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One Monday We Killed Them All
Step by step, Dwight McAran built a wall of vicious hate around himself. It was easy. He was a man who could slap one woman to death because she loved him, and hum a love song to another while he raped her. Sure, he did some time in jail. He sat in a cell and simmered for five long years until his hate hardened to a core of white-hot evil, a core of stark, steaming evil designed to explode in a fury of vengeance. Revenge was all he craved - and a plan was what he had - a plan just crazy enough to work....
192 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1961
88 people are currently reading
574 people want to read
About the author
John D. MacDonald
570 books1,382 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 8, 2023
One Monday We Killed Them All, first published in 1961, is a tight crime thriller. The story is a stand-off between a cop and a robber. Detective Lieutenant Fenn Hilyer ( what a name?) is a by-the-book hardworking police detective with a no-good brother-in-law, Dwight McAran, who is out for revenge for the five years he spent on a manslaughter charge for beating a woman to death, a heiress who was slumming line a sailor on endless shore leave. No one in town wants him back, not even the hoodlums, no one that is except for Meg, Hilyer’s wife who has a soft spot for her brother and can’t believe he would do anything bad.
When McAran has served every day of his five years and is released, there’s no parole officer to report to and Hilyer is stuck with this vicious man in his house with the two of them snarling at each other. This is a solid terse story with there is a clear demarcation between good and evil with no confusion there.
When McAran has served every day of his five years and is released, there’s no parole officer to report to and Hilyer is stuck with this vicious man in his house with the two of them snarling at each other. This is a solid terse story with there is a clear demarcation between good and evil with no confusion there.
May 29, 2023
06/2021
From 1961
A very full - John D musing on legal ethics and everything else smart as he does - drama about a police lieutenant with a criminal brother in law. Ends with a violent bank robbery. On a Monday.
From 1961
A very full - John D musing on legal ethics and everything else smart as he does - drama about a police lieutenant with a criminal brother in law. Ends with a violent bank robbery. On a Monday.
December 15, 2019
Monday is a good day for killing bad guys instead of guzzling coffee and looking at emails in your cubicle. I first read this book somewhere back in the 80's and couldn't remember any of it except the gist of the plot. This is one of MacDonald's stand-alones from around 1961 before he introduced Travis McGee to the world. There are long lectures on sociology that became a McGee trademark. Unfortunately, here they sometimes hamper the momentum of this book. Still, it's a good novel and has plenty of suspense once you get past the halfway point. Another caveat is the protagonist's wife doesn't represent well. But I'll leave that for readers to see for themselves.
May 27, 2025
Romance Novel, Wrapped in a Love Story, Inside Two Paper Covers
Pros
1. Good cop story
2. Hero cop has a lot of good tricks
3. Good lively ending, but ...
Cons
1. Long harangue about how much the hero loves his wife ... zzzzzzz
2. Too much description throughout the story
3. But worst of all, the ending is botched by tons of Nature-boy bullshit describing the scene of the action.
Why does he so often try to be all things to all people? Doesn't he know his market? Sometimes he tries to shoehorn a Love Story into a Crime Story and sometimes he tries to sneak in some Comedy.
Did you ever see those Lethal Weapon movies? Same thing. Decent crime movies ruined by Mel Gibson's "making faces" and trying to be funny every now and then. At least a movie can't go Nature Boy on you - no director would show you ten solid minutes of a romantic sunset or some breath-taking mountain vista.
Pros
1. Good cop story
2. Hero cop has a lot of good tricks
3. Good lively ending, but ...
Cons
1. Long harangue about how much the hero loves his wife ... zzzzzzz
2. Too much description throughout the story
3. But worst of all, the ending is botched by tons of Nature-boy bullshit describing the scene of the action.
Why does he so often try to be all things to all people? Doesn't he know his market? Sometimes he tries to shoehorn a Love Story into a Crime Story and sometimes he tries to sneak in some Comedy.
Did you ever see those Lethal Weapon movies? Same thing. Decent crime movies ruined by Mel Gibson's "making faces" and trying to be funny every now and then. At least a movie can't go Nature Boy on you - no director would show you ten solid minutes of a romantic sunset or some breath-taking mountain vista.
September 29, 2019
This is basically a retelling of The Executioners (aka Cape Fear). The storyline is obvious along with the changes. Instead of a lawyer, his wife, and daughter vs. a psychopath, it is a police detective, his wife, and two children up against a psychotic brother in-law. It is just as good as the original.
