The Lonely Silver Rain: A Travis McGee Novel

The last Travis McGee novel I read was number six in the series. This time, I was compelled to skip ahead. So far ahead in fact, to number twenty-one, the final novel MacDonald wrote before his death in 1983. This and, I'm assuming other late entries into the series, was just slightly different than the stories I have read from the mid to late 1960's. MacDonald's smooth as butter writing is still present, and no one can string together words quite like him. But he is somewhat subdued now. I found myself marveling less at the way he could make a phrase or analogy sound musical. This isn't a complaint but an observation that as he grew old, his writing matured. The writing is without age now. I could believe this story was written in 2005, by style alone. The only complaint I could offer is that McGee doesn't have time to brood and muse while drinking his usual gin cocktail this final time around, as the story is so fast paced.In The Lonely Silver Rain, Travis McGee, now early into the 1980's, finds himself sucked unwillingly into the Florida drug trade. When a wealthy old friend asks him to find a stolen yacht worth $700,000, McGee knows that his usual 50% take would be more than substantial. After a week or so of searching, he finds the boat. Aboard it, he finds a scene grisly enough to make his stomach turn. MacDonald does not hold back his descriptions of violence, after all, he did pen Cape Fear. Two women, raped and murdered, a man tortured to death, and a lot of counterfeit money. He reports the stolen boat anonymously, and is happy to be done with the job. This is pretty much the first quarter of the book, and it is written in such a page-turning manner that alone it would make an excellent short story. However, when people start trying to kill Travis out of belief that he killed the people on board, he finds himself in a race to figure out who did it and clear his name and reputation while dodging bombs, bullets, and knives.This was an interesting story because it is firmly planted in the 1980's, a sharp contrast to the preceding novels set in earlier decades. What more is interesting is that Travis is used to being the hunter, finding people. In Silver Rain he is the one being hunted. The story was set up as more of a thriller than a straightforward mystery novel, but was compelling enough that I never noticed while I was reading it. One very important factor to Silver Rain is that the character is older now. Not physically. But emotionally and mentally. At one point McGee realizes that he is now a generation older than the long haired young men of the time, listening to music he doesn't like and wearing clothes he never would. He doesn't come across as crotchety, he comes across as wistful. Realizing he is getting older and looking back on the women he loved and lost, both to death and through his own mistakes. McGee is still McGee, but less young. He has more remorse and more maturity. I will not spoil how the final novel ends, but I don't regret skipping ahead. Silver Rain was a thoroughly enjoyable story, and I have no doubts that I'll find myself on a beach someday reading it again, wishing I was aboard The Busted Flush, drinking Boodles on ice and listening to the small waves lap at the dock.Memorable Quotes:"What could I look forward to otherwise? To winding down? To becoming a sour, peevish old bastard, too stubborn to admit loneliness. Long ago I had been unable to commit myself totally when I should have. And later, when I wanted to, the timing was tragic.""The most deadly commitment of all is to be committed only to one's self.""Night and gin and music-the right setting for peeling off the thin clinging layers of bulls*** and finding one's way down closer to the essential self."

"Silver" is last of the twenty-one-book McGee series.  On the page-turner scale, it's about mid-range, but still worth the rather high price.  Unlike some authors, JDM did not run out of steam before he ran out of time.  He maintained a consistently high quality of work to the end, and in the process he inspired some of today's most successful authors.  How did he become a legend among fiction writers?  We have three clues: the character, the suspense, and the writing style.  The character, Travis McGee, is a righter of wrongs whose methods are sometimes illegal, a very popular type of protagonist.  The appeal of this type is in the double dose of conflict.  The hero must contend with both the villains and the authorities who would toss him in jail if they could.  McGee has a high level of empathy and a passion for rescuing or avenging innocent victims.  We know this by his actions, not his words.  The stories are told in the first person, so JDM's witticisms and wry commentary become McGee's voice.  McGee is easy to like.  We admire his deeds and enjoy his company.  His lifestyle, aboard a house boat in Ft. Lauderdale, adds color and charm. The suspense is best conveyed by examples.  McGee is drifting rapidly in a hot air balloon, forty feet above the ground, being chased and shot at, and heading for power lines (the "Crimson" story).  McGee is lying underwater with his eyes half open, looking up at the face of the villain, and hoping the villain believes he's dead ("Turquoise"}.  McGee and a friend are trapped in a dark cave, searching frantically for some means of defense against the rifle-toting killer pursuing them, when they discover they're not alone ("Purple").  JDM's suspenseful situations are among the best, but some of his plot structures could use tightening.  Ideally, suspense should be building steadily, rather than happening randomly. The writing style is the crowning glory of the series.  JDM's world is filled with galloping cars, marching groves, muttering thunder, vectoring mosquitoes, parading thunderheads, apprehensive bait shrimp, and gulls yelling dirty gull-words.  He was a master of metaphors and similes, both evocative ("a cathedral of evergreens") and whimsical ("a voice like a bearing about to go"), and a prolific word creator; e. g., the "skirring" of insects, the "whuffing" of passing traffic, and the "spanging" of breaking wires.  The stories are laced with dry humor ("His cologne arrived three steps before he did.") and intriguing details about a wide variety of settings and other subjects, ranging from hot air ballooning to stamp collecting, and, of course, the inexhaustible topic of boating.  JDM's style has one recurring, predominant tone: enjoyment of life. As an aspiring writer of popular fiction, I have a list of authors whose work I intend to study.  JDM is near the top.  I know I'll be learning a lot from him, and enjoying every minute.  Reading his stories for entertainment was just Chapter One.

