Darker Than Amber: A Travis McGee Novel, Book 7

Meyer too gentile

Lots of Meyer love.

I liked Petkoff's voice and reading style for McGee, somewhat understated which was nice. He didn't try and tough guy it up thank god.

However, I was a bit disappointed with Petkoff's take on Meyer. I love Meyer and I've had his voice in my head for a long time. MacDonald clearly wrote Meyer as a mensch. He's a retiree in Ft. Lauderdale for pete's sake. Petkoff doesn't capture that, way too gentile.

If you haven't read or listened to McGee, you're in for a treat. I've been waiting a long time for a good commercial production of the McGee novels.

I'm a hardcore McGee fan. My monitor background is a 1964 view of Bahia Mar where I can point out, to anyone who cares (i.e. no one) where slip F-18 is.

These are classic mystery stories written at a time when $10,000.00 was equal to $100,000.00 in today dollars. Also men and women had different rolls. If you take that into the balance of the story, you can enjoy the mystery, and how Trav solves each problem he encounters. I have started with book one, and have now completed book 7. They all get better I have found. Just have to get used to some of the dated language and interplay between characters. It's not 2012, but late 1960's. I still find the stories really well written and have enough mystery and strange turns of events to make each Travis McGee story a gem.

I first read most of John D McDonald's novels at first printing. This book was a fun read then. Today, I listened to the audio version and enjoyed it for some of the same reasons, but I found any references to cost, technology, and the relative values of the time most interesting. To say I was impressed with the plot/story line, writing today as much as I did in the 60's would be misleading. JOHN D. just doesn't match up to current mystery writers like Vince Flynn, Tom Clancy, or even Clive Cussler. However, this is still a fun read.

Great John D story

Travis is the King

I have been waiting so long for these to come to Audible. The original cassettes with Darrin McGavin will be hard to replace but the narrator does a great job and THANK YOU for getting these available!

I love this series. I listen to longer books as a rule, but these make great breaks between the longer stretches. I can count on them for pure entertainment with just a touch of philosophy thrown in for grazing contact with reality. Great narration helps too.

I have been waiting for a long time to dive into these books. I didn’t expect Audible to do this but I am so glad they did. With work and college, my recreational reading is pretty much nonexistent these days. I listen to audiobooks at work and this has been the summer of Travis McGee for me. Every one of the stories does exactly what they are supposed to do.

The Narrator was also a very good choice. He doesn’t actually talk Florida to well but he handles characters very distinctly.

One of the best Travis McGee novels and the first where McGee's friend Meyer takes a prominent role in solving the mystery.

Without giving away any of the plot the action takes off immediately with a beautiful girl falling almost into McGee's lap.And of course, she's in need of his help.

With plenty of plot turns and craftiness, McGee uses his charm, bulk and libido to come to solve the situation he's uncovered and to right the wrongs, but not before he's damaged, emotionally and physically.

Although written in 1966, the story has aged well, and is well worth the price of admission.

Petkoff's reading is masterful, as we've come to expect.

What can I say?! I really enjoyed this one, and it was really odd to see old McGee going through an entire adventure without winding up in bed with ANY of the female characters! He didn't even get shot or stabbed this time around either! But it was still a great story!