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Nightmare in Pink

Page history last edited by PBworks 18 years, 3 months ago

MacDonald, John D - Nightmare in Pink (1964)

 

While similar to all the McGee books, it sometimes goes to excess, although there are some really good characters in it. While TM is free - spiritedly lusty, with no hang - ups about sex, which is all good fun, he does tend to overdo the self - justification crap, such as the following: “It is a rare thing, that infatuation which grows with each sating, so that those caresses which are merely affection and the gratitude of release and sleepy habit turn in their own slow time into the next overture, the next threshold, the next unwearied increment of heat and need, using and knowing, learning and giving, new signs and signals in a private and special language, freshened heats and scents and tastes, sweetened gasps of fitting thus, knowing this, learning of that, rediscovering the inexhaustible here, the remorseless now.” Overwritten claptrap. What he really means is that they had a good romp. But this is typical of McGee, along with his various guilt complexes about it. The ending is a true smash! A really nightmarish brainwashing sequence in a highly unusual private mental hospital, involving mind - altering drugs, lobotomies, electrodes in the pleasure center of the brain, etc. A combination of “One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest” and “The Manchurian Candidate” (both contemporary to this book).

 

Once again, Travis underestimates the proficiency of his enemies and pays the price. It's refreshing to have a protagonist who is not infallible. But of course he does come through, very dramatically and violently. As for his love life as the ultimate Stud and his self - justification for it, maybe I am just being envious. But he does seem to have an indecent and unfair success rate, some three or four women per book. MacDonald maintains his cynical dislike of present - day events, as expressed here, for example: “I saw the paper where I had dropped it, just inside the door. I went over and got it and took it back to bed. While I had been in the blurry world of induced dreams and visions, the other world had trudged its way along to a November Tuesday. Education bill returned to committee. Three injured in Birmingham bomb attack. Acress beats narcotics rap. Seven dead in Freeway collision. Parklands sold to compaign contributor. Truck strike in eighth week. Thirty - nine dead in jet crash. Model claims fractured jaw in divorce action. Disarmament talks stalled. Teacher accused in teen slayings. Earthquake in Peru. Tax cut stymied.... I was back in the sane, reasonable, plausible world.” Another recurring theme of JDM's is his contempt for big business with all its antisocial attributes, greed, ruthlessness, and the near slavery of employees. Corporate America has not changed much since 1964, except for the sheer size of its depradations (viz. Enron). The villain is especially nasty and immoral, but ends up getting away with a three - year sentence for tax evasion rather than all the other worse crimes he committed or had paid for to be done.

 

Wyatt James

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