April 14, 2021
Coming for the hardboiled crime story, stay for the rich human insights.
On one level, John D. MacDonald's 1961 novel is simply a crackerjack tale of three people: an honest but realistic small-town Florida cop, his sociopath-criminal brother-in-law, and the wife and sister between them who believes Dwight McAran who simply believes her brother from the hill country never got a fair chance from the world to play life straight. When McAran gets out of prison after five years, Fenn Hillyer and his wife Meg take him in; Meg believing he'll go straight, Fenn knowing better but also knowing that even a killer is family. Eventually Meg has to make a choice between the two, and her choice could wind up getting both men — and a lot of other people — killed.
On another level, this is a story which depends on people seeing one another for what they really are, and ONE MONDAY WE KILLED TEM ALL is full of people who have lost their illusions, are in the process of losing them ... or never had them. And MacDonald has the reputation he has because of his extra gear for this sort of insight:
“All prison ever does for most men like McAran is prime them and fuse them like a bomb. You won’t know where or how that bomb is going to go off.”
"Why, if a man knows he’s doing the right thing, it doesn’t matter to him that any cheap member of the Common Council from the mayor on down can spit right smack in his face and walk away smiling. It doesn’t matter he’s never owned a new car and never will, and he can’t afford a pair of shoelaces except on the years that end with an odd number. It doesn’t matter at all that he’s stuck forever in a dirty little city, because they let him carry a gun and a badge and they let him defend the rights of mankind."
"As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a policeman. Most small boys get over this. I didn’t. I don’t know why it should have been this way with me. Most men who become cops do so when other dreams become unattainable."
"Such trivia as the careful timing of mutual orgasm becomes a ponderously serious thing, whereas all true lovers know that the times of love are like an endless shelf of books."
"I can walk down a busy city street and pick out the ex-cons who have done long time with a good chance of being right, but oddly enough some of the ones I pick out will be career enlisted personnel in civilian dress. They have lost the normal mobility and elasticity of the muscles of the face, the expressive muscles. There is a restriction of normal eye movement, a greater dependence on peripheral vision. The range of the conversational voice is reduced. There is a restriction of gesture and a reluctance to move quickly. Somewhat the same effect can be achieved as a parlor game with the normal person by asking someone to balance a book on their head and then continue to walk, sit, talk, drink."
"I spent the most miserable years of my life back in the hills, darling, but it wasn’t the fault of the hills.”
"I have learned that in the management and manipulation of human beings, control can best be exercised by responding to a question with a question."
"You seem to think warmth is weakness, my friend. It makes you a bit of a prig. It starves your wife of her proper due, and it isolates you from your kids. And somehow I don’t think it makes you any better in your job.”
"The hunt appeals to an area which lies below the heart of man."
"I’m going to kill you. I have to tell you first, so you’ll know.”
"The world moves, and news fades as quickly as the retinal image of a flash bulb. But Johnny Hooper has observed that while it was going on, it was like being trapped in a burning fireworks factory along with ten thousand starving ducks, after having been rolled through an acre of poison ivy."
And there's a lot more of these, mostly a lot longer, and every single one is pure prescient pleasure. That's John D. MacDonald's gift to the world, and we should receive it with ceaseless grace.
On one level, John D. MacDonald's 1961 novel is simply a crackerjack tale of three people: an honest but realistic small-town Florida cop, his sociopath-criminal brother-in-law, and the wife and sister between them who believes Dwight McAran who simply believes her brother from the hill country never got a fair chance from the world to play life straight. When McAran gets out of prison after five years, Fenn Hillyer and his wife Meg take him in; Meg believing he'll go straight, Fenn knowing better but also knowing that even a killer is family. Eventually Meg has to make a choice between the two, and her choice could wind up getting both men — and a lot of other people — killed.
On another level, this is a story which depends on people seeing one another for what they really are, and ONE MONDAY WE KILLED TEM ALL is full of people who have lost their illusions, are in the process of losing them ... or never had them. And MacDonald has the reputation he has because of his extra gear for this sort of insight:
“All prison ever does for most men like McAran is prime them and fuse them like a bomb. You won’t know where or how that bomb is going to go off.”
