BARRIER ISLAND (1986) was John D. MacDonald's last novel, and
since he died that year, perhaps someone will know if it was
actually posthumous. I'd rank it about mid-level when
considered against all his books, but it makes a nice coda.
It's about real estate development on the Mississippi
(or at least I think that's where). A wheeler-dealer named
Tucker Loomis has pulled a scam where he made as if he'd
develop an island, but he knew the government was going to
claim it for conservation soon, and they'd have to pay him
off based on the value of the developed island, not its value
as a shifting lump of sand.
I don't know if people down south really have names like this
or if JDM just had a talent for them, but there are men in
the book named Pink, Boob, Bern, and Ez.
Bill
-- William Denton : Toronto, Canada : http://www.miskatonic.org/ : Caveat lector.
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