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On the Run
Sid Shanley couldn't stay in one place very long. He had to keep on the run, changing towns, changing jobs, changing women. He worked out the perfect setup--no attachments, no trails, no explanations. But now a girl has caught up with him. Her name was Paula--and a million dollars lay behind her strange invitation.
144 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1962
56 people are currently reading
174 people want to read
About the author
John D. MacDonald
566 books1,370 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 - 23 of 23 reviews
January 25, 2022
In addition to his legendary Travis McGee series, John D. MacDonald wrote two dozen standalone novels, many of them excellent. On The Run was one of his last few standalones before he primarily concentrated on McGee. First published in 1963, it is a classic crime novel about broken people and their paths crossing. The plot comes together a bit oddly as the characters come together.
Sid is the primary character, who had a crappy childhood, parents now deceased, and a grandfather who had to be long gone at this point. Sid had found his mark selling used cars and was quite successful at it with a trophy wife and a big dealership. Thing was, as he explains, this trophy wife cared about nothing but the attention she could get from displaying her voluptuous curves and eventually Sid’s attention wasn’t enough and she found attention in a motel room with a connected businessman. And, the thing about connected guys is that, when you rearrange their faces so thoroughly that even plastic surgery can’t save it, the connected guy isn’t going to forget and, for thirty months, gunmen across the South have been tracking Sid from town to town – always a few steps behind the man on the run. So when old grandpa -remember him – is on his deathbed and wants to find his two estranged grandsons, finding Sid isn’t exactly a walk in the park.
The heart of the story is the tender love affair Sid has with the grandfather’s nurse, a broken woman whose ex-husband is due to walk out of prison any day. A love affair with a man ostensibly on the run is not a walk in the park either, but the relationship between them offers deeper looks into the nature of their characters.
Once the story gets underway and there does indeed seem to be quite a lengthy buildup, it becomes clear that MacDonald has quietly given us another gem filled with fascinating characters.
Sid is the primary character, who had a crappy childhood, parents now deceased, and a grandfather who had to be long gone at this point. Sid had found his mark selling used cars and was quite successful at it with a trophy wife and a big dealership. Thing was, as he explains, this trophy wife cared about nothing but the attention she could get from displaying her voluptuous curves and eventually Sid’s attention wasn’t enough and she found attention in a motel room with a connected businessman. And, the thing about connected guys is that, when you rearrange their faces so thoroughly that even plastic surgery can’t save it, the connected guy isn’t going to forget and, for thirty months, gunmen across the South have been tracking Sid from town to town – always a few steps behind the man on the run. So when old grandpa -remember him – is on his deathbed and wants to find his two estranged grandsons, finding Sid isn’t exactly a walk in the park.
The heart of the story is the tender love affair Sid has with the grandfather’s nurse, a broken woman whose ex-husband is due to walk out of prison any day. A love affair with a man ostensibly on the run is not a walk in the park either, but the relationship between them offers deeper looks into the nature of their characters.
Once the story gets underway and there does indeed seem to be quite a lengthy buildup, it becomes clear that MacDonald has quietly given us another gem filled with fascinating characters.
October 3, 2015
It's a John D. MacDonald book so there is some great writing here: the descriptions of Sid's MO while on the run and how he gets away, the scene with George and Boardman when Gorge sells out Sid, and Sid's interrogation of George, nearly hanging him in the process, and the executioner at work is also nicely done, but overall this is really not one of JDMs better books. The bulk of it, originally published as a long story in Cosmopolitan, is a poorly written romance, and the frame added later has more edge but can't cover for the romantic melodrama.
October 19, 2010
Some of MacDonald's early pulp novels are among his best work, but not this one. Some nice passages and scenes, and a fascinating portrait of the contract killer, but the love relationship of the protagonist is analyzed endlessly to little purpose, and the resolution of the story is disappointing
May 28, 2025
Good Plot
Real good plot: guy hiding from the mob, his own brother wants to turn him in.
Incredible snatch-defeat-from-the-jaws-of-victory by JDM with his usual fucked-up Love at First Sight. Page after page after page, whole chapters, of nothing but flowery metaphors about Pro-and-hoetagonist's one-of-a-kind Love for each other. Some whole New Kind of Love. Such a New Kind of Love that it fills probably more than 25% of the book. Oh, and now and then the Pro-and-Hoe Banter Wittily about their brand-new Kind of Love.
