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Thursday, March 7, 2013

What Is Your Most Widely Read Review?

Back when I had more reading time, I reviewed many of the books I read on Goodreads. So, just curious, I checked my Goodreads' reviews to see which one had garnered the most votes from readers like you. I was pleased to see A BULLET FOR CINDERELLA (a wicked title) by the grand old pulp writer John D. MacDonald took the honors. JDM was probably better known for his knight-errant Travis McGee series. BULLET was written before Travis came along during JDM's days as a paperback writer in the 1950s. For my money, that was the period he produced his finest works. Anyway, I decided to run my review in full below in hopes you'll be intrigued enough to add him to your To-Read list. I also included the link to my review if you want to hit "LIKE" button for it, as well. http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/396002277

My review...

I was leaning to 4 stars, but the suspenseful ending was just the type I'm a sucker for, so I gave A BULLET FOR CINDERELLA 5 stars. I've read perhaps a dozen of the early John D. MacDonald novels, and for my money, they represent his top form writing. The Travis McGee titles are very fine, but I remain a bigger fan of JDM's pre-Travis fiction. JDM does a nifty job of setting up the romance triangle, including the dark-haired femme fatale. A BULLET FOR CINDERELLA was published in 1955, so the level of violence and sex isn't raw or visceral like today's noir can be. There are grisly murders, and plenty of other hardboiled scenes, nonetheless. I see other the readers and critics (including the reviews when BULLET was published) have given it lower marks. But I got into the story and character enough to be entertained and diverted. That was all I ever wanted from BULLET.

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