Customer Reviews

Free Fall in Crimson

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In "Free Fall in Crimson," the 19th Travis McGee episode, author John D. MacDonald refuses to be tied up with boundaries. In fact, this book seems a great deal like a geography lesson, as the plot takes him from Ft. Lauderdale, to other Florida parts, to Beverly Hills, and, finally, to Iowa for the climactic scene!

However, readers should not let that put them off another top-flight installment in the McGee series--this time involving, yes, a murder and other corruption, a hot

air balloon competition.

The plot is set aloft when Ron Esterland approaches Travis for help--seems he's been completely cut out of his inheritance when his father was murdered two years earlier (most of the estate has been left to his estranged wife and her filmmaker friend). Ron wants Travis to find the truth about the murder, suspecting that the wife and friend had much to do with it.

Travis' pursuit then takes him cross country, eventually landing in Roseland,

Iowa, where a film is being made about a hot-air balloon meet. As with the other McGee stories, MacDonald keeps us on the edge until the final pages. It is not that we don't know the guilty party; it is just that Travis must find a way to secure justice--usually his own brand--as many of the guilty are "out of bounds" to legal prosecution.

Readers will not be disappointed in either the story or McGee! While the series does not require a chronological reading, the earlier books establish the characters (especially McGee and economist friend Meyer). The first book is "The Deep Blue Goodby"--and it's a good place to get started, to "channel" the McGee interest. But regardless, "Free Fall in Crimson" merely adds to the charm of the series and of the character--it will leave you grasping for air!

(Billyjhobbs@tyler.net)

One of the things I like about the McGee series is the strange authority MacDonald brings to it. He had a very strict, intelligent mind and a disdain for shoddy work that rivaled Hemingway's, which often gave his descriptions and depictions a shrewd authority. Even when you may not fully buy what's going on on the page, you can buy that the author and the characters believe it, which is often enough to go on.

But with "Free Fall in Crimson," the authority is a little flimsy. The book, published in the early 80s, is the first McGee that just does not convince on several key levels.

Most of that has to do with McGee's brief dip into California outlaw biker culture in his attempts to track down a murderous Hell's Angel named Dirty Bob. Nothing about the scenario -- not the crime McGee investigates, not the people he meets along the way, not the stilted dialogue he engages in, not the situations he encounters -- feels convincing.

A millionaire goes to buy a little hash and takes gold Krugerrands to purchase the drugs? McGee is made an honorary member of a bike tribe ("The Fantasies") and given a special pin to use... if he ever needs it? A character on the run who needs to hide his identity suddenly gets a terminal illness that allows him to drop 100 pounds in two months?

The second half of the book -- McGee's visit to a debauched, coked-out 80s-era film set, where a Dennis Hopper-esque auteur is having a big budget meltdown as he tries to make an existential thriller (about balloon pilots?) -- is a little more convincing than the biker stuff, but the dialogue still smells too much like exposition, the film crew's lines sound transposed from research.

I did enjoy the nightmarish riot that begins the last act; and I liked the creepy section in which McGee slowly, gradually figures out that his prey has turned around and is coming after him; and, oddly, I was completely convinced that McGee could survive a leap from a runaway balloon hovering 50 feet off the ground (just remember: land on the balls of your feet, tuck your chin, roll forward with your right shoulder out and down, hit the ground running....)

But as far as the series as a whole goes, this is probably one of the weaker entires I've read. But, should I ever fall or jump out of a hot air balloon, I seriously think I'll know what to do.

This is a great book if you're in the mood for a philosophy lesson on the meaning of life and how to maintain it. John D. MacDonald knows how to keep the action flowing, without hitting the reader over the head. It's nice to be treated as if you are an intelligent reader, which is why I keep coming back to the McGee series. Travis helps out a man whose father was killed, shortly before cancer would have taken him anyway. As Travis pokes around, he finds a web of dispicable characters hiding behind the entertainment industry. Justice is served to the guilty, as usual. Unfortunately, some of the innocent do not come out of this one, but only those who are not as careful as our houseboat hero. This is definitely one of the better entries in the McGee series, but one should read "A Quick Red Fox" first.

Dishing out heavy doses of moral philosophy, McDonald always keeps the reader entertained and thought provoked. Not quite on par with some of the earlier McGee's, but never-the-less, vintage McDonald. 30+ years of reading his novels, one can only morn the loss that Travis, Meyer and the rest won't have a new tale to tell.

I'm running out of room on my bookshelf--MacDonald's Travis McGee series is eating up all the space. And now I've just added "Free Fall in Crimson" to that shelf. \

One of the other reviewers remarked that this was the 19th installment of this series. Amazing! And I really wish I had read these great thrillers in the order in which they had been written. No matter. "Free Fall in Crimson" holds as prominent a spot among its tribe as any of the other ones. As I have mentioned in other reviews, MacDonald's "A Flash of Green" had always ranked at the top of my list. "Free Fall in Crimson" has now taken over that spot.

I always thought "Crimson" was one of the weakest of the McGee books. I am a big fan of John D. MacDonald but few things in this book hang together. The author thought "Indigo" was a failure but "Indigo" was better than this novel.
The plot doesn't really ring true and some of the incidents don't either. It's one of the few times in a MacDonald novel that I will read a scene and say, "Wait a minute..."
Not every novel is a success but I thought both this book and "Cinnamon Skin", written after "Crimson" were among the weakest of the series. Then MacDonald bounced back with "The Lonely Silver Rain." By all means read the book if you are a McGee fan but know it's not the best.

I have been reading these books since the 60's and you cannot get a more enjoyable read. Travis McGee, his friend Meyer and the busted Flush, plus all the antics that go on make for one of the best book series I have ever read. Try one and I will bet you can't put it down!

rating to any MacDonald book but this one is deserves it. In my opinion it's the weakest of the McGee series. I wouldn't avoid it if I were going through the series but don't look for the usual MacDonald here. It's fairly strong on character as MacDonald always is but a very weak, convoluted plot takes away from any strength of character the writer exhibits. It's like MacDonald got caught up in it and didn't know how to extricate himself! Not a particularly good read.

I think I've thoroughly enjoyed ALL of John MacDonald's books and I'm sorry I have no more to read!

Another excellent Travis McGee Novel narrated by the great Darren McGavin, and this one is sure to please as well . . .