"Why, if a man knows he’s doing the right thing, it doesn’t matter to him that any cheap member of the Common Council from the mayor on down can spit right smack in his face and walk away smiling. It doesn’t matter he’s never owned a new car and never will, and he can’t afford a pair of shoelaces except on the years that end with an odd number. It doesn’t matter at all that he’s stuck forever in a dirty little city, because they let him carry a gun and a badge and they let him defend the rights of mankind."
"As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a policeman. Most small boys get over this. I didn’t. I don’t know why it should have been this way with me. Most men who become cops do so when other dreams become unattainable."
"Such trivia as the careful timing of mutual orgasm becomes a ponderously serious thing, whereas all true lovers know that the times of love are like an endless shelf of books."
"I can walk down a busy city street and pick out the ex-cons who have done long time with a good chance of being right, but oddly enough some of the ones I pick out will be career enlisted personnel in civilian dress. They have lost the normal mobility and elasticity of the muscles of the face, the expressive muscles. There is a restriction of normal eye movement, a greater dependence on peripheral vision. The range of the conversational voice is reduced. There is a restriction of gesture and a reluctance to move quickly. Somewhat the same effect can be achieved as a parlor game with the normal person by asking someone to balance a book on their head and then continue to walk, sit, talk, drink."
"I spent the most miserable years of my life back in the hills, darling, but it wasn’t the fault of the hills.”
"I have learned that in the management and manipulation of human beings, control can best be exercised by responding to a question with a question."
"You seem to think warmth is weakness, my friend. It makes you a bit of a prig. It starves your wife of her proper due, and it isolates you from your kids. And somehow I don’t think it makes you any better in your job.”
"The hunt appeals to an area which lies below the heart of man."
"I’m going to kill you. I have to tell you first, so you’ll know.”
"The world moves, and news fades as quickly as the retinal image of a flash bulb. But Johnny Hooper has observed that while it was going on, it was like being trapped in a burning fireworks factory along with ten thousand starving ducks, after having been rolled through an acre of poison ivy."
And there's a lot more of these, mostly a lot longer, and every single one is pure prescient pleasure. That's John D. MacDonald's gift to the world, and we should receive it with ceaseless grace.
January 14, 2014
Besides his well-known "Travis McGee" series, John D. MacDonald wrote a large number of 'stand-alone' mysteries. This is one of the first of his I read.
I like the way JDM writes. It takes a bit of getting used too---and of course, some of his books are better than others. They are getting hard to find now, but imho the search will reward most readers.
I do not recall the entire plot---I read these years ago before Goodreads even existed. And it is dated---no cell-phones, no computers.
But the reason I personally read older mysteries is---human nature does NOT change. The mysteries of JDM feature hardboiled crime; violence, excitement and some humor.
The books are getting harder to find now--some probably have not been reprinted. I urge anyone who has not tried MacDonald to try a couple of his mysteries. If you do not like his writing style--well, they are short--you only risked a little time. But if like many readers, you enjoy his books, you'll have a whole new group of mystery/thrillers to seek out.
Read before GR so dates are unknown.
I like the way JDM writes. It takes a bit of getting used too---and of course, some of his books are better than others. They are getting hard to find now, but imho the search will reward most readers.
I do not recall the entire plot---I read these years ago before Goodreads even existed. And it is dated---no cell-phones, no computers.
But the reason I personally read older mysteries is---human nature does NOT change. The mysteries of JDM feature hardboiled crime; violence, excitement and some humor.
The books are getting harder to find now--some probably have not been reprinted. I urge anyone who has not tried MacDonald to try a couple of his mysteries. If you do not like his writing style--well, they are short--you only risked a little time. But if like many readers, you enjoy his books, you'll have a whole new group of mystery/thrillers to seek out.
Read before GR so dates are unknown.
July 12, 2020
My first MacDonald book. I was curious because this was referenced in "If it Bleeds" (thank you Stephen King!). I was really impressed by MacDonald. The social commentary and law enforcement insights were still relevant today. The story was good but I feel it got bogged down with *too* many extra stories/information the narrator provided. I've already purchased 5 or 6 other MacDonald books and look forward to diving in.
January 15, 2009
Books like this are the reason I read JM. This is an absolute page-turner, yet JM fits myriad brilliant observations of human nature and the grey-area realities of law enforcement, criminality, love and politics into this masterfully paced, suspenseful tale with true-to-life, multi-dimensional characters.