This one is from 1963. I think JDM's getting worse. Losing his mind. Or maybe it's just that the Age of Aquariums is about to begin and he's found LSD (writers and such, they always have the inside track), or maybe he went to an early Love-in.
I should say that the ending is pretty lively and doesn't disappoint.
Anyway, he shoulda been hanged. I mean really, can even women read this stuff without barfing? Come on, honest? I doubt it.
It is blatant fraud that JDM's books aren't in the Women's section, along with cookbooks, diet books, astrology books, and picture books of Hollywood and Bollywood Stars.
Real good plot: guy hiding from the mob, his own brother wants to turn him in.
Incredible snatch-defeat-from-the-jaws-of-victory by JDM with his usual fucked-up Love at First Sight. Page after page after page, whole chapters, of nothing but flowery metaphors about Pro-and-hoetagonist's one-of-a-kind Love for each other. Some whole New Kind of Love. Such a New Kind of Love that it fills probably more than 25% of the book. Oh, and now and then the Pro-and-Hoe Banter Wittily about their brand-new Kind of Love.
This one is from 1963. I think JDM's getting worse. Losing his mind. Or maybe it's just that the Age of Aquariums is about to begin and he's found LSD (writers and such, they always have the inside track), or maybe he went to an early Love-in.
I should say that the ending is pretty lively and doesn't disappoint.
Anyway, he shoulda been hanged. I mean really, can even women read this stuff without barfing? Come on, honest? I doubt it.
It is blatant fraud that JDM's books aren't in the Women's section, along with cookbooks, diet books, astrology books, and picture books of Hollywood and Bollywood Stars.
May 31, 2025
Sid is on the run and broken
George is his brother, who’s even more broken and bad and they haven’t seen each other in decades.
Grandpa wants to see them both before he dies. Grandpa is worth 2 million.
Paula is married to an ex con, grandpas nurse, lusty, koo koo for coco puffs and in love with Sid, who is violent towards her as soon as they meet. (Written in 62, tropes of Noir )
10 pages later Sid and Paula fall in love. Paula goes on and on into obsession.
Sid and Paula have sex in a car and the writing is beautiful.
Then
Sid tries to kill George because George sold Sid out to a man Sid accidentally scarred.
Sid hangs George by a tie to get information out of him.
Paula sees this and tells herself Sid was just getting things out of his system.
One paragraph later Paula tells Sid she’s pregnant by him.
Then the hired killer who’s a stamp officianado comes to town.
It’s a quick and absurd and red meat noir from JDM, who could make the ingredients for a pound cake read like a love letter from your soul mate.
George is his brother, who’s even more broken and bad and they haven’t seen each other in decades.
Grandpa wants to see them both before he dies. Grandpa is worth 2 million.
Paula is married to an ex con, grandpas nurse, lusty, koo koo for coco puffs and in love with Sid, who is violent towards her as soon as they meet. (Written in 62, tropes of Noir )
10 pages later Sid and Paula fall in love. Paula goes on and on into obsession.
Sid and Paula have sex in a car and the writing is beautiful.
Then
Sid tries to kill George because George sold Sid out to a man Sid accidentally scarred.
Sid hangs George by a tie to get information out of him.
Paula sees this and tells herself Sid was just getting things out of his system.
One paragraph later Paula tells Sid she’s pregnant by him.
Then the hired killer who’s a stamp officianado comes to town.
It’s a quick and absurd and red meat noir from JDM, who could make the ingredients for a pound cake read like a love letter from your soul mate.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 12, 2016
I love fun, happy-go-lucky stories of any kind. Despite that, one of my top three favorite authors is the consistently morose MacDonald. This book well fits the MacDonald run of nearly 80 books.
I believe this is my second time reading this book, though I have no memory of this story at all. If I read it , it was about 30 years ago.
'On the Run' is a tragic story of people dying, being hunted toward death, sadistic hitmen, etc, etc. Happy people are not to be found in this book. Not unusual in a MacDonald tale. So, if you're days are sad and gloomy, MacDonald's books may not be the best to pick up.
