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Murder in the Wind
Murder in the Wind, 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.
With the waters rising and the winds whipping through the sky, a hurricane of terrifying intensity is looming over Florida. Along a state highway, a handful of foolhardy souls trying to outrun the storm are forced to seek shelter in an abandoned house after discovering that a nearby bridge is out of commission. Thrown together by nothing more than chance, this disparate bunch of misfits and wanderers includes an undercover agent seeking revenge for a personal tragedy, a burgeoning criminal in over his head, a beautiful young widow trying to start over, and a businessman whose life’s work is crumbling before his eyes. Their refuge from the awesome power of nature becomes a sort of grand and grisly hotel—especially once the invisible hand of flying death descends.
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
With the waters rising and the winds whipping through the sky, a hurricane of terrifying intensity is looming over Florida. Along a state highway, a handful of foolhardy souls trying to outrun the storm are forced to seek shelter in an abandoned house after discovering that a nearby bridge is out of commission. Thrown together by nothing more than chance, this disparate bunch of misfits and wanderers includes an undercover agent seeking revenge for a personal tragedy, a burgeoning criminal in over his head, a beautiful young widow trying to start over, and a businessman whose life’s work is crumbling before his eyes. Their refuge from the awesome power of nature becomes a sort of grand and grisly hotel—especially once the invisible hand of flying death descends.
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
212 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1956
44 people are currently reading
289 people want to read
About the author
John D. MacDonald
566 books1,369 followersJohn D. MacDonald was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, and educated at the Universities of Pennsylvania, Syracuse and Harvard, where he took an MBA in 1939. During WW2, he rose to the rank of Colonel, and while serving in the Army and in the Far East, sent a short story to his wife for sale, successfully. He served in the Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.) in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations. After the war, he decided to try writing for a year, to see if he could make a living. Over 500 short stories and 70 novels resulted, including 21 Travis McGee novels.
Following complications of an earlier heart bypass operation, MacDonald slipped into a coma on December 10 and died at age 70, on December 28, 1986, in St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was survived by his wife Dorothy (1911-1989) and a son, Maynard.
In the years since his death MacDonald has been praised by authors as diverse as Stephen King, Spider Robinson, Jimmy Buffett, Kingsley Amis and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.. Thirty-three years after his passing the Travis McGee novels are still in print.
Following complications of an earlier heart bypass operation, MacDonald slipped into a coma on December 10 and died at age 70, on December 28, 1986, in St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was survived by his wife Dorothy (1911-1989) and a son, Maynard.
In the years since his death MacDonald has been praised by authors as diverse as Stephen King, Spider Robinson, Jimmy Buffett, Kingsley Amis and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.. Thirty-three years after his passing the Travis McGee novels are still in print.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
January 18, 2018
Murder in a dark and abandoned house! With the wind howling and the rain pouring and tempers fraying! A knife finds a heart!
An odd book, and not at all what I expected. This story of six carloads of strangers fleeing from a hurricane into the questionable safety of a ramshackle abandoned house is neither a mystery nor even really about the title's murder. Indeed the players don't come together until over 100 pages in, and the murder is treated almost as an afterthought - by the characters and the author. Instead, Murder in the Wind turned out to be a nuanced and absorbing character study of three pairs, two singles, and one triple (plus two children who are also along for the grim ride).
I was constantly reminded of John Steinbeck when reading the author's often grindingly realistic characterization spotted with moments of poetry and often-dampened passion. MacDonald is even-handed, in both the characterization itself (even the scumbags have a history and understandable context) and the structure (each pair is split so that one partner is explored early, and the other at a latter point - which often led to surprises when learning about the interior of a character misunderstood or misrepresented by others). Some flaws: an saccharine coda, an obsession with "what makes a man manly?", and an irritatingly pervasive chauvinism. I'm surprised and also rather not surprised that this author went on to write the popular and apparently deeply sexist Travis McGee series. I haven't heard good things about those books (although I did guiltily enjoy the movie version which starred Sam Elliot's hairy chest).
But this was a good one. Ambitious in its own way, serious in its intent to provide a cross-section of dissatisfied humanity, and with a bleakly powerful ending where Hurricane Hilda - basically the 12th character - destroys every fragile thing these men and women have built to protect their bodies, spirits, and egos. Only the strongest will survive; even bending like a reed will not suffice.
An odd book, and not at all what I expected. This story of six carloads of strangers fleeing from a hurricane into the questionable safety of a ramshackle abandoned house is neither a mystery nor even really about the title's murder. Indeed the players don't come together until over 100 pages in, and the murder is treated almost as an afterthought - by the characters and the author. Instead, Murder in the Wind turned out to be a nuanced and absorbing character study of three pairs, two singles, and one triple (plus two children who are also along for the grim ride).
I was constantly reminded of John Steinbeck when reading the author's often grindingly realistic characterization spotted with moments of poetry and often-dampened passion. MacDonald is even-handed, in both the characterization itself (even the scumbags have a history and understandable context) and the structure (each pair is split so that one partner is explored early, and the other at a latter point - which often led to surprises when learning about the interior of a character misunderstood or misrepresented by others). Some flaws: an saccharine coda, an obsession with "what makes a man manly?", and an irritatingly pervasive chauvinism. I'm surprised and also rather not surprised that this author went on to write the popular and apparently deeply sexist Travis McGee series. I haven't heard good things about those books (although I did guiltily enjoy the movie version which starred Sam Elliot's hairy chest).
But this was a good one. Ambitious in its own way, serious in its intent to provide a cross-section of dissatisfied humanity, and with a bleakly powerful ending where Hurricane Hilda - basically the 12th character - destroys every fragile thing these men and women have built to protect their bodies, spirits, and egos. Only the strongest will survive; even bending like a reed will not suffice.
December 1, 2017
A precursor to the more sprawling yet extremely well written Condominium.
October 7, 2011
Before John D. MacDonald created the Travis McGee series, he wrote a slew of slim crime novels for Gold Medal Books. These titles, for my money, are the gems of his list. I like Trav, but he spends too much time moralizing, at least in the later books. Murder in the Wind, published in 1956, falls in line with early JDM books such as Cry Hard, Cry Fast, also excellent and too much neglected. MITW brings a small group of very different folks together while Hurricane Hilda (this was decades before Katrina, Andrew, etc.) slams the Florida coast. While the brutal storm generates the plot's action, the characters are vividly depicted with all their warts. And their virtues. They hunker down in an abandoned house to wait out Hilda, so bad things will happen. And good things. JDM uses a few author gimmicks, but I just really dig his Gold Medal pulp books.
December 25, 2022
murder in the wind
Murder in the Wind is in some ways a reprise of MacDonald’s “The Damned,” which traced the lives and backstories of a number of people stuck on the wrong side of a ferry in Northern Mexico. Here, too, MacDonald divides them into carloads and gives them a disaster that tests their mettle. In this case, it’s a giant Hurricane which washes out the bridges with a little help from a big rig driver whose truck becomes a literal wall blocking off a bridge. With the exception of his story, almost all the other stories do not coalesce into the disaster story until we’ll within the second half of the book. It’s almost as if MacDonald knits together a number of separate stories that each could be their own novel.
Excepting the truck driver, there were six separate cars that were stuck between the bridges. First, we get the story of the Dorns, Hal and Jean, successful, middle class, two kids, a third on the way, always the golden kids, always successful, that is, until Florida where it all fell apart and Hal finally failed and could not support his family. Now, with the family car packed with their worldly possessions, they are headed back to the Midwest.
Then, there’s Bunny Hollis and his new bride, Betty. He was on his way to being a star tennis player till he lost his mojo. The last few years he taught tennis at the local country club and set his sights on Betty, an ugly duckling but an heiress at 21. She knows Bunny like most men judy wants her for her money but she’s okay with that.