September 12, 2024
En una ciudad en decadencia en el noreste americano, un detective de la policía local accede a recibir en su casa a su cuñado, recién salido de la prisión. Desde el principio se deduce que el sujeto es un tipo violento sin redención posible, pero la hermana del policía esta cegada por el amor que le tiene a su hermano.
En poco tiempo se rebelan las intenciones reales del ex presidiario, el cual le tiene un odio profundo a las personas que lo condenaron y arranca entonces una carrera contra el tiempo para salvaguardar las vidas de dichas personas.
He leído sólo un par de libros de John D. MacDonald y ambos, en mi opinion, son excelentes. La serie de Travis McGee está en mi lista de próximas lecturas.
Muy recomendable.
En poco tiempo se rebelan las intenciones reales del ex presidiario, el cual le tiene un odio profundo a las personas que lo condenaron y arranca entonces una carrera contra el tiempo para salvaguardar las vidas de dichas personas.
He leído sólo un par de libros de John D. MacDonald y ambos, en mi opinion, son excelentes. La serie de Travis McGee está en mi lista de próximas lecturas.
Muy recomendable.
March 17, 2019
The title is the best part of this book. The nail-biting, bloody climax is the 2nd. The long, bloated monologues about cop-life and society, however, are easily the worst. This is not MacDonald's tightest thriller.
Want to read
May 6, 2010Michael McKean just recommended this book on Twitter. Greatest title of all time.
November 2, 2015
Good example of JDM's twisted sense of justice.
One caveat: It was on a Monday, but they didn't kill them all...not right then.
One caveat: It was on a Monday, but they didn't kill them all...not right then.
October 22, 2015
Hard, bitter MacDonald.
December 31, 2019
MacDonald is reaching his stride as a story teller. As always his stories are about explorations of the human psyche and soul. This is the story of a policeman and his wife. She grew up in the hill country and after the death of her parents raised her half brother. It turns out he was an evil soul and he ended up convicted of manslaughter after beating a banker’s daughter to death.
The book starts at the time he is released from prison. His brother in law, the police detective is picking him up from penitentiary at his release. He is to come home to live with his sister and the policeman. The policeman accepts that obligation out of respect for his wife who can’t believe her brother is a bad man. He served his whole sentence so wasn’t on parole. He had sworn to get revenge on the town that had convicted him and sent him to prison.
The siser wouldn’t accept the evil intentions of her brother.
Through the eyes of the ploiceman we see that the brother continues to engage in violent and antisocial acts, even raping a young woman in the privacy of her own home.
The story evolves to the plot her brother and acquaintances he made in prison plot major mayhem. They stage a prison riot and arrange the escape of 4 convicts during the riot. They then go to hid out in the hill country.
The story revolves around the detectives efforts to apprehend his brother in law and his wife’s ambivalence about her brother’s nature.
The subplot is the evolution of the sister’s personality into being more objective about her brother, and the detective’s efforts to become a warmer person.
While the excitement is well handled and described the more lasting impression on me was the impact it had on the personalities of the characters.
The book starts at the time he is released from prison. His brother in law, the police detective is picking him up from penitentiary at his release. He is to come home to live with his sister and the policeman. The policeman accepts that obligation out of respect for his wife who can’t believe her brother is a bad man. He served his whole sentence so wasn’t on parole. He had sworn to get revenge on the town that had convicted him and sent him to prison.
The siser wouldn’t accept the evil intentions of her brother.
Through the eyes of the ploiceman we see that the brother continues to engage in violent and antisocial acts, even raping a young woman in the privacy of her own home.
The story evolves to the plot her brother and acquaintances he made in prison plot major mayhem. They stage a prison riot and arrange the escape of 4 convicts during the riot. They then go to hid out in the hill country.
The story revolves around the detectives efforts to apprehend his brother in law and his wife’s ambivalence about her brother’s nature.
The subplot is the evolution of the sister’s personality into being more objective about her brother, and the detective’s efforts to become a warmer person.
While the excitement is well handled and described the more lasting impression on me was the impact it had on the personalities of the characters.
November 14, 2025
An entertaining standalone suspense thriller from 1961 that seems to repurpose a scenario from MacDonald's earlier novel, The Executioners, which was adapted twice into popular movies, both called Cape Fear.
Protagonist and first-person narrator Fenn Hillyer, a small-town cop, has an idyllic marriage to his wife Meg except for one thing: her brother Dwight McAran, a brutal killer who's being released from prison after a five-year sentence for manslaughter.
