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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Vacation in paradise, McGee style, August 4, 2002
Travis McGee once again takes on the torch of righteousness as he saves the daughter of an old friend. She thinks she's losing her mind, which is exactly what somebody wants her to think. But McGee sees through the charade, and undercovers a shady past that explains why he's willing to travel halfway around the world to provide justice. The last 50 pages are stunning in this thriller. Like all MacDonald books, you will get a heavy dose of philosophy from a sophisticated author. Enjoy this classic.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interest male angst, January 28, 2003
Had Travis McGee been in a science fiction novel, we would have had books like THE PHILOSOPHY OF MCGEE, similar to THE NOTEBOOKS OF LAZARUS LONG, dedicated to the wit and wisdom of this, MacDonald's best known and best loved character. Perhaps it is for the best. While not quite given to epigrams as Heinlein, MacDonald definitely had a consistent vision of who this latter day Don Quixote was. Long before Robert Parker investigated male angst in the Spenser books, MacDonald had mined the entire territory. In The Turquoise Lament, McGee must face doubt, guilt, and faith as the grown daughter of a deceased salvage friend is afraid that her newlywed husband is attempting to kill her. Culminating in a fight scene with a cable car that today's Hollywood would go nuts for--in fact, that gets me to wondering why we have never seen McGee on film. Maybe we have, and I just don't know about it? Sure, some of the dialogue might not work on the screen, but the mystery, adventure, and spectacular fights would surely fit today's current vehicles for male stars. Today's directors would probably make a mish-mash of it, though; MacDonald probably better fits a director like Hitchcock than Paul Rudhoven or James Cameron.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Felt like a giant step from the previous books, May 13, 2011
I was first introduced to the series in the late 70s by a girlfriend, no less. I read 4 or 5 of them, then got on a very heavy science fiction binge for years, McGee was forgotten.
Recently I came upon a yellowed paperback in a box which had been in storage a long time. Since I had forgotten most of that which I had read so long ago anyway, I decided to start from #1, The Deep Blue Good-by (why did he spell it that way?) and read the entire series in chronological order. It was interesting to see the references to characters earlier in the series, the increasing complexity of the plots, the exposition of the MacDonald ethical philosophy.
But the entire structure of The Turquoise Lament was much different than the earlier books, and it took a little getting used to.
Thoroughly enjoyable, in some ways a more human Travis, and I too wonder why Hollywood couldn't make a story like this, with its multiple exotic locations, mix of morality, debauchery and evil, and fast pace into something people would spend money to see?
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