I get the feeling, reading this book, that Mr.Schutze would much rather be writing a novel. That's certainly how this book reads.

From the very first page, which starts with a detailed analysis of Lisa Connely's room, complete with thoughts going through her head as she lay "naked on this bed", it sounds like information Mr.Schutze certainly wouldn't have been privy to.

Despite the fact that all the facts are presented at a level of detail that implies the author was almost there (or that he had an incredible research team), the trials themselves, the parts that *do* have official transcripts are barely glossed over (some of them are barely mentionned at all). Odd, don't you think?

The turning point for me was during the description of the murder itself. Mr.Schutze claims to tell us what Bobby Kent was thinking mere seconds before he was murdered. Pardon me? How the heck would he know? Is he psychic? This part made the needle on my BS-meter break off!

All this does nothing for the author's credibility. I found myself disbelieving much of what was said after that, or at least keeping in mind that a severe bias can be put in a true fiction book, specially considering alleged theories of motives, plans, etc ("Fatal Vision", anyone?).

I didn't want a novel. I didn't want an account of facts that used theories and fiction to fill in the gaps (as I suspect they did). I wanted facts. There are no signs in the book that the author talked with any of the defendants, nor their family. There's no way you'll make me believe that all the conversations that were quoted as if they were recorded could actually be remembered verbatim, as the author implies. Add to this incidents that have nothing to do with the case (like the arcade bit), but are only used to make the defendants appear more worthy of our scorn, and a strong bias is made even more obvious.

I wanted a true crime book. I got a combination between a non-fiction book and a novel. I was strongly disapointed.

Strangely enough, just one day after finishing this book, I caught the American Justice special on A&E. There were many contradictions with the book. How ironic that Mr. Schutze was interviewed on the TV show.

I did get some facts from this book (the reason I gave it more than one star), but I did have to separate the wheat from the chaff.

I am sort of in the middle on this book. I find the story absolutely fascinating...apparently I am not the only one, they are filming a movie on it right now. But the actual narration and author comments seem a little off base to me.

Many times in the book, we read of the characters of the book as affluent, normal, high school kids. But in truth, the group described here is in no way representative of the typical high schooler, especially ten years ago. Prostitution rings, beating up retarded people, filming pornography, dropping out of school, and finally, immediately joining in on a casual murder--none of this is representative of the typical teenager.

At least from what is written in the book , the truth stands that these are kids joined together by the fact that they have rejected typical adolescence and have chosen to be bad kids. More than once, Bobby is seen as the one with the brightest future ahead of him simply because he didn't drop out of high school.

It's a sad, tragic story. All these questions run through your mind as you read it. How come murder came before any real attempt to confront? Why did Bobby beat up his best friend who he obviously cared about on a constant basis? The answers are hinted at but never really fully explored in this book. Another good question is how much of Marty's erratic behavior was Bobby's influence and how much was just him?

This is an interesting, compelling book. But it is not a story of high school revenge. When this murder took place, it had been quite a while since any of the people involved had been in high school. This is really a story of group of people who have seemed to go out of their way to make the worst decisions possible in shaping their lives...and taking others.

The murder of Bobby Kent is a good example of what happens when parents do not perform the principal job of parenting; raise children to be responsible adults. None of the parents, including Kent's, can escape the blame for the death of Bobby Kent.

This is a well written book that maintains an objective stance when describing the events that led to Kent's murder. Though Kent did not deserve to die, his years of bullying Marty Puccio obviously pushed Puccio to a deep hatred that was brought to the surface by his friends and the right place and time.

The most disgusting part of the book was the domination of Ali, Bobby, and Lisa over their parents. I cannot understand any parent who allows a child to disrespect them and make decisions as if they were providing the income to pay the bills.

An update for this story was recently provided by A&E's 'American Justice'TV series. Heather got out of prison in 1998, Ali, now known as Alice, can get out in 2003, Lisa had her life sentence reduced to twenty-five years and comes up for parole in 2006. Marty had his death sentence reduced to life.

Lisa maintains that she knew nothing about a plot to kill Bobby, she thought Marty was just going to beat him up. Marty must have been eating his Wheaties since Bobby routinely whacked him on a daily basis. Ali (Alice, she's grown up) states she had no idea that Marty planned to kill Bobby(she doesn't talk about the previous night)and was in a state of shock after Bobby was killed. These girls should have to exchange their sentences with Marty because they were the prime movers by the killing.