After McAran is released, Hillyer drives him to his home in Brook City, a controlled city that has its own mobster and a tolerable level of corruption. Hillyer knows McAran is trouble and wants him out, but his wife Meg insists that McAran live with them until he's able to get back on his feet. That fateful decision leads to this tense scenario and all the subsequent action (including a rape, a prison break, and a violent standoff with the convicts at their hill country hideout) in this short novel (189 pages).
MacDonald's writing is always lively and informative (particularly about guns, used cars, and small-town politics), but sometimes this book feels clunky. He has a habit of providing a couple pages of description whenever he introduces a new character, and he'll deliver the backstory for that character in a ten- or twenty-page flashback. Surprised that a pro like MacDonald chose to go with a first-person narrator, which is too limiting. He should have used a third person narrator, alternating perspective from Hillyer to Meg using free indirect discourse.
Despite the problem in narration, MacDonald's writing stands apart due to its shocking violence, crisp dialogue, and biting social commentary (which expanded to an obnoxious level once he embarked on the Travis McGee mystery series). There's plenty to enjoy here, like a good B movie, befitting the novel's provocative title.
Protagonist and first-person narrator Fenn Hillyer, a small-town cop, has an idyllic marriage to his wife Meg except for one thing: her brother Dwight McAran, a brutal killer who's being released from prison after a five-year sentence for manslaughter.
After McAran is released, Hillyer drives him to his home in Brook City, a controlled city that has its own mobster and a tolerable level of corruption. Hillyer knows McAran is trouble and wants him out, but his wife Meg insists that McAran live with them until he's able to get back on his feet. That fateful decision leads to this tense scenario and all the subsequent action (including a rape, a prison break, and a violent standoff with the convicts at their hill country hideout) in this short novel (189 pages).
MacDonald's writing is always lively and informative (particularly about guns, used cars, and small-town politics), but sometimes this book feels clunky. He has a habit of providing a couple pages of description whenever he introduces a new character, and he'll deliver the backstory for that character in a ten- or twenty-page flashback. Surprised that a pro like MacDonald chose to go with a first-person narrator, which is too limiting. He should have used a third person narrator, alternating perspective from Hillyer to Meg using free indirect discourse.
Despite the problem in narration, MacDonald's writing stands apart due to its shocking violence, crisp dialogue, and biting social commentary (which expanded to an obnoxious level once he embarked on the Travis McGee mystery series). There's plenty to enjoy here, like a good B movie, befitting the novel's provocative title.
March 27, 2019
What a fantastic title! I could go around reciting it all day if I didn't get so many strange looks.
As for the book itself, we get another solid piece of entertainment from the late, great John D. MacDonald. The thing that struck me about this one is how MacDonald was able to have one psychopathic villain after another after another in his novels and yet somehow he still makes each of them seem fresh. What do they call repetition when it's exciting instead of crushingly dull? Oh, yes, that's right. They call it music.
As for the book itself, we get another solid piece of entertainment from the late, great John D. MacDonald. The thing that struck me about this one is how MacDonald was able to have one psychopathic villain after another after another in his novels and yet somehow he still makes each of them seem fresh. What do they call repetition when it's exciting instead of crushingly dull? Oh, yes, that's right. They call it music.
July 12, 2020
Wow. The description of the author at the end of the book describes him as the master of "hard-boiled crime and suspense" and that is an accurate description of this book.
This story is a gritty police procedural. It's a bit like the beginning of "Brave New World" where the world is described is essentially varying tones of gray with occasional red (but never enough to dispel the gray).
It's a great story with good pacing. I'll have to add more novels from this author to my TBR pile (which is already staggering under its own weight).
This story is a gritty police procedural. It's a bit like the beginning of "Brave New World" where the world is described is essentially varying tones of gray with occasional red (but never enough to dispel the gray).
It's a great story with good pacing. I'll have to add more novels from this author to my TBR pile (which is already staggering under its own weight).
August 17, 2023
again and again...
how he writes stories that defy appreciation but leave you wanting more of them -or him - I don't know. and then he throws in the daunting challenge of writing the entire tale in a deep South dialect with an even deeper back hills cadence that almost ends up purely phonetic and you as the reader tag along without missin' a lick...l go ahead and jump in. this guy is all deep end....
how he writes stories that defy appreciation but leave you wanting more of them -or him - I don't know. and then he throws in the daunting challenge of writing the entire tale in a deep South dialect with an even deeper back hills cadence that almost ends up purely phonetic and you as the reader tag along without missin' a lick...l go ahead and jump in. this guy is all deep end....