I found myself in a position where I've listened to the Travis McGee series while I've lived in three different states, and I feel like I ended the book in a place I wanted to be. The novels have made many long drives with me and they will be worth re listening to because often I found myself drifting off on one of MacDonald's points that he made, and trying to make peace with how I felt about it.Such are the perils of audio books.I found myself giving a half smile, knowing that this was the end, and in that end seemingly a new beginning for Travis. One of the most beloved characters to me over the years. I have always felt I should've stopped by slip F-18. Just to pay my respects.I guess it's time to go back through the series to pick up all the things that I missed.

Expect the unexpected in this book. Its full of twists and turns as Trav fights for his life. And to top it off, a mysterious figure from his past appears. Great read.

I’m sure Mr. MacDonald didn’t plan on this being the final book in the Travis McGee series, but it couldn’t be a more fitting ending had he planned it that way. I’ve just finished rereading all twenty-one of the Travis McGee books for the fourth time and I’m still enthralled with his writing. Timeless. He manages to create stories that aren’t dated and seem contemporary forty, fifty, even nearly sixty years later. He provided me with a lot of joy over the years. Thank you John D. MacDonald.

Wer die Südstaaten ein wenig kennt, wer kein Republikanerfan ist, wer Spaß an abstrusen Geschichten hat, die dann doch eine gewisse Logik haben, wird sich amüsieren. Manchmal mit einem weinenden Auge. (Vor allem, wenn man die Möglichkeit in Betracht zieht, dass fast die Hälfte aller Wählenden sich für Trump entscheiden könnten. Auch wenn das nicht einmal 1/3 aller Amerikaner sind.)

This is the last McGee, and it is as good as the rest. The twist in the end, which has nothing to do with the plot, seems to bring the series to a close (in a good way!) and brought a tear to my eye. I read them all as a young man, and McGee showed me what it was like, in my teenage years, to be a man, and he’s reaffirmed, all these years later now I’m older than McGee ever was, that he was right. Slivers of wisdom in every tale, gritty, tough and human. Something we all can aspire to be. So farewell, Travis, and thanks for everything you taught me.

It's been over twenty years since I read a Travis McGee book. I did because Anthony Bourdain mentioned him in a recent television program and I am grateful to him for reminding me of John D MacDonald's great writing so I can re-read his books again. Wonderful reading!

In this last book in the Travis McGee series, Travis is inadvertently caught up in a drug war and when the bad guys are told that Travis killed three kids a price is put on his head. He has to find out who did kill the kids, and stay alive until he can get that information to the people who want him dead so that they can lift the kill order. And while all this is happening, strange things are happening in his personal life with someone leaving mysterious pipe cleaner cats on The Busted Flush. It takes all Travis' trademark ingenuity to work out what is happening and to get out with his worn old hide as intact as possible.My favourite of all the Travis McGee series. I don't know if John D MacDonald knew this would be the last book in the series - he died shortly after it was published - but it reads a bit like an ending. This story ties up one of the earlier stories in a very satisfying way and the last scene aboard the Busted Flush feels like a poignant taste of heaven on earth.This series is worth reading and rereading.Highly recommended.

This is the last novel of my Travis McGee series> I really enjoyed the book worth buying and all other McGee series.