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Chargement... The Crossroadspar John D. MacDonald
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Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. Another in my attempt to read through the JDM ouvre this summer. Certainly can see why it was said he is a trove of detail about the times he was writting of. All kinds of little and useful detail. Written at a time when the highwy rest stop was just coming into its own and before the interstates displaced a lot of them. It had a ‘happy ending’ in that things turn out OK for most of the good guys. Character portrayal was diverse enough to make them seem real and believable. Anyone who's ever read a Travis McGee paperback has seen the long list of other John D. MacDonald novels that usually take up two tightly-spaced columns in the front. I read a lot of the McGee novels in my teens. They're action-packed mysteries with a cerebral touch, and they provided a slam-bang parallel reading experience as I also devoured Ross MacDonald's Lew Archer novels. I wanted to read more of the non-series novels from those single-spaced columns in the front of the books, but they were hard to find. This was before Amazon or even Prodigy. Weren't at the Waldenbooks, had often been published in paperback and weren't at the library, and they didn't even turn up at used book stores that much. I found A Bullet for Cinderella on a paperback rack while visiting my mother's relatives in Camden, AR, as a rare exception. A first-person crime novel, it resembled a McGee and was a nice addition to my reading. A discovery and a re-discovery I thought of all that recently when I was browsing a local used shop that displays mostly nice used hardcovers. On one of the paperback spinners, I spotted some battered John D. MacDonalds. Took me back, and I grabbed a couple in spite of their tattered shape, excited to get the reminder of an author I hadn't experienced in a while. The Crossroads is the first I cracked open, and it proved to be a rewarding excursion. It really anticipates those lauded literary novels that add a touch of crime to an otherwise character driven exploration. There's a crime at the novel's core, but it's really a fascinating slice-of-life in one mid-fifties summer of an entrepreneurial family. It was great to imagine the characters in fifties fashions, occupying spaces decorated in mid-century modern. The crossroads of the title is an intersection of well-traveled thoroughfares where the small business empire of the Drovek family has grown from the real estate acquisitions of their Polish-immigrant patriarch. It's a son, Chip, who's the head of the business now, a cluster of leased gift shops, hotels, truck stops and restaurants. Chip's deteriorating marriage to a woman hopelessly mired in depression and alcoholism has driven him into the arms of one of the crossroads shopkeepers. Others in the family are equally unhappy, including the irresponsible Pete, who's accidently entangled with Sylvia, former true crime magazine cover model. A Bettie Page perhaps? A family so successful is not without enemies, and once the players and the playing field is established, MacDonald focuses on the revenge scheme of a fired employee. It's a seedy, brutal and realistic plan, and it unfolds at the novel's core. Yet MacDonald keeps the family and their triumphs and foibles in the sharpest focus. A few touches, that would be spoilers if revealed, suggest this might be a book that influenced Stephen King, who I believe is an acknowledge MacDonald fan. This book certainly weaves crime and character together much the way King has always melded domestic drama with supernatural incursions. The Crossroads has reminded me what a joy a John D. MacDonald read can be, and it's a kick in the pants to find more used titles since the books are regrettably not available electronically. Except for one title that has perhaps slipped somehow into the public domain. Care to venture a guess which one that is? Yep, A Bullet for Cinderella. Get it in e-format here. What writers should watch for: MacDonald's flare for making the routine seem fascinating. The nuanced characters which suggest a keen eye for the human condition. The slow-burn crime plot, a devilish strong arm crime enhanced by the dark players. (From my Blog - Sid is Alive) aucune critique | ajouter une critique
Appartient à la série éditoriale
Fiction.
Mystery.
Suspense.
Thriller.
HTML:The Crossroads, one of many classic novels from crime writer John D. MacDonald, the beloved author of Cape Fear and the Travis McGee series, is now available as an eBook. Along a major commercial strip, one family has built its fortune on blood, sweat, and tears . . . and that makes them a target. More than half a century ago, Papa Drovek opened his small grocery store at the junction of two country roads. As he bought more and more land, the roads became highways, and now the Droveks own a complex of hotels, restaurants, a truck stop, a shopping center, and two gas stations. Papa’s eldest son, Charles, is president of the Crossroads Corporation, son Leo enjoys his token job, and daughter Joan manages the commercial tenants’ leases. But when younger son Pete’s wife gets restless and lonely, she becomes an easy pawn in a sleazy scheme of robbery and murder. The target? Old Papa Drovek himself. Features a new Introduction by Dean Koontz Praise for John D. MacDonald “The great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller.”—Stephen King “My favorite novelist of all time.”—Dean Koontz “To diggers a thousand years from now, the works of John D. MacDonald would be a treasure on the order of the tomb of Tutankhamen.”—Kurt Vonnegut “A master storyteller, a masterful suspense writer . . . John D. MacDonald is a shining example for all of us in the field. Talk about the best.”—Mary Higgins Clark. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Classification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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This is one of the Crime Fiction books and it is not up to the standard we expect from this author. ( )