A Bullet for Cinderella (John D. MacDonald, 1955)

The disc jockey stopped and whistled softly. "How about that, folks? They give me this stuff to read and sometimes I read it and don't even listen. But that's a hot one. That one can grab you. Bodies under concrete. Cars in lakes. Suicides that aren't suicides. A red-headed gal and an ex-Marine. Man, that's a crazy mixed-up deal they've got down there in Hillston."

I'm not the biggest fan of urban noir. To be honest, I cannot even remember anything of that genre - not written by masters like Cain, Thompson and Woolrich - that I haven't read recently. But I do have one memorable now, it's MacDonald's Cinderella.

It starts phenomenally and continues steadily, building up suspense and mystery as it gradually adds characters and events from the past. Everything works, from the tight and smartly evolving plot to superior characterisation. Our guy is not a typical anti-hero driven by greed. He's just another messed-up kid trying to get his shit together after spending some rather unpleasant time in a Korean war prisoners' camp. Written beautifully, using pretty poetic yet straightforward language (see 'Unconscious' section).

Excellent stuff, but just when it was supposed to switch into the final gear, I was a bit disappointed. When our hero unravels the mystery, I was sure there was another twist coming (like Toni and Fitz scheming some shit together), but it turns out that Tal's conclusions were, in fact, correct, so the last third of the novel turns into a more or less standard thriller.

4/5

Facts:

Hero:
Tal Howard, an ex-soldier returning from the Korean War and trying to find himself again.

Location: 
Hillston - "It's more town than city. There isn't much of a transient population. Everybody seems to know everybody. It's a pretty good place." Probably fictitious since I cannot find it on Google Maps.

Body count: 

6

Dames: 
Our titular heroine Antoinette Rasi, aka Toni Raselle, aka Cindy, aka Cinderella - Feral look. Gypsy look. A mature woman so alive she made the others in the room look two dimensional. [Fatale]

Ruth is Toni's opposite -  "This was a for-keeps girl... This was a girl you could hurt, a girl who would demand and deserve utter loyalty." So, obviously, she's a pretty dull and single-dimensional character. I'd guess MacDonald used her to exemplify Tal's divided and messed-up psyche. Or something.

There's another one from the past, but we don't get a chance to know her better. Which is unfortunate because Eloise apparently used to be a "lush, petulant, amoral and discontented wife".

Blackouts: 
He gets ambushed and knocked off: "Pain blossomed red behind my eyes, a skyrocket roaring was in my ears and I felt myself fall into darkness. A few pages later, he faints again when being interrogated.
 

Title: 
Cool sounding but not very accurate. Also, a pretty big fucking spoiler.
 
Cover: 
Unusual because it doesn't depict a specific scene from the book. Instead, it portrays an imaginary one from the past with young Toni sitting in front of the miserable river shack where she grew up. Cute and already sexy in an innocent way, but already hinting at the "feral, gipsy" look. Although not taking place in the present, it makes a lot of sense because it explains why Toni became a "fancy whore" later (see the 'cool lines' section below). 

The Sniper mark over it spoils everything. It's just ridiculous. Stuff like this belongs to spy thrillers... But I need to give credit to the publisher for deciding to keep the original cover art (made by George Gross) and not using some generic one.

When searching for the cover picture to post here, I came across this amazing blog that posts exclusively covers of MacDonald books. Great idea, fantastic content and really cool and interesting comments. Highly recommended! And I just couldn't resist borrowing one for Cinderella - it's one of the coolest I've ever seen, and it really does capture the mood (and actual scene) of the book.

Cool lines:  
"Maybe you admitted too fast that it was money, Tal. I am noted for my fondness for money. It pleases me. I like the feel of it and the smell of it and the look of it. I'm nuts about it. I like all I can get, maybe because I spent so much time without any of it. A psychiatrist friend told me it was my basic drive. I can't ever have too much." [Fatale]

The Empty Copper Sea (John D. MacDonald, 1979)

In all due respect to Mr MacDonald, this is hardly his best work. To be perfectly honest and blunt, it's pretty fucking bad.