The writing is typical MacDonald: Strong and blunt. Though, in this case he seems to be writing in the short form. The interaction between the male and female, seems to me, to be way too fast. The female is described as one who might rush in, which is likely MacDonald's reasoning. Still, she seemed too desperate. This part of the story well mirrors the book I read before this, 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' where Bond seems to also fall far too fast for a lady. Not only does it makes the person falling in love unstable, it makes the other characters seem the same for accepting the romance.
An exceptional part of the book is MacDonald's ability to separate the voice of the characters. Dialogue through out is outstanding. The plot is linear and as the pages dwindle, you know all are about to converge. How they converge is a savvy writing and unexpected.
I plan to read more MacDonald this year that would have been his 100th birthday.
Bottom line: I recommend this book. 7 out of ten points.
I believe this is my second time reading this book, though I have no memory of this story at all. If I read it , it was about 30 years ago.
'On the Run' is a tragic story of people dying, being hunted toward death, sadistic hitmen, etc, etc. Happy people are not to be found in this book. Not unusual in a MacDonald tale. So, if you're days are sad and gloomy, MacDonald's books may not be the best to pick up.
The writing is typical MacDonald: Strong and blunt. Though, in this case he seems to be writing in the short form. The interaction between the male and female, seems to me, to be way too fast. The female is described as one who might rush in, which is likely MacDonald's reasoning. Still, she seemed too desperate. This part of the story well mirrors the book I read before this, 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' where Bond seems to also fall far too fast for a lady. Not only does it makes the person falling in love unstable, it makes the other characters seem the same for accepting the romance.
An exceptional part of the book is MacDonald's ability to separate the voice of the characters. Dialogue through out is outstanding. The plot is linear and as the pages dwindle, you know all are about to converge. How they converge is a savvy writing and unexpected.
I plan to read more MacDonald this year that would have been his 100th birthday.
Bottom line: I recommend this book. 7 out of ten points.
December 9, 2009
It's amazing how much story MacDonald manages to cram into 144 pages, and what's more, that this limitation did not seem to constrain anything. This wasn't a plot-driven rocket sled--there's a real feeling of character, between the paranoid-to-the-point-of-being-feral Sid, the truly detestable brother George, and the assassin strangely obsessed with philately.
The relatively intimate plot is a pleasant change; today's thrillers seem to revolve around earth-shaking events or plots, and in comparison the simple story of a man on the run becomes fresh.
The relatively intimate plot is a pleasant change; today's thrillers seem to revolve around earth-shaking events or plots, and in comparison the simple story of a man on the run becomes fresh.
July 27, 2020
This was a bit of a stinker. The romance and mystery don't mesh so well here, and the story seems cobbled together. A very minor work. Some good descriptions, but not enough to carry this novella (140 pages). Of the 50 or so JDM books that I've read, this is the weakest.
May 11, 2010
Two brothers reunite to see if they get some of their long lost grandfather's millions. This one went a little over the top with the love story but the brutal ending compensated nicely.
August 4, 2015
Dated language that is easily forgiven, and such a grasp of the human animal.
January 11, 2015
10 jan 15, saturday morning, 4:35 a.m. e.s.t.
#22 from macdonald for me. the reviews...should i or shouldn't i? read it i mean. last story from macdonald: Where is Janice Gantry?
on the run, (1963) john d macdonald, a shorter version of this novel appeared in cosmopolitan under the title "where the body lies"
story begins:
in his dreams there was light and color, remembered faces and old accusations, and in his dreams his voice seemed to go on and on, explaining, justifying himself to skeptics.
but he would come out of the dreams, out of a remembered litheness, back into a body ninety-two years old, to the hush of a house of illness. he knew his impatience was irrational. the body had always healed itself in time. sickness had always been temporary. but this business of dying seemed to involve so much waiting.
okey dokey then, as the good doctor said (a box of kleenex, 1968), onward and upward.
the storyline
story opens, 92-year-old millionaire tom brower hires an investigator, adam fergasson, to find his two orphaned grandsons one 34, the older 40, before he dies. one grandson, sidney shanley, now going by the name sid wells, is hiding from a mobster, jerry wain, who sid disfigured after catching jerry in bed with his wife thelma carr.