Johnny Flagan and Charlie Himbermark are two aged businessmen, used to wheeling and dealing, with Charlie always playing second fiddle to Johnny who has met himself go to fat though he still has a commanding presence.
Virginia’s husband has been depressed and despondent for months. He took a six month leave of absence to get his head right, flew down to Florida to vacation alone, and at least left a final note fir Virginia. She came down to Florida to claim his body, stayed for weeks, not knowing what else to do with herself, and us now returning with his ashes.
Billy, Frank, and Hope were two toughs, escaped from a prison chain gang, and a nit do bright fifteen year old who clung to Frank because she had nothing else. They were cutting a path of violence across Florida as they made their way to New Orleans.
Dix Marshall was the truck driver. His buddies used to kid him about leaving his voluptuous young wife at home while he did long haul trucking. He took it all in stride till one day he came home ahead of schedule and found her on the couch with the gas station attendant and enraged beat her senseless. Now on another long haul out of state Dix doesn’t know how to put the pieces back together or what he possibly wants.
Finally, Steve Malden was heading hot on the trail of a terror cell he had been chasing for years on behalf of a specialized agency. He spotted Frank and Billy fir what they were immediately, although perhaps too late.
And, of course, ultimately Hurricane Hilda is the most important character.
MacDonald is at his best in these early novels quickly creating fully in-depth characters with lots of history and putting them in situations and seeing how they fared.
Murder in the Wind is in some ways a reprise of MacDonald’s “The Damned,” which traced the lives and backstories of a number of people stuck on the wrong side of a ferry in Northern Mexico. Here, too, MacDonald divides them into carloads and gives them a disaster that tests their mettle. In this case, it’s a giant Hurricane which washes out the bridges with a little help from a big rig driver whose truck becomes a literal wall blocking off a bridge. With the exception of his story, almost all the other stories do not coalesce into the disaster story until we’ll within the second half of the book. It’s almost as if MacDonald knits together a number of separate stories that each could be their own novel.
Excepting the truck driver, there were six separate cars that were stuck between the bridges. First, we get the story of the Dorns, Hal and Jean, successful, middle class, two kids, a third on the way, always the golden kids, always successful, that is, until Florida where it all fell apart and Hal finally failed and could not support his family. Now, with the family car packed with their worldly possessions, they are headed back to the Midwest.
Then, there’s Bunny Hollis and his new bride, Betty. He was on his way to being a star tennis player till he lost his mojo. The last few years he taught tennis at the local country club and set his sights on Betty, an ugly duckling but an heiress at 21. She knows Bunny like most men judy wants her for her money but she’s okay with that.
Johnny Flagan and Charlie Himbermark are two aged businessmen, used to wheeling and dealing, with Charlie always playing second fiddle to Johnny who has met himself go to fat though he still has a commanding presence.
Virginia’s husband has been depressed and despondent for months. He took a six month leave of absence to get his head right, flew down to Florida to vacation alone, and at least left a final note fir Virginia. She came down to Florida to claim his body, stayed for weeks, not knowing what else to do with herself, and us now returning with his ashes.
Billy, Frank, and Hope were two toughs, escaped from a prison chain gang, and a nit do bright fifteen year old who clung to Frank because she had nothing else. They were cutting a path of violence across Florida as they made their way to New Orleans.
Dix Marshall was the truck driver. His buddies used to kid him about leaving his voluptuous young wife at home while he did long haul trucking. He took it all in stride till one day he came home ahead of schedule and found her on the couch with the gas station attendant and enraged beat her senseless. Now on another long haul out of state Dix doesn’t know how to put the pieces back together or what he possibly wants.
Finally, Steve Malden was heading hot on the trail of a terror cell he had been chasing for years on behalf of a specialized agency. He spotted Frank and Billy fir what they were immediately, although perhaps too late.
And, of course, ultimately Hurricane Hilda is the most important character.
MacDonald is at his best in these early novels quickly creating fully in-depth characters with lots of history and putting them in situations and seeing how they fared.
April 10, 2019
From 1956
Descriptions of the hurricane are wonderful, technical descriptions. MacDonald's writing is amazing as always. If it weren't for all that, I might give this three stars, because I thought the structure had problems, was very topheavy. It seemed like he just kept introducing characters and nothing was happening in a hundred pages (except the big rig crash, blocking the highway). In his The End of the Night (1960) I feel he perfected the sprawling story, but, in this, he wasn't quite there yet.
Descriptions of the hurricane are wonderful, technical descriptions. MacDonald's writing is amazing as always. If it weren't for all that, I might give this three stars, because I thought the structure had problems, was very topheavy. It seemed like he just kept introducing characters and nothing was happening in a hundred pages (except the big rig crash, blocking the highway). In his The End of the Night (1960) I feel he perfected the sprawling story, but, in this, he wasn't quite there yet.
May 1, 2023
"She had stopped right there at twenty-four. She had been abruptly halted. And the years went by and she was still twenty-four. Now you were thirty-two instead of twenty-seven, and you would become forty-two and fifty-two, while she stayed back there, frozen in that explosive moment of time, still twenty-four, forever slim and clean-limbed, forever three months pregnant."
"She sat beside her husband and thought of marriage. You did not think of the big things, the epochal, the stirring. You thought instead of the trivia of marriage. The ludicrous. The absurd. Your mind was cluttered with little things."
"It was funny about age. Funny how easily you could forget that you were old, be trapped into thinking a young man’s thoughts. He remembered how it was at forty, when you could think that if you were lucky and healthy, there could be just as much life ahead of you as there was behind you. But when you were over sixty, you knew the biggest part was behind you. And you didn’t know if you had one more year or ten. Or even fifteen. Sometimes fifteen seemed like a lot of years. Other times it seemed like a meager unfair amount, like you were being cheated. That was when you looked at the young ones and felt stinging envy and thought how if you had their life, you wouldn’t waste a moment of it. Not a single second."
As a young man in college, I remember seeing my Great Uncle reading John D. MacDonald, and wondered, at the time, what the attraction was. Now I am wondering where has Mr. MacDonald been my whole life. At the beginning of this book, Dean Koontz provided a forward, and he said the following about the author's character development:
"Of all his manifest strengths as a writer, however, I am most in awe of his ability to create characters who are as real as anyone I’ve met in life. John D sometimes paused in the headlong rush of his story to spin out pages of background on a character. At first when this happened, I grumbled about getting on with the story. But I soon discovered that he could make the character so fascinating that when the story began to race forward again, I wanted it to slow down so I could learn more about this person who so intrigued and/or delighted me. There have been many good suspense novelists in recent decades, but in my experience, none has produced characters with as much humanity and truth as those in MacDonald’s work."
Now I could have born a similar opinion, but I see no reason when I am in complete agreement of Mr. Koontz's analysis. As demonstrated with the MacDonald quotes above, which are the partial personality probes of three different characters in Murder in the Wind, he possessed the master's hand in developing unique and dramatically different individuals. Consequently, I became so enthralled in the character development in Murder in the Wind that I almost forgot about the story, and what a story it is!
In many ways, Murder in the Wind brought back memories of Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Bridge of San Luis Rey. It is a novel of unrelated characters who are brought together in a pivotal occurrence, but unlike Wilder's masterpiece, the occurrence provides the characters with opportunities to make choices, whether good or bad, to gain an awareness of self, and to bare their true identity. As MacDonald succeeds in analyzing each character, the reader can't help but reflect on his or her own possible reactions in a situation such as described in this amazing novel.
