Continuing on through John D. MacDonald's books, I just
finished CLEMMIE
(Fawcett Gold Medal, 1958), and I think it's the weakest of
his I've read. Craig Fitz is a 40-year-old
mid-level-executive, and his wife and daughters go away for
the summer. He mopes around, then goes on a drunk with a guy
from work, they get into some trouble, he picks up a
23-year-old popsie and they have a wild weekend. It's obvious
from the start that she's an amoral man-eater who'll use him
up and drop him. Fitz isn't just not super-competent, or
average, he's a loser. But not an interesting loser, just a
weak man who should know better.
There are some well-done scenes, such as a long drunk and a
grim sobering-up, and a cringe-inducing job interview. I was
reminded of Jason Starr: a man has trouble at work, trouble
with women and drink, and starts down the tubes (and shows up
at work with bruises he can't adequately explain) but Starr
does it much better. Craig Fitz's decline isn't gripping,
especially when you know McGee would see right through the
woman.
Period detail: a man is described as looking like Richard
Nixon, but blond. A phone call to England takes a while to
place and then there's a loud hum on the line as the faint
voice fades in and out.
I'm really enjoying rereading the McGee books and going
through JDM's other stuff, but I've hit a clinker. There
aren't many at all in his large body of work, though. He's
solid.
Bill
-- William Denton : Toronto, Canada : http://www.miskatonic.org/ : Caveat lector.
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