a note on the narration
story is told multiple-character 3rd-person point of view...starts out with tom brower as 3rd-person narrator...chapter 2 & 3 switches to sid well. chapter 4 is from george shanley's p.o.v. and in this chapter, there is a small section, a paragraph, from claude boardman's p.o.v. one chapter is told through the p.o.v. of the hit-man, "the executioner" establishing his credentials. after that chapter the p.o.v. moves from tom, to george, to sid, to the hit-man.
time place scene setting
1962: third-person 92-year-old narrator recalls the summertime of 1884 when he was 14
*story opens mid-summer
*the residence of tom brower
*unit 9, gateway courts, home of sidney shanley
*trade-way motors, where sid works, in houston, texas
*#92, the houston house, where paula stays overnight
*a beer joint...sid goes to think
*george's office in the walton building, san diego
*new york presbyterian...where paula met jud
*the houston airport
*the hotel, jacksonville beach, where sid caught thelma with jerry
*bolton, new york...north of syracuse, where tom brower lives
*the story follows sid/paula from houston to bolton, new york through
*texarkana, little rock
*a roadhouse on route 5 between albany & schnectady
characters major minor peripheral name-only real-famous
*tom brower: 3rd-person narrator, our hero is a 92-year-old man, bedridden, a millionaire...worth two and a half million
*paula lettinger: late twenties, has some onandaga indian blood, is a nurse to the 3rd-person narrator, had been married, the marriage was annulled
*the ormand boy...who climbed a tree and stared over the fence at paula
*jud, the man to whom paula was married, five years in prison, is getting out next week, judson heiler
*jane weese, housekeeper to tom brower
*a man, *adam fergasson, investigator hired by brower to find his two grandsons, sidney and george, the older of the two
*paula's paternal grandmother, onandaga indian blood...married a lettinger,
*jerry wain: mobster...disfigured by sidney after sidney caught him in bed with his wife
*sidney martin shanley: 34-year-old, one of two grandsons of tom brower, the younger of the two...going now by the name sid wells and living in houston, texas, selling cars at trade-way motors, where he is lot manager. when he was 28, he married thelma carr, 25 at the time
*a young mechanic, injured in a car bomb
*his wife
*george shanley: older brother of sidney, 40-year-old grandson of tom brower. he is involved with the mob in san diego...is willing to turn in his brother for the $5,000 finder's fee offered by jerry wain
*thelma carr: former wife of sidney shanley, she is a hustler
*friends or employees of jerry wain
*dr. ward marriner: tom's doc
*jud...someone coming from dannemora, which must be a prison in new york, judson
*scobie: man who works with sid wells/sidney shanley at the car lot in houston
*vern "burnsie" burns: another co-worker of sid's
*a rancher...potential buyer at car lot
*joselito: laborer at the car lot
*mondrian? to do with music?
*a young couple...a portly couple...two men came along (houston house)
*margaret, deceased wife of tom brower
*alicia, mother of sid and george, tom's daughter...died...not stated but the implication is from illness
*god, lincoln, peter lorre, sylvia sydney, mona lisa, john smith, mitty, as in "mitty land"...which is what? that story? secret life of walter mitty? trotsky, miss dexedrine, jesus, sonny liston
*clyde shanley, the old man...sid/george's father...died in a work place accident in youngstown, pennsylvania
*another woman, hilda...the old man took up with her after the boys' mother died
*uncles...with whom hilda took up with after the old man died
*lieutenant ben todds...sid/korea
*wife, daugthers, social buddies...or jerry wain
*two men has sneaked in...and tried to do sid in
*a kid...firemen
*sad frank lesca...san diego mobster with whom george is associated
*cappy miller...mitz, the girl...liz and the four kids...people george knows
*claude boardman: mob figure, san diego
*sylvia, a 20-year-old slav...george is diddling her
*"t.k. hollister" name that sid wells registers under at a hotel near the airport
*two silly bastards...who visited george, looking for information
*the executioner: "eldon bertold" also proprietor and sole employee of the harbor stamp company...a hit man who collects stamps
a.k.a. "k. jones" & "j. wells hefton" he wants 12-5 to do the job, make it look like an accident, more, small town, more still
*a man came walking
*lanti's wife, bernajean
*1953 birmingham...1957 miami...1958 michigan...other 'accident' murders of the hit man
*1942 colonel in command of the outfit that eldon bertold was a part
*agents for the reich...eleven men and one woman, previous hits during the war
*silvana, a lieutenant, touches base with bertold after the war, 1946, in troy, new york
*a man named kelly in mexico city...1st peace-time hit of bertold
*crowds
*abner keogh, minneapolis murder...a woman:
*hazel vanichek, 31, eyewitness to the keogh murder, allowed to live
*richard paris, 19
*a couple who always had 3 or 4 kids...took in equals more money foster home of sidney
*owner-manager of a second-rate motel
*one of my guys is sitting there holding a trench knife
*hundreds of naked men
*ormie gerner...paula's fist kiss
*a married sister in perth, australia, suzanne and three boys, paula's relations
*a cousin in montana, frank, more of paula's relations
*a few summer tourists
*an aunt of jane weese
*a very small dirty little man
*davie wintergreen, keeps the grounds for tom brower
*casey stoker: mob figure. george calls
*t.c. a girl sent by some guy george calls to go to him and service him in his room...and it turns out she has a story of her own, a story within the story...macdonald does this, not as much in this story, but this character is one instance
*a stunt man, husband
*a three-year-old, joy
*the mother
*the old man in the gas station
*"morgan brooks"...the name sid will use to meet paula in minneapolis
*randolph ward, attorney for tom brower
*two people from the office, a notary...ward brings to brower residence
*arthritic town clerk, mr. brildy
*deborah pettingill: bolton's unofficial town historian
*stockham, perndell, kipp, ormand, brower...names of owners of old homes in bolton, new york
*mary ormand
*del barney, a part-time taxi driver in bolton
*psychologist up there...a sleepy desk clerk...the woman (a nurse)...captain lemon on the bureau of criminal investigation, state police new york
*sam gates, cororner/doctor, bolton, new york
*a trooper
update, finished, 10 jan 15, saturday evening, 7:43 p.m. e.s.t.
good story. i read a different story than at least one two-star reviewer. the story is more than a failed romance, a wet hankie failure. macdonald mixes up the p.o.v. narration enough, recorded somewhat above, to persuade me. besides, the mechanic was not killed...he was injured severely...lost some limbs...and sid gave the man and his wife his...whatever, insurance check...establishing a likeability for the character of sid. a chapter (or was it two?) of the story is told through the p.o.v. of "the executioner" establishing him as such and even presenting that character as "likeable" but i'm a veteran as he is, where he got his "start" killing people. so your mileage may differ. the character of paula is strong enough to give most feminists pause...although she too has her "weak" moments.
a quote from the story
team effort is the stagnation of the race.
#22 from macdonald for me. the reviews...should i or shouldn't i? read it i mean. last story from macdonald: Where is Janice Gantry?
on the run, (1963) john d macdonald, a shorter version of this novel appeared in cosmopolitan under the title "where the body lies"
story begins:
in his dreams there was light and color, remembered faces and old accusations, and in his dreams his voice seemed to go on and on, explaining, justifying himself to skeptics.
but he would come out of the dreams, out of a remembered litheness, back into a body ninety-two years old, to the hush of a house of illness. he knew his impatience was irrational. the body had always healed itself in time. sickness had always been temporary. but this business of dying seemed to involve so much waiting.
okey dokey then, as the good doctor said (a box of kleenex, 1968), onward and upward.
the storyline
story opens, 92-year-old millionaire tom brower hires an investigator, adam fergasson, to find his two orphaned grandsons one 34, the older 40, before he dies. one grandson, sidney shanley, now going by the name sid wells, is hiding from a mobster, jerry wain, who sid disfigured after catching jerry in bed with his wife thelma carr.
a note on the narration
story is told multiple-character 3rd-person point of view...starts out with tom brower as 3rd-person narrator...chapter 2 & 3 switches to sid well. chapter 4 is from george shanley's p.o.v. and in this chapter, there is a small section, a paragraph, from claude boardman's p.o.v. one chapter is told through the p.o.v. of the hit-man, "the executioner" establishing his credentials. after that chapter the p.o.v. moves from tom, to george, to sid, to the hit-man.