Some, who are MacDonald aficionados may say that Murder in the Wind, was not one of his best because it wasn't a Travis McGee standard, but for me who is a pioneer of this author, it has opened up a new writer that I may delve into and enjoy thoroughly. And for those who have read all of his works, I would imagine you are jealous that you can't experience my opportunity for exploration. I look forward to reading many more of his novels.
"She sat beside her husband and thought of marriage. You did not think of the big things, the epochal, the stirring. You thought instead of the trivia of marriage. The ludicrous. The absurd. Your mind was cluttered with little things."
"It was funny about age. Funny how easily you could forget that you were old, be trapped into thinking a young man’s thoughts. He remembered how it was at forty, when you could think that if you were lucky and healthy, there could be just as much life ahead of you as there was behind you. But when you were over sixty, you knew the biggest part was behind you. And you didn’t know if you had one more year or ten. Or even fifteen. Sometimes fifteen seemed like a lot of years. Other times it seemed like a meager unfair amount, like you were being cheated. That was when you looked at the young ones and felt stinging envy and thought how if you had their life, you wouldn’t waste a moment of it. Not a single second."
As a young man in college, I remember seeing my Great Uncle reading John D. MacDonald, and wondered, at the time, what the attraction was. Now I am wondering where has Mr. MacDonald been my whole life. At the beginning of this book, Dean Koontz provided a forward, and he said the following about the author's character development:
"Of all his manifest strengths as a writer, however, I am most in awe of his ability to create characters who are as real as anyone I’ve met in life. John D sometimes paused in the headlong rush of his story to spin out pages of background on a character. At first when this happened, I grumbled about getting on with the story. But I soon discovered that he could make the character so fascinating that when the story began to race forward again, I wanted it to slow down so I could learn more about this person who so intrigued and/or delighted me. There have been many good suspense novelists in recent decades, but in my experience, none has produced characters with as much humanity and truth as those in MacDonald’s work."
Now I could have born a similar opinion, but I see no reason when I am in complete agreement of Mr. Koontz's analysis. As demonstrated with the MacDonald quotes above, which are the partial personality probes of three different characters in Murder in the Wind, he possessed the master's hand in developing unique and dramatically different individuals. Consequently, I became so enthralled in the character development in Murder in the Wind that I almost forgot about the story, and what a story it is!
In many ways, Murder in the Wind brought back memories of Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Bridge of San Luis Rey. It is a novel of unrelated characters who are brought together in a pivotal occurrence, but unlike Wilder's masterpiece, the occurrence provides the characters with opportunities to make choices, whether good or bad, to gain an awareness of self, and to bare their true identity. As MacDonald succeeds in analyzing each character, the reader can't help but reflect on his or her own possible reactions in a situation such as described in this amazing novel.
Some, who are MacDonald aficionados may say that Murder in the Wind, was not one of his best because it wasn't a Travis McGee standard, but for me who is a pioneer of this author, it has opened up a new writer that I may delve into and enjoy thoroughly. And for those who have read all of his works, I would imagine you are jealous that you can't experience my opportunity for exploration. I look forward to reading many more of his novels.
April 26, 2015
In Murder in the Wind (aka Hurricane) by John D. MacDonald (1956) we have a suspenseful tale of natural disaster and man-made murder. Hurricane Hilda, a storm of terrifying intensity is headed straight for Highway 19 in Florida. In its path, a half dozen cars carrying a disparate group of people--headed out of Florida on business of their own and trying to outrun the storm. When they are forced to detour off the main road and the storm blocks their path, they must seek shelter in a rickety, abandoned house. The ragtag bunch includes an undercover agent who has just taken revenge for a personal tragedy, a small-time criminal in over his head with sidekick and girlfriend in tow, a beautiful young widow trying to start over, a young family returning north after a failed attempt to make a living in Florida, a gold-digging ex-tennis player and his wealthy young wife, and a businessman whose life's work is crumbling before his eyes because of the inadequacy of his subordinate (also along for the ride). Their refuge from the awesome power of nature becomes a sort of grand and grisly hotel - especially once the invisible hand of flying death descends.
Less a mystery than a survival story, most of the suspense comes from the looming storm rather than from any doubt about who was murdered and why or by whom. When it happens, we know the full story. The only question in regards to the killer is whether s/he will make it out of the storm alive and escape justice. More than half the story is focused on each of the six cars headed towards zero hour in the abandoned house. Told from various points of view, we get to know who each of the characters is, their back story, and what events have set them on Highway 19 headed north out of Florida and into one of the most violent hurricanes to hit Florida (at least until the 1950s). There are tensions of all sorts--from the normal tensions of people facing a natural disaster to tensions between the couples to the tensions between small-time crooks and the law (the federal agent). The storm will prove who are heroes and heroines and who are cowards and who will take advantage of the storm to do a little murder.
Overall, a well-told tale by a master stylist with well-rounded characters. My only disappointment was going in expecting a mystery and not finding much mystification. ★★★ and a half
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
Less a mystery than a survival story, most of the suspense comes from the looming storm rather than from any doubt about who was murdered and why or by whom. When it happens, we know the full story. The only question in regards to the killer is whether s/he will make it out of the storm alive and escape justice. More than half the story is focused on each of the six cars headed towards zero hour in the abandoned house. Told from various points of view, we get to know who each of the characters is, their back story, and what events have set them on Highway 19 headed north out of Florida and into one of the most violent hurricanes to hit Florida (at least until the 1950s). There are tensions of all sorts--from the normal tensions of people facing a natural disaster to tensions between the couples to the tensions between small-time crooks and the law (the federal agent). The storm will prove who are heroes and heroines and who are cowards and who will take advantage of the storm to do a little murder.
Overall, a well-told tale by a master stylist with well-rounded characters. My only disappointment was going in expecting a mystery and not finding much mystification. ★★★ and a half
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
November 15, 2019
Very good thriller. Interesting to go back before cellphones, internet and constant weather monitoring would have made the premise of this story obsolete. I really liked it. MacDonald has a knack for characters.
April 18, 2024
Thriller eccezionale che narra le vicende di alcuni americani di fronte a una tragedia naturale.
La cover non c'entra nulla - non si parla di una supercella - e anche il titolo in realtà non mi fa impazzire, ma se questo autore, che ha scritto pure Cape Fear, è l'unico autore di thriller ad aver vinto un national book award ci sarà un motivo.
Le vicende dei personaggi iniziano in modo autonomo e si vanno ad intersecare alla fine, con, appunto, un crimine. La particolarità, e quello che mi ha fatto amare questo romanzo, sono dei paragrafi in corsivo posti alla fine di quasi tutti i capitoli, narrati da un narratore onniscente che risultano spesso lirici e sono scritti magnificamente. In particolare il terzo è davvero magistrale. Da leggere assolutamente.
La cover non c'entra nulla - non si parla di una supercella - e anche il titolo in realtà non mi fa impazzire, ma se questo autore, che ha scritto pure Cape Fear, è l'unico autore di thriller ad aver vinto un national book award ci sarà un motivo.
Le vicende dei personaggi iniziano in modo autonomo e si vanno ad intersecare alla fine, con, appunto, un crimine. La particolarità, e quello che mi ha fatto amare questo romanzo, sono dei paragrafi in corsivo posti alla fine di quasi tutti i capitoli, narrati da un narratore onniscente che risultano spesso lirici e sono scritti magnificamente. In particolare il terzo è davvero magistrale. Da leggere assolutamente.
May 12, 2024
I know McDonald's work is somewhat dated in today's world. As a woman in a very patriarchal community coming to age in the 70s, I was one of his fans. Now, almost 70, I still enjoy him.
The thing is that while he comes across now as sexist and chauvinistic, I don't think he was misogynistic, just a man very much of his times. I think he tried to create complex women who were not mere paper dolls. His woman were often thoughtful, independent and 'liberated' by the standard of 50 years ago.
