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A review by attytheresa
Bright Orange for the Shroud by John D. MacDonald
4.0
Before there were [a:Carl Hiaasen|8178|Carl Hiaasen|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1522420456p2/8178.jpg], [a:Lee Child|5091|Lee Child|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1377708686p2/5091.jpg], or [a:Tim Dorsey|27017|Tim Dorsey|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1274614239p2/27017.jpg], there was [a:John D. MacDonald|24690|John D. MacDonald|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1225553045p2/24690.jpg] who delivered engrossing gritty detective thrillers often set against a Florida backdrop of white collar crime. He also seamlessly wove his own strong views on the environment, ecology, over-development, and commercialization into his characters and plots, especially Travis McGee. There is also no doubt that the world of boats, fishing, and Florida are well-known and beloved by the author who enriches his plots with details from those worlds.
Here in the second in his McGee series, setting much of the action in the Everglades provides plenty of opportunity for sharing his views and concerns while Travis tries to retrieve the money stolen from a naive friend by skilled grifters. The villains here are amoral criminals, and McGee and those with him face much danger before a satisfactory conclusion is reached.
Published in 1965, this reads amazingly modern, except for an occasional certain slight dated feeling here and there. It was a page turner and McGee us a fascinating and complex character whom I could see plated by Humphry Bogart back in the day of Key Largo and To Have And Have Not. The villains abuse and use women, there are frank discussions among characters and 1960s era graphic sex. The villains named Boo is chillingly evil and casually violent. Terrific as it is, this series will not be for everyone.
Here in the second in his McGee series, setting much of the action in the Everglades provides plenty of opportunity for sharing his views and concerns while Travis tries to retrieve the money stolen from a naive friend by skilled grifters. The villains here are amoral criminals, and McGee and those with him face much danger before a satisfactory conclusion is reached.
Published in 1965, this reads amazingly modern, except for an occasional certain slight dated feeling here and there. It was a page turner and McGee us a fascinating and complex character whom I could see plated by Humphry Bogart back in the day of Key Largo and To Have And Have Not. The villains abuse and use women, there are frank discussions among characters and 1960s era graphic sex. The villains named Boo is chillingly evil and casually violent. Terrific as it is, this series will not be for everyone.