time place scene setting
1962: third-person 92-year-old narrator recalls the summertime of 1884 when he was 14
*story opens mid-summer
*the residence of tom brower
*unit 9, gateway courts, home of sidney shanley
*trade-way motors, where sid works, in houston, texas
*#92, the houston house, where paula stays overnight
*a beer joint...sid goes to think
*george's office in the walton building, san diego
*new york presbyterian...where paula met jud
*the houston airport
*the hotel, jacksonville beach, where sid caught thelma with jerry
*bolton, new york...north of syracuse, where tom brower lives
*the story follows sid/paula from houston to bolton, new york through
*texarkana, little rock
*a roadhouse on route 5 between albany & schnectady
characters major minor peripheral name-only real-famous
*tom brower: 3rd-person narrator, our hero is a 92-year-old man, bedridden, a millionaire...worth two and a half million
*paula lettinger: late twenties, has some onandaga indian blood, is a nurse to the 3rd-person narrator, had been married, the marriage was annulled
*the ormand boy...who climbed a tree and stared over the fence at paula
*jud, the man to whom paula was married, five years in prison, is getting out next week, judson heiler
*jane weese, housekeeper to tom brower
*a man, *adam fergasson, investigator hired by brower to find his two grandsons, sidney and george, the older of the two
*paula's paternal grandmother, onandaga indian blood...married a lettinger,
*jerry wain: mobster...disfigured by sidney after sidney caught him in bed with his wife
*sidney martin shanley: 34-year-old, one of two grandsons of tom brower, the younger of the two...going now by the name sid wells and living in houston, texas, selling cars at trade-way motors, where he is lot manager. when he was 28, he married thelma carr, 25 at the time
*a young mechanic, injured in a car bomb
*his wife
*george shanley: older brother of sidney, 40-year-old grandson of tom brower. he is involved with the mob in san diego...is willing to turn in his brother for the $5,000 finder's fee offered by jerry wain
*thelma carr: former wife of sidney shanley, she is a hustler
*friends or employees of jerry wain
*dr. ward marriner: tom's doc
*jud...someone coming from dannemora, which must be a prison in new york, judson
*scobie: man who works with sid wells/sidney shanley at the car lot in houston
*vern "burnsie" burns: another co-worker of sid's
*a rancher...potential buyer at car lot
*joselito: laborer at the car lot
*mondrian? to do with music?
*a young couple...a portly couple...two men came along (houston house)
*margaret, deceased wife of tom brower
*alicia, mother of sid and george, tom's daughter...died...not stated but the implication is from illness
*god, lincoln, peter lorre, sylvia sydney, mona lisa, john smith, mitty, as in "mitty land"...which is what? that story? secret life of walter mitty? trotsky, miss dexedrine, jesus, sonny liston
*clyde shanley, the old man...sid/george's father...died in a work place accident in youngstown, pennsylvania
*another woman, hilda...the old man took up with her after the boys' mother died
*uncles...with whom hilda took up with after the old man died
*lieutenant ben todds...sid/korea
*wife, daugthers, social buddies...or jerry wain
*two men has sneaked in...and tried to do sid in
*a kid...firemen
*sad frank lesca...san diego mobster with whom george is associated
*cappy miller...mitz, the girl...liz and the four kids...people george knows
*claude boardman: mob figure, san diego
*sylvia, a 20-year-old slav...george is diddling her
*"t.k. hollister" name that sid wells registers under at a hotel near the airport
*two silly bastards...who visited george, looking for information
*the executioner: "eldon bertold" also proprietor and sole employee of the harbor stamp company...a hit man who collects stamps
a.k.a. "k. jones" & "j. wells hefton" he wants 12-5 to do the job, make it look like an accident, more, small town, more still
*a man came walking
*lanti's wife, bernajean
*1953 birmingham...1957 miami...1958 michigan...other 'accident' murders of the hit man
*1942 colonel in command of the outfit that eldon bertold was a part
*agents for the reich...eleven men and one woman, previous hits during the war
*silvana, a lieutenant, touches base with bertold after the war, 1946, in troy, new york
*a man named kelly in mexico city...1st peace-time hit of bertold
*crowds
*abner keogh, minneapolis murder...a woman:
*hazel vanichek, 31, eyewitness to the keogh murder, allowed to live
*richard paris, 19
*a couple who always had 3 or 4 kids...took in equals more money foster home of sidney