Thank God, we women have come a great distance, but as a woman who has cracked the glass ceiling more than once, I can tell you today we haven't come nearly far enough.
Anyway, MacDonald was clearly passionate about the destruction of the delicate Florida ecosystem and writes lovingly here (and again in "Condominium") about the beauty and power of nature's rebellion in the form of a hurricane, against developers and indifference. And his human characters are so real! Though I've struggled to find men like his heros, I have known men and women like the unthinking, tired and nearly hopeless, self centered and stupid characters with which he peoples his work.
I say, read him for his characterizations and thoughtful meditations on the world as it was then. Enjoy the bravado men, evolving women and the less-destroyed Florida of his time.
The thing is that while he comes across now as sexist and chauvinistic, I don't think he was misogynistic, just a man very much of his times. I think he tried to create complex women who were not mere paper dolls. His woman were often thoughtful, independent and 'liberated' by the standard of 50 years ago.
Thank God, we women have come a great distance, but as a woman who has cracked the glass ceiling more than once, I can tell you today we haven't come nearly far enough.
Anyway, MacDonald was clearly passionate about the destruction of the delicate Florida ecosystem and writes lovingly here (and again in "Condominium") about the beauty and power of nature's rebellion in the form of a hurricane, against developers and indifference. And his human characters are so real! Though I've struggled to find men like his heros, I have known men and women like the unthinking, tired and nearly hopeless, self centered and stupid characters with which he peoples his work.
I say, read him for his characterizations and thoughtful meditations on the world as it was then. Enjoy the bravado men, evolving women and the less-destroyed Florida of his time.
May 11, 2013
In this 1956 thriller, John D. MacDonald returns to one of his favorite plot devices - disparate characters thrown together by an outside force. In this case a killer hurricane forces 13 people travelling in 6 cars to hole up in an abandoned old house. There are:
the four members of the Dorn family, returning to NY after being unsuccessful in FL;
The newlywed Hollis family - he a tennis bum, she an heiress;
Frank, Billy and Hope - small time robbers in a stolen panel truck;
Businessman Johnny Flagan and his employee, Charlie Himbermark, heading to a meeting in GA;
New widowed Virginia Sherel bringing her suicide husband's ashes home to NY; and,
Widower Steve Malden, a federal agent returning to Maryland after locating a wanted man in FL.
JDM also makes the storm a character and adds info about FL ecology in this suspenseful, enjoyable read.
Thriller - With the waters rising and the winds whipping through the sky, a hurricane of terrifying intensity is looming over Florida. Along a state highway, a handful of foolhardy souls trying to outrun the storm are forced to seek shelter in an abandoned house after discovering that a nearby bridge is out of commission.
the four members of the Dorn family, returning to NY after being unsuccessful in FL;
The newlywed Hollis family - he a tennis bum, she an heiress;
Frank, Billy and Hope - small time robbers in a stolen panel truck;
Businessman Johnny Flagan and his employee, Charlie Himbermark, heading to a meeting in GA;
New widowed Virginia Sherel bringing her suicide husband's ashes home to NY; and,
Widower Steve Malden, a federal agent returning to Maryland after locating a wanted man in FL.
JDM also makes the storm a character and adds info about FL ecology in this suspenseful, enjoyable read.
Thriller - With the waters rising and the winds whipping through the sky, a hurricane of terrifying intensity is looming over Florida. Along a state highway, a handful of foolhardy souls trying to outrun the storm are forced to seek shelter in an abandoned house after discovering that a nearby bridge is out of commission.
April 8, 2022
Assassinio nel vento di John D. MacDonald (Mattioli 1885) è un thriller ed è il primo libro che leggo di questo autore. Devo dire che sono rimasta sorpresa. L'ho cominciato in un periodo no: non mi piaceva nulla di quello che leggevo e speravo che un libro incalzante e diverso dal solito potesse aiutarmi.
In realtà Assassinio nel vento non ha una grande tensione, se non nelle pagine finali. Quando Assassinio nel vento si apre i protagonisti devono fare i conti con l'urgano imminente. E per più di centocinquanta pagina, MacDonald descrive i personaggi che si ritroveranno a condividere spazi e paure.
Mi ha ricordato in un certo senso Agatha Christie (per qualcuno sto sicuramente bestemmiando) per la caratterizzazione dei personaggi. Mentre leggevo pensavo più a una storia di narrativa tradizionale, piuttosto che a un vero e proprio thriller.
La tensione comunque c'è ed è indubbia, l'urgano sta arrivando:
RECENSIONE COMPLETA: www.lalettricecontrocorrente.it
In realtà Assassinio nel vento non ha una grande tensione, se non nelle pagine finali. Quando Assassinio nel vento si apre i protagonisti devono fare i conti con l'urgano imminente. E per più di centocinquanta pagina, MacDonald descrive i personaggi che si ritroveranno a condividere spazi e paure.
Mi ha ricordato in un certo senso Agatha Christie (per qualcuno sto sicuramente bestemmiando) per la caratterizzazione dei personaggi. Mentre leggevo pensavo più a una storia di narrativa tradizionale, piuttosto che a un vero e proprio thriller.
La tensione comunque c'è ed è indubbia, l'urgano sta arrivando:
RECENSIONE COMPLETA: www.lalettricecontrocorrente.it
March 28, 2025
The More Climate Changes, The More Climate Stays the Same
Pros
1. Good hurricane story, up there with Typhoon. Very much a landlubber's Typhoon.
2. Good documentary. This is what hurricanes are really like.
3. I know every inch of the setting (except for the fictional big house), that's fun.
Cons
1. Too much human-interest; you can see we're supposed to feel sorry for these people. I really resent that sort of thing, it's for TV and movies. In other words, it's for women.
2. A love-on-the-Titanic sort of love story is in here. Again, woman fodder. Did someone tell him to do this? Was he not selling enough books to girls?
3. Supposed to take place at the Gulf of "Mexico"; there's no such place. I suppose people from Rupert's Land will appreciate the quaintness though.
I've sat out at least half-a-dozen Gulf Coast hurricanes. Note, I said "sat out". I enjoyed every last one of them.
These people had such a bad time of it because they were evacuating. Put it this way: evacuating is to hurricanes what the vaxxes are to Convid. Evacuating is one of those it's-for-your-own-good royal commands so beloved of socialists, communists, health-nuts, and all the other kinds of know-it-alls. Jim Kramer and Paul Krugman would recommend evacuating.
I enjoyed this book. But I gotta tell you, I'm really, really close to my limit of being told who to feel sorry for -- and the list of hapless screw-ups and congenital underdogs I'm supposed to weep over keeps getting longer. As for the it's-for-your-own-good stuff: it's a slipperier-slope than even consenting-adults-in-the-privacy-of-their-own-home. I'll decide what's for my own good.
Pros
1. Good hurricane story, up there with Typhoon. Very much a landlubber's Typhoon.
2. Good documentary. This is what hurricanes are really like.
3. I know every inch of the setting (except for the fictional big house), that's fun.
Cons
1. Too much human-interest; you can see we're supposed to feel sorry for these people. I really resent that sort of thing, it's for TV and movies. In other words, it's for women.
2. A love-on-the-Titanic sort of love story is in here. Again, woman fodder. Did someone tell him to do this? Was he not selling enough books to girls?
3. Supposed to take place at the Gulf of "Mexico"; there's no such place. I suppose people from Rupert's Land will appreciate the quaintness though.
I've sat out at least half-a-dozen Gulf Coast hurricanes. Note, I said "sat out". I enjoyed every last one of them.