April 30, 2025
Oh man, this makes me want to read all of the other non-Travis McGee books by MacDonald. There’s only about a jillion.
This will always be a fave, though, because it’s mentioned by MacDonald super fan Stephen King in “If It Bleeds.” It’s a simple plot about a good guy lawman vs a bad guy brother-in-law on a slow-motion collision course to a messy showdown in the mountains. Full of some of the best character descriptions I’ve ever read and plenty of JDM’s social musings.
Pulpy fun.
This will always be a fave, though, because it’s mentioned by MacDonald super fan Stephen King in “If It Bleeds.” It’s a simple plot about a good guy lawman vs a bad guy brother-in-law on a slow-motion collision course to a messy showdown in the mountains. Full of some of the best character descriptions I’ve ever read and plenty of JDM’s social musings.
Pulpy fun.
January 27, 2019
exceptional. My mom read these books and I never picked one up until now. Of course I probably wouldn't have had the same reaction as a teenager. MacDonald is intelligent and can turn ideas and situations into words that reach out to me. It is more than a mystery book and thriller. It is well thought out with a lot of insights into the human emotion.
July 16, 2023
An oddly relevant book to modern society. This is, at its core, an examination of bad men and people who insist on giving them the benefit of the doubt, even when they have proven themselves unworthy of it. Starts up a bit slow but midway through the roller coaster hits the top and you go flying through the rest.
September 19, 2023
Super fun read. Grabbed this due to a mention in Mr Branigan's Phone. Great character development and setting, story was a little thin. After thinking on it a bit, realized that maybe this isn't a hard-boiled crime/thriller novel with some affectionate character development. Maybe it's a love story with hardboiled thriller character development. Damn what a cool book.
October 26, 2023
Love It
I'm a big fan of John D. MacDonald and this novel is very good, to say the least. I've read more of the Travis McGee series than I have his stand alone work, but I've been gradually working through the latter as well and One Monday We Killed Them All is a fine read, very well written with great characterizations and slow build suspense. Highly recommended.
I'm a big fan of John D. MacDonald and this novel is very good, to say the least. I've read more of the Travis McGee series than I have his stand alone work, but I've been gradually working through the latter as well and One Monday We Killed Them All is a fine read, very well written with great characterizations and slow build suspense. Highly recommended.
July 19, 2024
Let’s just get this out of the way up front; this is no Travis McGee novel. Most of the social commentary and well-plotted mystery are replaced with family drama and a plot worthy of an episode of Dragnet, complete with the little wife that just doesn’t understand the difficult job men have in keeping society safe from scum. As far as the title, I don’t mean to be bloodthirsty, but where is the truth in advertising? This just reeks of a publisher taking submissions from authors and then assigning some hack in the office to come up with the most salacious titles possible trying to drive sales of average stories. Skip it.
August 30, 2024
More of a character portrait than a thriller, but there's plenty of tension in this book's pages.
A cop's brother-in-law is released from prison and plots vengeance on everyone involved in his sentencing.
Not as much mayhem as I imagined, though. This is more the cop's story than the chaos's.
A cop's brother-in-law is released from prison and plots vengeance on everyone involved in his sentencing.
Not as much mayhem as I imagined, though. This is more the cop's story than the chaos's.
July 27, 2020
An enjoyable page-turner that is somewhat derailed by the actions/reactions of the protagonist's wife.
The "emotional" ending is a mess. Can't really give this 4 stars, although most of the writing is quite good.
The "emotional" ending is a mess. Can't really give this 4 stars, although most of the writing is quite good.
April 29, 2024
The kind of slow slow build that JDM excels at. Not boring slow, tense slow. Its all gonna happen isnt it. And when it does, blammo.
Complicated "cops and robbers" and marragies. Some beautiful descriptions and dialogue.
Easily one of the best of his "Non McGee" books.
Complicated "cops and robbers" and marragies. Some beautiful descriptions and dialogue.
Easily one of the best of his "Non McGee" books.
March 17, 2020
John D. MacDonald never disappoints. This was a good one, written in 1961. Characters with depth and a bad guy you love to hate.
June 3, 2020
Just wow. Tight, intelligent prose that never feels dated. Great title too.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews