First time I've read a Travis McGee novel in some time (well, since MacDonald has been dead for some time, that's no surprise). This one, from 1964 finds McGee in New York, looking after the sister of a friend, and trying to recover some money her husband had. MacDonald has good characterizations in this one, and of course those dour pessimistic viewpoints on the human race. Reading the book so many years after it was written shows that some of MacDonald's predictions didn't really come to pass of course, but he wasn't really writing for the ages. There's a long sequence where McGee is locked up in a mental institution and fed what must be LSD, and those scenes seem quite forward looking for the time. I like the McGee books, but wouldn't read too many of them. ( )

I like Travis McGee, but sending him to NYC just doesn't work. It felt like McGee was mostly blundering around on the periphery of the conspiracy and had little to do with the bad guys ultimately getting stopped. The 60s era understanding of cognitive science was annoying too. Not one of his better adventures. ( )

Mike Gibson was an Army buddy of Travia McGee's when they both served in Korea. Mike was blinded and otherwise injured and is in a VA hospital. He gives McGee a call and asks for a favor: his sister's fiancé was mugged and died, and he wants Travis to help her out.

Travis will do anything for his old friend and heads off to New York City. Travis is taking his retirement a little at a time. He takes a job when he needs some money and then retires until he needs funds again. He's a sort of knight errant in tarnished armor. He'll help someone who needs him in exchange for half of what he recovers.

Nina Gibson has some questions about her fiancé. After his death, she finds $10 thousand in a shoe box and doesn't know how he came by the money. As Travis begins to look he discovers a complex financial scheme going on. Some con artists are taking a wealthy guy for millions which means that Travis might have gotten in over his head.

Travis stumbles into trouble and finds himself in a hospital where illegal experiments are going on. He's been dosed with an LSD-like potion and learns that the wealthy guy had had the same thing done to him before he had a lobotomy.

He manages to get out, leaving a trail of bodies behind him, and gains a bit paycheck from the wealthy guy's wife. He also gets the girl - at least temporarily.

Travis McGee is a character I first met in 1972 when I was riding Greyhound busses between graduate school and my hometown. He was an interesting sort of hero. He has a strong moral center, but it isn't conventional morality. His attitude toward women reads more than a little chauvinistic at a 50 year remove. But still, if a person is in really bad trouble, Travis McGee would still be my choice of a hero to call upon.

I enjoyed this walk down memory lane. The narration was well done. ( )

I am undecided whether I like this series. The style is more of a hard-boiled mystery (not my favorite sub-genre) and the 1960s feel to the books is strong (especially regarding sex). However, Travis McGee himself I find intriguing -- he is the missing link between Robin Hood and the TV show Leverage. ( )

I liked the book, although I did skip many pages. It was interesting as it was written in the 60's. I will probably try another in this series before deciding if I like it or not. ( )