These people had such a bad time of it because they were evacuating. Put it this way: evacuating is to hurricanes what the vaxxes are to Convid. Evacuating is one of those it's-for-your-own-good royal commands so beloved of socialists, communists, health-nuts, and all the other kinds of know-it-alls. Jim Kramer and Paul Krugman would recommend evacuating.
I enjoyed this book. But I gotta tell you, I'm really, really close to my limit of being told who to feel sorry for -- and the list of hapless screw-ups and congenital underdogs I'm supposed to weep over keeps getting longer. As for the it's-for-your-own-good stuff: it's a slipperier-slope than even consenting-adults-in-the-privacy-of-their-own-home. I'll decide what's for my own good.
December 13, 2015
11 jan 15, sunday morning 5:53 a.m. e.s.t.
this is #23 from macdonald for me. just finished On the Run a good story check it out.
(1956) john d macdonald, murder in the wind
there is a rare author's note before the story begins that addresses skeptics of the force of a hurricane and tells of liberties taken with the geography of the west coast, the gulf coast, of florida
story begins:
except for a slow oily swell, the caribbean sea was flat and quiet and eerily still on the morning of sunday, october fourth. sarrensen, captain of the swedish motor vessel altagarde, had a late solitary breakfast in his cabin. he had slept poorly and his digestion, never reliable, was bothering more than usual this trip.
okee dokee then, as the good doctor said (the mighty fisherman, 1986) onward and upward.
time place scene setting
*west coast of florida, near the waccasassa bridge, an old abandoned house
*no year is given although if this is like other macdonald stories, the time could be the time of writing +/- 1956
*a number of characters from a number of places in the states converge on one point on the gulf/west coast of florida
characters major minor peripheral name-only famous-real
*bunny hollis, 35-year-old, and much background is provided, a lengthy past developing him as a tennis hopeful, washed-up, the past two years providing lessons at a club where he meets betty who just turned 21, old enough to marry.
*betty hollis: described as a not pretty girl, but one with a money family/father
*dix marshall: a truck driver. his rig plows into a newer bridge near the ultimate scene of action, disabling that bridge and macdonald takes up a good amount of story describing the geography of the bridge...the building of the bridge...a detour that was used during construction, a detour that is the tool used to bring all of the participants in this story to the abandoned house
*johnny flagan: a mover and shaker one of several key characters that converge on the scene in wet florida
*charlie barkmann: johnny's deadweight, lost job, was given a temp job by johnny, is with johnny as they head toward the bridge
*jean & hal dorn: young married couple with two children. moved to florida from the north to live in a climate for one of the children whose health demanded a warmer climate
*william "bill" or "billy" torris: young man, convict, escaped from a road gang with a multitude of others although one, frank stratter, and him team up and have evaded recapture
*frank stratter: another escaped convict from the road gang
*hope morrissey: young girl...she took up with frank after her sister, june anne, told frank to get lost when frank came looking for her after escaping from a road gang
*virginia "ginny" sherrel: widow of david, a man and a writer who had gone to florida to find himself although all he did was commit suicide. she is carrying his ashes north
*steve malden: agent for an unnamed government agency, tracked down the last of a cell of foreign agents. he is a widower, his wife killed from the mail-bomb designed to kill him
a note on the narrative
this is unlike all of the previous 22 macdonald stories i've read. the telling takes a multiple-character p.o.v. but the telling is drawn-out with fully half of the pages devoted to developing the individual characters, about seven "main" characters including the truck driver whose disabled rig also disables the critical bridge. from the brief description and other reviews i know that a house figures in the telling and past the half-way point the main characters are only now taking shelter in that house, the hurricane the 8th main character in this story.
too, at the end of each chapter, there is an italicized paragraph or more, the intent i believe, to show the anonymity of the road.
update, finished, 12 jan 15 monday afternoon, 4:09 p.m. e.s.t.
good story. three stars. could be four, but i mark it three. the reviews and the description do not tell the truth. there is no mystery here. this is not a mystery. heh! another case of me reading a story different than what others read. this is a good story, but my expectations were for one thing...the telling is completely different and that is not macdonald's flaw...it is the flaw of other reviewers and those who write story descriptions. fully half of this story...more...is devoted to building up the number of individual characters who arrive at the abandoned house during the hurricane. nothing wrong with that.
but...although each individual chapter is well written, each character is described and developed, each with a history...the actual story is not arrived at until well past the half-way mark, and then you're reading it with an eye toward "great mystery!" no. a gripping tale, as the pundits say, a good story...and maybe my expectations have colored my judgement. i've said above that none of the other 22+ stories from macdonald i've read are quite like this one...and perhaps that is telling enough. did he return to this form again? if not, why? so. three stars.
one thing...comical...about macdonald's tellings. when he writes about a government agency, he doesn't want to put a label on it. "the jones' boys" he used in another story. in this one he doesn't get as fanciful...simply leaves the matter mysterious. why? i mean the guy worked/served time as such to some degree, maybe that's it. i think it is amusing. all hail the king. is it any wonder they can get away with any thing? a sign of the times. a communist under every basket.
the character index above is incomplete. each one of the main characters has a large number of characters associated with them, some given names, many given names...and a number of other peripheral characters, too.
one thing before i forget...as they gather at the house, the eye of the hurricane bearing down on their location, with each chapter, macdonald doesn't hold with a previous 3rd-person character...he swaps off to one of the lesser characters...who are in reality a major character...strong, in other words, though it is only the storm that brings out their strength. so don't let the 3-star rating fool you...this is a good story. don't go into it with the same expectations i had and maybe you'll enjoy it more.
this is #23 from macdonald for me. just finished On the Run a good story check it out.
(1956) john d macdonald, murder in the wind
there is a rare author's note before the story begins that addresses skeptics of the force of a hurricane and tells of liberties taken with the geography of the west coast, the gulf coast, of florida
story begins:
except for a slow oily swell, the caribbean sea was flat and quiet and eerily still on the morning of sunday, october fourth. sarrensen, captain of the swedish motor vessel altagarde, had a late solitary breakfast in his cabin. he had slept poorly and his digestion, never reliable, was bothering more than usual this trip.
okee dokee then, as the good doctor said (the mighty fisherman, 1986) onward and upward.
time place scene setting
*west coast of florida, near the waccasassa bridge, an old abandoned house
*no year is given although if this is like other macdonald stories, the time could be the time of writing +/- 1956
*a number of characters from a number of places in the states converge on one point on the gulf/west coast of florida
characters major minor peripheral name-only famous-real
*bunny hollis, 35-year-old, and much background is provided, a lengthy past developing him as a tennis hopeful, washed-up, the past two years providing lessons at a club where he meets betty who just turned 21, old enough to marry.