Number fourteen in the Travis McGee series, and I continue to devour the things like they were popcorn, even though I want to slow down and examine how MacDonald can be so amazingly readable page after page. Maybe a MacDonald novel is like light in that famous physics conundrum (Michaelson-Morley?)--to define light, one must "stop" it in its tracks, and then it isn't light anymore, i.e. the observation of it affects it.

This time McGee is trying to recover some stamps that have gotten switched for cheaper versions. Along the way McGee makes his typical observations about life and politics, adds a few more scars to his battered body, and becomes a little wiser.

Travis McGee embarks on another of his trademark "salvage" missions involving a fortune in missing rare stamps. McGee's ruminations on people, relationships, human aspirations, money, politics, etc. are amusing social commentary, albeit thirty years later. Some of the observations of life in the '70s seem dated, but not enough to matter. Beyond this slight quibble, there is the vicious killer, and the complex mystery of the missing stamps. In addition, we have Mary Alice McDermit, a dark-haired giant of a woman with a healthy sex-drive and a troubled past. The lovable Meyer is present, still pontificating on economics and human foibles. As mystery-suspense novels go, the Travis McGee series is a perennial favorite. John D. MacDonald stresses introspection and character development rather than blood and thunder action. The typical Florida setting is exotic. Altogether, good lightweight reading material for summer vacations or anytime. ;-)

If you like Travis Mcgee, you'll like this one.

This is one of the McGees that I end up not rereading as much, because for me it doesn't hold up quite as well. I realize that in this decade, LSD was a completely different thing than what we know it to be now, but it still throws me off guard; plus I am a little harsher on the perfect Dr. Fort Geis than the book would like me to be. If you're a T. McGee fan, read it and it may hold up better for you, but if you're new to the series, it probably won't make the best starting point.

McGee and LSD became popular about the same time, but the typical bright-eyed MacDonald sense of humor stops there, for One Fearful Yellow Eye is probably too sad a story for all but the most serious fans of the series.

Fearful Yellow Eye's plot revolves around a certain 600 grand bequeathed to survivors of Dr. Fortner Geis, a generally well-liked and well-respected Chicago doctor. But when the 600 grand does not turn up following the good doctor's death, McGee is hired onto the case.

His investigations lead him to Chicago, Glory Geis, and then the twisted tale of Glory's daughter/love-rival Heidi Geis.

Remarkably, McGee finds himself attracted to the broken-winged Heidi, and ultimately the novel is hers. Because it is she that must get past her family's dark secret, and it is she that comes through at the novel's end as a much stronger character.

There are moments of poignancy in One Fearful Yellow Eye, and McGee's approach to Heidi's disturbing LSD overdose may be worth the price of the ticket alone, but generally I'd have to recommend several other McGee novel's before One Fearful Yellow Eye. Cinnamon Skin, thusfar, is my favorite.

Yours,
Stacey

Like a fine local wine, Travis doesn't travel well. His lack of enthusiasm for the Windy City is boundless, and willy-nilly, this is where he must be to assist his latest lady in distress. The architecture, politics, and citizenry are bad enough, but my God, the weather is freezing!

"One Fearful Yellow Eye" is an intricate tale of "where's the money?". Brilliant, kind, and wealthy neurosurgeon Dr. Fortner Geis had converted all his assets into cash before his death, and left his young wife Glory in a precarious situation. The cash was not to be found and Glory not only faced the prospect of being poor, but heavy suspicion as well.

This is an intricate tale with an excellent whodunit complement. MacDonald is sure enough of his Travis creation by this time to let Trav display a fine self-deprecating sense of humor as well as the usual speed, strength and purity of purpose. The many threads to the story are all kept well in hand and dovetail neatly into a grand finalé. The two stereotyped ungrateful stepchildren turn out to be not so typical after all. The leading ladies have a hard time in this book, emotionally and physically. My only complaint is that widow Glory was a bit much with her oh-so philosophical bravery and fawning adoration of Trav.

This is superior McGee-good pace, characterizations and a very twisty story.

I cannot say enough about this book,George is my all time favorite and the book says it all.How George got started and how he kept on going even after the death of his daughter,it had to be so hard for this man to sing some of the songs he does,George to me is real country and I am so glad I purchased this book.

It is so hard to find memoribilia of George Strait, so when I saw this book I knew I had to have it. The only way you can get other stuff of his is to join his fan club, and that is expensive after awhile.

I thought the book was very interesting. At times it is dry reading but it was very factual and I learned alot about George.

This 2nd of the Travis McGee series takes place in New York City where Travis fits about as well as Crocodile Dundee. John D. has not quite found his way with Travis yet, and it shows.

Travis is enjoined to look out for a buddy's little sister in the big bad city. Little sister is a babe (surprise!) and has her share of troubles. Her fiancé has just been murdered, and she has found a stash of $10,000 that she fears he scammed. Nina is distressingly a 'will you respect me in the morning' type of young lady that rings no truer now than it did in the early '60s, and Travis' famous philosophizing is really put to the test, however enchanted he is.

'Nightmare in Pink' is worth the price of admission just for the middle third of the book where Travis is captured in a private mental hospital and loaded with psychedelic drugs. His hallucinatory terrors are brilliantly and horrifyingly described, and the after-effects linger through the entire book.

The plot is a convoluted financial scam that MacDonald loves, but doesn't suit Travis too well (Meyer is not yet on the scene). Also cold, urban settings are not kind to a knight errant beach bum. Grade C-

I once dated a guy who was always quoting Travis McGee. It's not often that a genre fiction hero is a source of quotes. But it is the philosophical aspect of McGee that keeps this series from being a totally dated antiquity. Travis loves women. Travis is a chauvanist, but a thoughtful one. This is only my second McGee novel (trying to read them in order) but I find myself most entertained by his musings on women, loyalty to friends, work and - in this book - the role of New York in the downfall of humanity.

The plot is described only too well in other reviews. Suffice it to say that most of the action takes place in the third quarter of the book with a medical scenario that would make Robin Cook proud. It's all a bit far-fetched but the pages turn easily enough. I'd give it 3 and 1/2 stars overall if the system allowed.

A classic McGee. Which is to say . . . THE BEST

"Turquoise Lament" is a poorly told tale of missing buried treasure documents, damsel in distress and some interesting locales: Pago Pago and Hawaii.

The positives were an extremely well drawn character Howie Brindle. We have all known the type, but he is elusive as a wisp of smoke. MacDonald does a great job of nailing him down. The descriptive scenery was interesting and set forth in a very reader-friendly way.

Travis did not behave well and showed some monstrous poor judgment. Perhaps this made MacDonald grumpy. Travis's voice was lost through the incessant monologues by the author. We expect a certain amount of authorly philosophizing in a McGee novel, but this one went so far over the line as to be mere self-indulgence. Just when things are getting exciting, we get a three-page diversion about the inner-workings of a sand filter.

Travis has a few affairs too many, falls in lust with a girl called "Pidge" who has all the charm of a juvenile hysteric, and is so irresistible himself that merely his voice on the phone causes ladies' hearts to beat faster and pour out their innermost secrets to him. We really can't blame Travis for getting out of line; his author deserted him.

Had Travis McGee been in a science fiction novel, we would have had books like THE PHILOSOPHY OF MCGEE, similar to THE NOTEBOOKS OF LAZARUS LONG, dedicated to the wit and wisdom of this, MacDonald's best known and best loved character. Perhaps it is for the best. While not quite given to epigrams as Heinlein, MacDonald definitely had a consistent vision of who this latter day Don Quixote was. Long before Robert Parker investigated male angst in the Spenser books, MacDonald had mined the entire territory.

In The Turquoise Lament, McGee must face doubt, guilt, and faith as the grown daughter of a deceased salvage friend is afraid that her newlywed husband is attempting to kill her. Culminating in a fight scene with a cable car that today's Hollywood would go nuts for--in fact, that gets me to wondering why we have never seen McGee on film. Maybe we have, and I just don't know about it? Sure, some of the dialogue might not work on the screen, but the mystery, adventure, and spectacular fights would surely fit today's current vehicles for male stars. Today's directors would probably make a mish-mash of it, though; MacDonald probably better fits a director like Hitchcock than Paul Rudhoven or James Cameron.

Travis McGee once again takes on the torch of righteousness as he saves the daughter of an old friend. She thinks she's losing her mind, which is exactly what somebody wants her to think. But McGee sees through the charade, and undercovers a shady past that explains why he's willing to travel halfway around the world to provide justice. The last 50 pages are stunning in this thriller. Like all MacDonald books, you will get a heavy dose of philosophy from a sophisticated author. Enjoy this classic.

This book contains beautiful photos of the Fort Lauderdale area and might be a good souvenir. It is not the travel guide type of book I was looking for, although it does contain interesting information about the photos in the book.