*owner-manager of a second-rate motel
*one of my guys is sitting there holding a trench knife
*hundreds of naked men
*ormie gerner...paula's fist kiss
*a married sister in perth, australia, suzanne and three boys, paula's relations
*a cousin in montana, frank, more of paula's relations
*a few summer tourists
*an aunt of jane weese
*a very small dirty little man
*davie wintergreen, keeps the grounds for tom brower
*casey stoker: mob figure. george calls
*t.c. a girl sent by some guy george calls to go to him and service him in his room...and it turns out she has a story of her own, a story within the story...macdonald does this, not as much in this story, but this character is one instance
*a stunt man, husband
*a three-year-old, joy
*the mother
*the old man in the gas station
*"morgan brooks"...the name sid will use to meet paula in minneapolis
*randolph ward, attorney for tom brower
*two people from the office, a notary...ward brings to brower residence
*arthritic town clerk, mr. brildy
*deborah pettingill: bolton's unofficial town historian
*stockham, perndell, kipp, ormand, brower...names of owners of old homes in bolton, new york
*mary ormand
*del barney, a part-time taxi driver in bolton
*psychologist up there...a sleepy desk clerk...the woman (a nurse)...captain lemon on the bureau of criminal investigation, state police new york
*sam gates, cororner/doctor, bolton, new york
*a trooper
update, finished, 10 jan 15, saturday evening, 7:43 p.m. e.s.t.
good story. i read a different story than at least one two-star reviewer. the story is more than a failed romance, a wet hankie failure. macdonald mixes up the p.o.v. narration enough, recorded somewhat above, to persuade me. besides, the mechanic was not killed...he was injured severely...lost some limbs...and sid gave the man and his wife his...whatever, insurance check...establishing a likeability for the character of sid. a chapter (or was it two?) of the story is told through the p.o.v. of "the executioner" establishing him as such and even presenting that character as "likeable" but i'm a veteran as he is, where he got his "start" killing people. so your mileage may differ. the character of paula is strong enough to give most feminists pause...although she too has her "weak" moments.
a quote from the story
team effort is the stagnation of the race.
December 24, 2025
A 1963 thriller about 92-year-old terminally ill millionaire Tom Brower, who hires an investigator to locate his two estranged adult grandsons, Sid and George Shanley, to leave them his $1.5 million fortune, which apparently was a princely sum back then. Sid is on the run from the mob and George is a low-level mobster who wants his brother dead.
A florid Harlequin romance develops between the millionaire's nurse Paula and Sid, who are both emotional cripples trying to recover from failed marriages. To complicate things, the nurse's former husband Jud is expected to be released from prison soon, and a professional hitman is headed toward the millionaire's house to kill Sid for the mob.
The climax is suspenseful, but it wasn't enough to salvage this sloppy, unconvincing, and oddly sentimental pulp novel. This is one of MacDonald's later standalone novels, so I'm surprised how mediocre it is. But it's a quick read (224 pages), easy to finish in about three hours.
A florid Harlequin romance develops between the millionaire's nurse Paula and Sid, who are both emotional cripples trying to recover from failed marriages. To complicate things, the nurse's former husband Jud is expected to be released from prison soon, and a professional hitman is headed toward the millionaire's house to kill Sid for the mob.
The climax is suspenseful, but it wasn't enough to salvage this sloppy, unconvincing, and oddly sentimental pulp novel. This is one of MacDonald's later standalone novels, so I'm surprised how mediocre it is. But it's a quick read (224 pages), easy to finish in about three hours.
July 31, 2018
Copyright 1963. That explains the cover. But, don't let it put you off. Excellent book and I loved it. It would be hard to replicate the circumstances of this story in today's society and advancement in technology, but the depth of characters in this novel are timeless. MacDonald gets into the head of a handful of the main characters with a third person point of view, but it doesn't make it hard to read or follow. I like a story where you can pull for the hero and see him work toward succeeding. The leading lady is also a hero in this novel. At 144 pages, it is a few hours of reading enjoyment.