*betty hollis: described as a not pretty girl, but one with a money family/father
*dix marshall: a truck driver. his rig plows into a newer bridge near the ultimate scene of action, disabling that bridge and macdonald takes up a good amount of story describing the geography of the bridge...the building of the bridge...a detour that was used during construction, a detour that is the tool used to bring all of the participants in this story to the abandoned house
*johnny flagan: a mover and shaker one of several key characters that converge on the scene in wet florida
*charlie barkmann: johnny's deadweight, lost job, was given a temp job by johnny, is with johnny as they head toward the bridge
*jean & hal dorn: young married couple with two children. moved to florida from the north to live in a climate for one of the children whose health demanded a warmer climate
*william "bill" or "billy" torris: young man, convict, escaped from a road gang with a multitude of others although one, frank stratter, and him team up and have evaded recapture
*frank stratter: another escaped convict from the road gang
*hope morrissey: young girl...she took up with frank after her sister, june anne, told frank to get lost when frank came looking for her after escaping from a road gang
*virginia "ginny" sherrel: widow of david, a man and a writer who had gone to florida to find himself although all he did was commit suicide. she is carrying his ashes north
*steve malden: agent for an unnamed government agency, tracked down the last of a cell of foreign agents. he is a widower, his wife killed from the mail-bomb designed to kill him
a note on the narrative
this is unlike all of the previous 22 macdonald stories i've read. the telling takes a multiple-character p.o.v. but the telling is drawn-out with fully half of the pages devoted to developing the individual characters, about seven "main" characters including the truck driver whose disabled rig also disables the critical bridge. from the brief description and other reviews i know that a house figures in the telling and past the half-way point the main characters are only now taking shelter in that house, the hurricane the 8th main character in this story.
too, at the end of each chapter, there is an italicized paragraph or more, the intent i believe, to show the anonymity of the road.
update, finished, 12 jan 15 monday afternoon, 4:09 p.m. e.s.t.
good story. three stars. could be four, but i mark it three. the reviews and the description do not tell the truth. there is no mystery here. this is not a mystery. heh! another case of me reading a story different than what others read. this is a good story, but my expectations were for one thing...the telling is completely different and that is not macdonald's flaw...it is the flaw of other reviewers and those who write story descriptions. fully half of this story...more...is devoted to building up the number of individual characters who arrive at the abandoned house during the hurricane. nothing wrong with that.
but...although each individual chapter is well written, each character is described and developed, each with a history...the actual story is not arrived at until well past the half-way mark, and then you're reading it with an eye toward "great mystery!" no. a gripping tale, as the pundits say, a good story...and maybe my expectations have colored my judgement. i've said above that none of the other 22+ stories from macdonald i've read are quite like this one...and perhaps that is telling enough. did he return to this form again? if not, why? so. three stars.
one thing...comical...about macdonald's tellings. when he writes about a government agency, he doesn't want to put a label on it. "the jones' boys" he used in another story. in this one he doesn't get as fanciful...simply leaves the matter mysterious. why? i mean the guy worked/served time as such to some degree, maybe that's it. i think it is amusing. all hail the king. is it any wonder they can get away with any thing? a sign of the times. a communist under every basket.
the character index above is incomplete. each one of the main characters has a large number of characters associated with them, some given names, many given names...and a number of other peripheral characters, too.
one thing before i forget...as they gather at the house, the eye of the hurricane bearing down on their location, with each chapter, macdonald doesn't hold with a previous 3rd-person character...he swaps off to one of the lesser characters...who are in reality a major character...strong, in other words, though it is only the storm that brings out their strength. so don't let the 3-star rating fool you...this is a good story. don't go into it with the same expectations i had and maybe you'll enjoy it more.
Read
February 18, 2022Picked this up off my law school's free books shelf (Anne, you might ask, why was this book held by a law library? Reader, I really couldn't say). Due to a big paper hanging over my head, I haven't had the bandwidth for anything but the most pleasurable of pleasure reading, and this was certainly pleasurable -- decently plotted (lots of exposition and backstory, but I like that sort of thing), well-observed, and somewhat prescient (a lot of wise asides about the folly of tearing down ancient cypress swamps to build homes too close to the Gulf and its hurricane happy waters). Don't go out of your way to get a copy, but why not pick it up if you come across one?
November 15, 2017
Richly-imagined characters wend toward a battle for survival as a hurricane menaces Florida's West coast. It's a compelling read with an intricate structure, ultimately poignant and rewarding.
June 4, 2022
° ᴸᵃ ᵐⁱᵃ ᵒᵖⁱⁿⁱᵒⁿᵉ °
ᴀssᴀssɪɴɪᴏ ɴᴇʟ ᴠᴇɴᴛᴏ - 𝑱𝒐𝒉𝒏 𝑫. 𝑴𝒂𝒄𝑫𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍
pp.253 | € 15,00 | edito e #giftedby @mattioli1885books
𝐴𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑜 𝑛𝑒𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑜 è un immersione in una storia che vi terrà con il fiato sospeso dalla prima all'ultima pagina.
🌪 Ho letto pochissimi autori che come John D. MacDonals siano stati in grado di catturare completamente la mia attenzione, travolgendomi in un vortice letterario senza scampo.
Non ero più lettrice ma protagonista di questa storia, con le paure, le ansie che avvolge l'atmosfera buia e cupa di questo romanzo.
Mentre sei automobili percorrono la Route 19 verso Nord, un fortissimo temporale si delinea nel loro tragitto.
Dalla radio di una station wagon l'annunciatrice
riporta le ultime notizie che riguardano l'arrivo dell'uragano Hilda.
Gli esperti dicono che la velocità del vento è aumentata ma è difficile prevedere la direzione che prenderà.
Bunny e Betty, due novelli sposi, con la loro Mercedes sostano in un ristorante trovato lungo la strada. Mentre fanno colazione sono attirati dal discorso di un vecchio della zona. È sicuro che a breve esploderà una tempesta tropicale di fortissima intensità.
Intanto l'uragano Hilma procede inesorabile e distrugge tutto quello che incontra.
La protezione civile inizia a far evacuare tutta la zona.
Ma un incidente blocca l'autostrada.
Presi dal panico, una dozzina di malcapitati che percorrevano la Route 19 in mezzo alla tormenta, trovano rifugio in una casa abbandonata.
Le vite di una coppia appena sposata, tre ladri, un uomo d'affari con il suo assistente, una famiglia in viaggio verso nord dopo il fallimento lavorativo in Floridia, una giovane vedova, e un agente dei servizi segreti del governo, si incontrano in questa casa abbandonata dove succederanno cose terrificanti anzi inquietanti....
Una casa da brividi...
Questo libro ha una struttura narrativa molto particolare.
In tutta la lunghezza del testo, ogni capitolo, ad eccezione di qualcuno, viene dedicato al racconto della storia di un abitante delle sei autovetture.
•
Contemporaneamente la storia si sviluppa verso la fine di ogni capitolo, con un turnover continuo tra passato e presente.
•
Mi è piaciuto molto questo stile che contemporaneamente ha dato la possibilità di tratteggiare una minuziosa caratterizzazione dei personaggi e sviluppare allo stesso tempo una storia da brividi che mi ha tenuto costantemente sulle spine.
•
John D. MacDonals è l'unico scrittore di #thriller ad aver vinto il National Book Award .
•
Bello mi è piaciuto davvero tantissimo.
Anzi stupendo!!!!
•
Un'altra bellissima proposta di @mattioli1885books .
Per chi come me ama la #letteraturaamericana questa c.e. ha delle chicche pazzesche !!
ᴀssᴀssɪɴɪᴏ ɴᴇʟ ᴠᴇɴᴛᴏ - 𝑱𝒐𝒉𝒏 𝑫. 𝑴𝒂𝒄𝑫𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍
pp.253 | € 15,00 | edito e #giftedby @mattioli1885books
𝐴𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑜 𝑛𝑒𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑜 è un immersione in una storia che vi terrà con il fiato sospeso dalla prima all'ultima pagina.
🌪 Ho letto pochissimi autori che come John D. MacDonals siano stati in grado di catturare completamente la mia attenzione, travolgendomi in un vortice letterario senza scampo.
Non ero più lettrice ma protagonista di questa storia, con le paure, le ansie che avvolge l'atmosfera buia e cupa di questo romanzo.
Mentre sei automobili percorrono la Route 19 verso Nord, un fortissimo temporale si delinea nel loro tragitto.
Dalla radio di una station wagon l'annunciatrice
riporta le ultime notizie che riguardano l'arrivo dell'uragano Hilda.
Gli esperti dicono che la velocità del vento è aumentata ma è difficile prevedere la direzione che prenderà.
Bunny e Betty, due novelli sposi, con la loro Mercedes sostano in un ristorante trovato lungo la strada. Mentre fanno colazione sono attirati dal discorso di un vecchio della zona. È sicuro che a breve esploderà una tempesta tropicale di fortissima intensità.
Intanto l'uragano Hilma procede inesorabile e distrugge tutto quello che incontra.
La protezione civile inizia a far evacuare tutta la zona.
Ma un incidente blocca l'autostrada.
Presi dal panico, una dozzina di malcapitati che percorrevano la Route 19 in mezzo alla tormenta, trovano rifugio in una casa abbandonata.
Le vite di una coppia appena sposata, tre ladri, un uomo d'affari con il suo assistente, una famiglia in viaggio verso nord dopo il fallimento lavorativo in Floridia, una giovane vedova, e un agente dei servizi segreti del governo, si incontrano in questa casa abbandonata dove succederanno cose terrificanti anzi inquietanti....
Una casa da brividi...
Questo libro ha una struttura narrativa molto particolare.
In tutta la lunghezza del testo, ogni capitolo, ad eccezione di qualcuno, viene dedicato al racconto della storia di un abitante delle sei autovetture.
•
Contemporaneamente la storia si sviluppa verso la fine di ogni capitolo, con un turnover continuo tra passato e presente.
•
Mi è piaciuto molto questo stile che contemporaneamente ha dato la possibilità di tratteggiare una minuziosa caratterizzazione dei personaggi e sviluppare allo stesso tempo una storia da brividi che mi ha tenuto costantemente sulle spine.
•
John D. MacDonals è l'unico scrittore di #thriller ad aver vinto il National Book Award .
•
Bello mi è piaciuto davvero tantissimo.
Anzi stupendo!!!!
•
Un'altra bellissima proposta di @mattioli1885books .
Per chi come me ama la #letteraturaamericana questa c.e. ha delle chicche pazzesche !!
July 17, 2008
Almost a lesson in how to write a mystery. A group of diverse people trapped in a house during a hurricane. And murder is stalking them. Loved it.
March 23, 2022
Murder in the Wind, John D. MacDonald, 1956
My favorite quote: “Johnny Flagan would look over his glasses at you and grin wryly about his morning hangover and you would never notice that the grin did nothing to change the eyes. The eyes were small and brown and watchful and they could have been the noses of two bullets dimly seen in the cylinder when you look toward the muzzle of a gun.”
Notable characters: Bunny Hollis, a tennis bum; Betty Hollis, his wife, the heiress; Billy Torris, an escaped convict; Jean and Hal Dorn, a young married couple; Ginny Sherrel, a widow carrying her husband’s ashes; Steve Malden, an agent for something akin to the CIA; Hurricane Hilda, the deadly hurricane
Most memorable scene: For me, it was Bunny’s backstory — a uniquely told tale of squandered potential. John D. MacDonald seriously rocks at character development
Greatest strengths: The character development, of course! In Murder in the Wind, John D. MacDonald makes sure everyone has a story — and an interesting one at that. His character always feel very real
Standout achievements: In an era when female characters were often written as cardboard cutouts whose sole duty was to support their male counterparts, John D. MacDonald gives his women surprising strength. You see this not only in Murder in the Wind but in many of his books
Fun Facts: Murder in the Wind was John D. MacDonald’s eighteenth novel — and his third that year. Pffft. What a show-off …
Other media: N/A
What it taught me: This natural-disaster-meets-murder-meets-love-story really piles on the drama … and it’s great. Murder in the Wind proves two things: one, that a good story really can’t have too much tension, and two, John D. MacDonald knows how to write books with lots of tension
How it inspired me: In much the same way John D. MacDonald did in Murder in the Wind, my collaborator, Tamara Thorne, and I love the idea of locking up a group of strangers and slowly turning up the heat, so we’re putting our own spin on that concept with our current work-in-progress, Spite House. Ours has ghosts, though. Of course. And lots of twisted family secrets. Naturally …
Additional thoughts: I absolutely love old pulp fiction. Murder in the Wind (and anything else by John D. MacDonals) is one of the reasons why
Haunt me: alistaircross.com
Read Murder in the Wind: https://tinyurl.com/2p86yphb
My favorite quote: “Johnny Flagan would look over his glasses at you and grin wryly about his morning hangover and you would never notice that the grin did nothing to change the eyes. The eyes were small and brown and watchful and they could have been the noses of two bullets dimly seen in the cylinder when you look toward the muzzle of a gun.”
Notable characters: Bunny Hollis, a tennis bum; Betty Hollis, his wife, the heiress; Billy Torris, an escaped convict; Jean and Hal Dorn, a young married couple; Ginny Sherrel, a widow carrying her husband’s ashes; Steve Malden, an agent for something akin to the CIA; Hurricane Hilda, the deadly hurricane
Most memorable scene: For me, it was Bunny’s backstory — a uniquely told tale of squandered potential. John D. MacDonald seriously rocks at character development
Greatest strengths: The character development, of course! In Murder in the Wind, John D. MacDonald makes sure everyone has a story — and an interesting one at that. His character always feel very real
Standout achievements: In an era when female characters were often written as cardboard cutouts whose sole duty was to support their male counterparts, John D. MacDonald gives his women surprising strength. You see this not only in Murder in the Wind but in many of his books
Fun Facts: Murder in the Wind was John D. MacDonald’s eighteenth novel — and his third that year. Pffft. What a show-off …
Other media: N/A
What it taught me: This natural-disaster-meets-murder-meets-love-story really piles on the drama … and it’s great. Murder in the Wind proves two things: one, that a good story really can’t have too much tension, and two, John D. MacDonald knows how to write books with lots of tension
How it inspired me: In much the same way John D. MacDonald did in Murder in the Wind, my collaborator, Tamara Thorne, and I love the idea of locking up a group of strangers and slowly turning up the heat, so we’re putting our own spin on that concept with our current work-in-progress, Spite House. Ours has ghosts, though. Of course. And lots of twisted family secrets. Naturally …
Additional thoughts: I absolutely love old pulp fiction. Murder in the Wind (and anything else by John D. MacDonals) is one of the reasons why
Haunt me: alistaircross.com
Read Murder in the Wind: https://tinyurl.com/2p86yphb
January 25, 2023
If you like full blown, realistic characters in gritty situations, then JDM is for you. It doesn't matter which of his books you read. He always wrote characters that will stick with you long after you read the book. This book was an excellent character study, but not really one of my favorites. Not saying it's not good. It is good, and worth a read, just not one of MY favorites.
Bordertown Girl (the title novella of a two novella book) is probably my favorite as far as the non Travis McGee series books go. Other favorites are The Empty Trap, The Drowner (which is listed as one of the most intriguing and surprising mysteries of all time, in a recently published book that lists such things and explains why. I can't tell you why without spoiling the book for you. Nor can I think of the title of the book that the list is in--I'll update this review once I think of the title.). Other good ones are The Beach Girls, On the Run, Slam the Big Door, Where is Janice Gantry? . . .
The short story collection End of the Tiger and other stories has a short story in it called "The Straw Witch" that is one of my top three favorite short stories of all time. It is ingenious.
I would suggest trying any one of the Travis McGee books and one of the non Travis McGee books to get a feel for JDM. He was a strong influence on just about every one of the big name writers today. He wrote the introduction to Stephen King's book Night Shift . . . I believe just a few years before he died. He went in for a simple Gall bladder operation and never came out. The world lost a master storyteller. His works are dated, but humanity is always humanity and JDM had his "finger on the pulse" of the human experience. True to life characters in gritty situations.
