out of real estate swindle !, November 1, 2004

By 

Gerald M. Bull "Jerry Bull" (Fairview, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Barrier Island (Mass Market Paperback)

Despite being a rather well-read mystery/thriller buff, we're new to MacDonald, having somehow missed his Travis McGee character. We picked up "Island" on a whim, not understanding either that it is the author's last work prior to his death nor that it is not a series book, but rather a "slice of life" story about a real estate partner who smells a rat and decides to set a trap for it.

Ostensibly, the tale is about good ol' Mississippi boy Tuck Loomis, who makes money out of real estate developments that border on shady. Loomis' life in general is not an attractive one as he wheedles his way with money to grease the skids for his various schemes, all the while cheating on his wife, now an invalid barely alive (so now he makes it with the nurses...). His latest scheme is to buy up a barrier island, "sell" all kinds of expensive lots (mostly to cronies), and make elaborate plans for million-dollar estates, so that when the government eventually takes over the land as necessary for environmental reasons, he'll make a windfall on the condemnation. He hires Gibbs/Rowley, a reputable local realtor, to "facilitate" the deeds, basically part of the scam to make everything look on the up and up. Bern Gibbs doesn't mind the questionable deal, but his partner Wade Rowley does, leading to not only their split-up, but ere the novel reaches its climax, several men are dead and the US Attorney / FBI start to realize the true story.

At first, this book meandered so bad we thought it might not have any plot. Then as the real estate stuff started to make sense, as we learned more about bad boy Tuck, and came to appreciate what a good guy Rowley was, we got hooked. And when it was all over, we realized this slim book was really a morality tale, with the poignant descriptions of local color and insights into the desires of men and women all bonus materials just thrown in for free! Gee, maybe that's what great writing is all about -- the author quietly talks to us about life, family, and the human condition, while he wraps his lecture around an entertaining story about bad boys seemingly getting rich. For those who have read the 21 McGee stories, they might wonder where this one came from. To us, we wonder how he ever got started on those!!