McGee and his sidekick Meyer are working on restoring (in their words, it is "salvaging") the reputation of their friend, sailor Van Harder, who has been framed by some sneaky asshole millionaire during the staging of his death. On their arrival in a small coastal town in Florida, they soon run into a usual bunch of protagonists: a wife (widow?), a beautiful Scandinavian missing secretary (mistress?), a local policeman, a night club piano player, a loser addicted to crystal meth, a bit mental millionaire's assistant and his beautiful sister, etc, etc. All entangled in a dark and sinister mystery which will be revealed within a closed family circle. Not really a whodunnit type of revelation, more like a moral and (way too!) melodramatic type of crap.

Not too original, but then again, it doesn't really need to be. Many great books follow this formulaic template, and many of them manage to craft a good story and provide a satisfying reading. Not this one, more things are misfiring here than actually functioning.

There's no suspense built up, almost no corpses right until the end. Which is understandable since our two amateurish detectives don't really stir things up when they arrive. They just wander around and keep interviewing locals without much solid progress. McGee does manage to score with a piano player, and they all get drunk on occasion, and there's this pathetic meth addict who gets killed in a car accident, but none of these episodes have any real impact on the main story.

Pretty dull stuff, but still bearable. Looks like MacDonald realised that sad fact himself, so at the beginning of the 10th chapter, everything changes. But, unfortunately, for the worse. Instead of concentrating on the plot twists and shifting up the pace/suspense gear, our hero falls in love!?!? So, fast forward a few chapters, and his case is still stuck, but his chosen one is already "one of the truly great, all-time, record-breaking, incomparable girls," and they spend quality time dreaming on the sand dunes, swimming, lighting fires, talking, and kissing...

I also had a problem with the narration. Language is good and fluent, and it's well written and all, but everything just takes so fucking loooong. There are pages and chapters without action or dialogue. Way too many tedious descriptions and unnecessary subplots, especially those related to (doctor of economy!) Meyer are hard to digest. Not to mention and bitch again about the "romantic" crap.

Not sure how to feel about this one. I was looking forward to reading McGee book again, and this may be a reason why I felt so disappointed and even cheated. I need to remind myself that this was the 17th of the series and that MacDonald was more than sixty years old when he wrote it. So let's not hold it against him too much. Maybe he simply got a bit bored with his hero and/or allowed his senile romantic fantasies about beautiful and perfect beach girls to creep into the story more than they should.

2/5

Facts:

Hero:
Travis McGee

"You're not private detective, then?"
"Me? No. Those people have to have licences and be bonded and carry insurance and report to the law people whenever they go. They charge fees and have office phones and all that. I just do favors for friends. Sort of salvage work."

Location:
Timber Bay, Florida

Body count: 
4, at some point, even 5, but McGee and Meyer successfully manage to revive an old man from the dead after a car accident.

Dames:
Julia Lawless (wife), Kristen Peterson (mistress), Billy Jean Bailey (piano lady) and of course, beautiful and perfect Gretel Howard.

Blackouts: 
One. And pretty pathetic one since McGee passes out while drinking.

Title: 
It does appear word by word in the book, but like everything else, it takes a few paragraphs to actually describe its meaning. In short, McGee is so saddened by his beloved's death that it causes him to see the sea in a coppery colour. There also appears to be a biblical explanation for this, but I'll leave it to Wikipedia to elaborate.

Cover:
One of those incredibly dull ones where the names of the author and main protagonist are printed using a larger font than the title itself. I can see no connection between the photograph and the story, so my guess would be that the publisher was willing to spend as little as possible on the artwork and simply purchased the rights to a random stock photo. At least they were decent enough to state an author. He is Langdon Clay, and this is his website, where I was actually able to find this photograph - it's the first one of the gallery titled "Cars, New York City area, 1974 - 1975". You see, it truly has nothing to do with Florida or this book.

Cool lines: 
None really. Unless you are into romantic novels...