October 16, 2020
My advice is not to read these old JDM books back to back and you will enjoy them more. The bones of this story are good. One has to allow that it was a different time, which makes it fun but.. The relationships between men and women can be a bit much. So overall, while not my favorite, its worth the time it takes to read.
November 10, 2021
I real good story. Let's face it, John D was loaded with talent.
September 3, 2022
Good old time author easily overlooked. I gave it only 3+stars because of the basic plot with old man ready to die selecting heir(s) was also done in “April Evil”
October 13, 2023
Terrible, absurd ending to a promising noir romance.
December 31, 2024
The dialogue is a bit melodramatic in the best 1960s Cosmo magazine kinda way, but it's short enough for the effed up ending to more than make up for it.
January 18, 2013
John D. MacDonald (1916-1986) was a prolific writer of noir and detective fiction, most memorably of the Travis McGee novels, each with a color in the title. “On The Run”, from 1963, is one of his stand-alone novels.
A dying rich man, Tom Brower, wants to make amends to his missing grandsons, Sid and George Shanley, now adults. He sends his nurse Paula Lettinger to lure Sid back. There are complications: Sid is on the run from a mobster he beat and disfigured who keeps sending assassins after him. Sid and Paula drive back and fall in love. The situation comes to a head when George Shanley, the nurse's ex-husband, and an assassin all show up at the rich man's house at once. This being a noir novel, not all the good guys live, not all the bad ones die, and some things are left unresolved.
MacDonald was a marvelously competent writer but aside from Sid and Paula falling in love, there isn't a lot that happens in the book. That could be acceptable, but the book has aged badly on the relationships between the sexes. The couple meet and Sid opens their mating dance with the beginnings of rape, stops and, of course, not only does Paula let it go, she is aroused. Later, she has a long conversation with the grandfather where the grandfather suggests she ignore Sid's emotional immaturity and keep shoveling love and caring to him.
I see little in MacDonald's description of Sid Shanley that would make him a candidate for that kind of devotion. I don't claim to be particularly advanced in my understanding of relationships but in my humble opinion, any adult woman with a scrap of self respect would have shaken Sid's hand, sent him on his way, and looked for a mature person who respects women more.
For the lack of sympathetic characters, little action and the 'ewww' factor in the relationship, I give this two stars.
A dying rich man, Tom Brower, wants to make amends to his missing grandsons, Sid and George Shanley, now adults. He sends his nurse Paula Lettinger to lure Sid back. There are complications: Sid is on the run from a mobster he beat and disfigured who keeps sending assassins after him. Sid and Paula drive back and fall in love. The situation comes to a head when George Shanley, the nurse's ex-husband, and an assassin all show up at the rich man's house at once. This being a noir novel, not all the good guys live, not all the bad ones die, and some things are left unresolved.
MacDonald was a marvelously competent writer but aside from Sid and Paula falling in love, there isn't a lot that happens in the book. That could be acceptable, but the book has aged badly on the relationships between the sexes. The couple meet and Sid opens their mating dance with the beginnings of rape, stops and, of course, not only does Paula let it go, she is aroused. Later, she has a long conversation with the grandfather where the grandfather suggests she ignore Sid's emotional immaturity and keep shoveling love and caring to him.
I see little in MacDonald's description of Sid Shanley that would make him a candidate for that kind of devotion. I don't claim to be particularly advanced in my understanding of relationships but in my humble opinion, any adult woman with a scrap of self respect would have shaken Sid's hand, sent him on his way, and looked for a mature person who respects women more.
For the lack of sympathetic characters, little action and the 'ewww' factor in the relationship, I give this two stars.
September 28, 2013
It moved a little slow at first and though it was sad the ending was pretty good.
July 21, 2016
I am really enjoying his writing.
July 27, 2010
MacDonald is also the master of the desperate character on the run.
Read
March 28, 2019Avoid this one. It's junk. (Note: John D. MacDonald wrote many excellent novels and only a very few bad ones.)
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