Bordertown Girl (the title novella of a two novella book) is probably my favorite as far as the non Travis McGee series books go. Other favorites are The Empty Trap, The Drowner (which is listed as one of the most intriguing and surprising mysteries of all time, in a recently published book that lists such things and explains why. I can't tell you why without spoiling the book for you. Nor can I think of the title of the book that the list is in--I'll update this review once I think of the title.). Other good ones are The Beach Girls, On the Run, Slam the Big Door, Where is Janice Gantry? . . .
The short story collection End of the Tiger and other stories has a short story in it called "The Straw Witch" that is one of my top three favorite short stories of all time. It is ingenious.
I would suggest trying any one of the Travis McGee books and one of the non Travis McGee books to get a feel for JDM. He was a strong influence on just about every one of the big name writers today. He wrote the introduction to Stephen King's book Night Shift . . . I believe just a few years before he died. He went in for a simple Gall bladder operation and never came out. The world lost a master storyteller. His works are dated, but humanity is always humanity and JDM had his "finger on the pulse" of the human experience. True to life characters in gritty situations.
August 6, 2021
A lot of great stuff in this one but I'd have to recommend The Damned and Cry Hard, Cry Fast if someone wanted to read one of JDM's big-cast-of-characters-colliding-in-one-location stories. Unlike the other two novels, this book fails at maintaining narrative momentum. The story starts and stops, and starts and stops, and starts and stops again. You get the idea. (The Price of Murder could be accused having of the same problem but somehow MacDonald made it work that time.) The hurricane stuff is exquisitely done, but it's the characterizations that will probably stay with me longer. John D. MacDonald was a master.
August 11, 2023
Bello, mi ha tenuta con il fiato sospeso fino all’ultimo capitolo, dove però ahimè fa un capitombolo.
Struttura molto particolare e che inizialmente può risultare difficilmente confusionaria ma in realtà la storia va lentamente a prender forma. Così mentre i puntini si ricollegano, l’ansia cresce con una curva costante fino al finale. Bello ma, e qui a mio avviso lo scivolone, l’autore inserisce in poche righe un insulso momento romantico totalmente inutile e fuori luogo considerando tutto il resto del testo molto lontano dal genere.
Struttura molto particolare e che inizialmente può risultare difficilmente confusionaria ma in realtà la storia va lentamente a prender forma. Così mentre i puntini si ricollegano, l’ansia cresce con una curva costante fino al finale. Bello ma, e qui a mio avviso lo scivolone, l’autore inserisce in poche righe un insulso momento romantico totalmente inutile e fuori luogo considerando tutto il resto del testo molto lontano dal genere.
May 17, 2024
A friend sent this to me. I didn’t really know what to expect; I thought it would be a whodunit along the lines of “And Then There Were None.” But it wasn’t at all.
The story built very slowly, but the slow buildup paid off; by the end I was racing through the pages, thoroughly invested in the action.
More than anything, I admire the author’s technical competence. The descriptions, the details he shares on the characters’ backstories, the way he shifts effortlessly across multiple points of view, and the way he builds tension are masterful.
A very good but different type of read for me.
The story built very slowly, but the slow buildup paid off; by the end I was racing through the pages, thoroughly invested in the action.
More than anything, I admire the author’s technical competence. The descriptions, the details he shares on the characters’ backstories, the way he shifts effortlessly across multiple points of view, and the way he builds tension are masterful.
A very good but different type of read for me.
September 27, 2025
2.5
This wasn't what I was expecting. That's not always a bad thing, but some of this story was just kind of grim and pointless. It was not a murder mystery for sure, despite the title, blurb, cover, opening. A little over the first 100 pages, and I'm not exagerrating, is each chapter telling detailed stories about each characters lives. His writing style is excellent and some of the stories were interesting, but it gets too anthology feeling after so long. They finally come together and have some sudden and rather sensless tragedies, then it ends with a little cheesiness.
This wasn't what I was expecting. That's not always a bad thing, but some of this story was just kind of grim and pointless. It was not a murder mystery for sure, despite the title, blurb, cover, opening. A little over the first 100 pages, and I'm not exagerrating, is each chapter telling detailed stories about each characters lives. His writing style is excellent and some of the stories were interesting, but it gets too anthology feeling after so long. They finally come together and have some sudden and rather sensless tragedies, then it ends with a little cheesiness.
June 4, 2017
What happens when 13 random people on a highway in Florida during a hurricane are trapped in an abandoned house and hurricane turns into a Category 5. Books are seeds for movie scripts. This one must have been a forerunner for movies like "Crash". John D Macdonald wrote a description of the intensity and development of a hurricane before the invention of the Category ranking system for hurricanes 1-5.
December 15, 2018
It makes the fury and chaos of a hurricane real
At first the story is a bit confusing as a series of disconnected characters are introduced. Then it becomes a scene where the reader is almost a participant in the chaos of the storm. There are bad guys and good guys, and I’ll leave it to the reader to discover who comes through.
I wonder the extent to which MacDonald may have seen himself in the character Malden. Also he gives women surprisingly strong characters.
At first the story is a bit confusing as a series of disconnected characters are introduced. Then it becomes a scene where the reader is almost a participant in the chaos of the storm. There are bad guys and good guys, and I’ll leave it to the reader to discover who comes through.
I wonder the extent to which MacDonald may have seen himself in the character Malden. Also he gives women surprisingly strong characters.
July 7, 2022
É un romanzo dell'attesa. Ma che attesa!
L'evento da cui il titolo si risolve in un paio di pagine ma tutta la descrizione dei personaggi e dell'ambiente circostante nelle pagine precedenti é magistrale.
E un crescendo di tensione per quello che sta accadendo intorno ai personaggi ed e come se si sentisse nelle ossa quello che sta accadendo.
Lettura consigliata!
L'evento da cui il titolo si risolve in un paio di pagine ma tutta la descrizione dei personaggi e dell'ambiente circostante nelle pagine precedenti é magistrale.
E un crescendo di tensione per quello che sta accadendo intorno ai personaggi ed e come se si sentisse nelle ossa quello che sta accadendo.
Lettura consigliata!
February 21, 2023
Engrossing, gripping and well-paced, this is a prime example of why so many writers think highly of John D MacDonald. I read most of the Travis McGee when I was young, but only recently started reading his non-series novels. They are tougher, grittier and less romantic. This one I can recommend quite highly.
March 14, 2025
In questo libro c'è molto vento e poco assassinio: non è un giallo, infatti, anche se il titolo può trarre in inganno.
È, però, il racconto magistrale di un evento atmosferico catastrofico, e della reazione delle persone di fronte alla furia degli elementi. È anche un libro che insegna come delineare personaggi a tutto tondo credibilissimi e diversissimi tra loro, e come manipolare la lingua per rendere le descrizioni vive e palpabili. Unica micro sbavatura: l'intreccio delle storie parallele arriva oltre il 50% del libro. Ad ogni modo, una gran lettura. Attualissima.
È, però, il racconto magistrale di un evento atmosferico catastrofico, e della reazione delle persone di fronte alla furia degli elementi. È anche un libro che insegna come delineare personaggi a tutto tondo credibilissimi e diversissimi tra loro, e come manipolare la lingua per rendere le descrizioni vive e palpabili. Unica micro sbavatura: l'intreccio delle storie parallele arriva oltre il 50% del libro. Ad ogni modo, una gran lettura. Attualissima.
July 2, 2023
Early good work of a fine, fine author.
One of the early books of a truly great author. The only reason I gave it three stars is because you can see he's still working out his writing. But there are wonderful pieces and descriptions in this book. Worth reading:)
One of the early books of a truly great author. The only reason I gave it three stars is because you can see he's still working out his writing. But there are wonderful pieces and descriptions in this book. Worth reading:)
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