Condominium Paperback – 8 April 2014

Ohh Lord this book a disappointingly awful....and dull. So dull. If you want a book that goes in to the smallest detail of building construction, ownership, financing, rent, maintenance, and fees, then you’ll get hard for this mind-numbing read. However, if you have been lead to understand this is a cut-and-thrust action novel out survival of harsh nature, you’ll be very, very disappointed. I was. This book is terribly dull, I’ll say that once more. Dull. Don’t read it....it’s like an instruction manual, and no one reads them do they? Avoid.

Brilliant - the writer at his best.

The title says it all really. I'm a sucker for disaster novels. In fact, I would probably read this genre above any other. I first read this book thirty years ago and was delighted to find an old, much-thumbed copy on Amazon. On reading again, I think I must have skipped through to the bits where the wave came and people started dying. I didn't realise there was so much more to it. It's a bit like Dallas, located in Florida this time, ie., lots of old people and a big mean property developer and some slinky bad girls. There are also a lantern-jawed hero and enough nefarious characters to give JR a run for his money any time. It's trashy, flashy, but the dialogue is sparky and the characters, of which there are many, are well-drawn, if a little hastily. It makes no apologies for not being the best novel in the world, but who the hell cares? Big business, politics, sex and scandal, and a big storm to come and give everyone a really bad day. This is obviously dated but as a 70's America period piece it is great. File under "guilty pleasure" and enjoy.

Welcome to Golden Sands, the dream condominium built on a weak foundation and a thousand dirty secrets.Here is a panoramic look at the shocking facts of life in a Sun Belt community -- the real estate swindles and political payoffs, the maintenance charges that run up and the health benefits that run cut...the crackups and marital breakdowns...the disaster that awaits those who play in the path of the hurricane...The novel is written in McDonald's inimitable style, bringing to life the central and peripheral characters in the saga. His description of the formation and results of the hurrican is gripping stuff.

OMG! What a great writer and this is one of his very best.

Not only one of MacDonald's best, but it continues, all these years later, to be an object lesson in construction and condo swindles.

I reread this book this summer, unaware of the upcoming twin disasters in Texas and Florida. It's a must read for those who want to read John D. MacDonald's opinion of the Florida real estate boom in the 80s. It took Hurricane Andrew to wake up the politicians so they would start passing laws to increase housing safety. No, post Irma, there's probably going to be more.John D. MacDonald has always been my favorite author. His grasp of the language is superb and his story lines far deeper than pulp fiction. (He wrote so many paperbacks I've seen him referred to as the "King of Pulp Fiction.") He's always been engrossed in money matters and this book shows a lot of research into the real estate financials.As with all of his books, this one highlights MacDonald's greatest strength: his ability to vividly describe people and places in very few words. He does this partly through his grasp of the English language and also by starting out with a basic description then building on it throughout the book. It immerses the reader into the tale and by the end of the book, you feel like you've been there and met his characters. Condominium is no exception and--in my mind--some of his best writing.If you have never read any books by this author, you are really missing some truly great story-telling. This book is a little heavier reading than his Travis McGee series--which make for an excellent fast read--but Condominium, like his other books where Travis and Meyer aren't involved, is well worth your attention.I will warn you. Once you start any MacDonald book, it's very hard to put it down.I highly recommend it.

This is an atypical MacDonald book. If you're looking for Travis McGee or for one of his noir-ish crime thrillers, you won't find it here. What you will find is an excellent study of the greed, lust and narcissism of one segment of a social microcosm banging up against the humanity, thoughtfulness, and compassion of another. These two sides of the social seesaw are equally divided between men and women in their youth facing their futures and deciding who they are going to be, and men and women in their elder years making life choices about who they were and how they will be remembered, and most importantly, dealing with how or not one finds dignity in their final days. It is definitely a conscious choice of MacDonald's that children are not given any priority or characterization: they are either victims of adult folly or survivors that can play Frisbee joyfully after a hurricane wipes out an entire Key.I'd say less than 30 minutes after I posted this, I heard the news from Texas and EXACTLY what Mr. MacDonald portrayed was demonstrated in reality. One group was laughing and partying and saying, "Time for a Hurricane Party!" Another woman smugly said, she had a business to run and had the opportunity to "make a fortune" off this (I believe her shop overstocked survival basics just prior to the evacuation order). Narcissism and greed, as this book focuses on, makes people make the absolute wrong decision. Unbelievable.And the hurricane wipes out an entire Key. Hugely reminiscent of disaster novels that were all the bestselling rage in the early 1970s (the two books which became the film THE TOWERING INFERNO, "The Poseidon Adventure," the AIRPORT films and books, EARTHQUAKE), MacDonald comes late to the genre and delivers up the goods much better than all the earlier ones due, I think, from his strength in unflinching characterization, his deep love and concern for the environment, and his knowledge and ability in economics and business deals. (Keep in mind, "Meyer" from the McGee books isn't real, it's Mr. MacDonald who is the "brilliant economist.") What he demonstrates here with "Hurricane Ella" is a mastery of weather science.What makes this novel so good is that by the time the reader gets to the hurricane, the reader is deeply familiar with all the human hope and folly on the Key and can fairly well guess who will survive and who will not. Some reviewers have pointed this out as cliched. It is anything but. MacDonald takes such time and care to build up everyone's perspectives and behaviors, needs and desires, that he demonstrates that the inevitable--the Hand of God, let's say, of a hurricane--is only inevitable to those who have no way to escape the inevitability of their narcissism.The hurricane itself and the power and violence and destruction it brings is truly some of Mr. MacDonald's most evocative and exciting writing.I can usually finish a book in a day. This book took me three weeks due to the amount of characters and their plots and subplots. They are very unique and very rich and it's like reading two dozen short stories: I needed time to digest each one. Coincidentally, I finished the book two days ago--two days before the reports of the oncoming, real life, Hurricane Harvey. From reading this book, I now have a pretty exact and terrifying idea of what is about to happen in real life. And I also have, after reading this terrific novel, an idea that while the innocent can always perish in a natural disaster, the greedy and narcissistic have a higher tendency of walking right into their own demise. Can anyone say, "Hurricane Party?"

Wow, way too long for the plot, well over five hundred pages. If you are looking for a concise, on point detective mystery, like MacDonald's Travis McGee works, this won't fit. It doesn't take long to wonder what it's all about. I kept on thinking, "Where's the mystery?" Admittedly, I didn't make it to the end. I didn't find any characters I liked or was fascinated by or even disliked that much (just standard greed), and so I tired of reading. It felt like I was slugging through oatmeal. Without a bunch of murders over the corrupt real estate problems, it didn't generate much interest on my part. I know it takes a tremendous command of words to write so much, but it also takes skill to know when to cut it short, get to the point, with fewer characters. MacDonald knew how to do that, write short and concisely, but for some reason, he let this book go on and on. If a long book doesn't drag you to the end in a mad rush, it's not a masterpiece and, to be sure, that's a high bar to reach for those who opt to put so many plots and subplots on the page. This time, John didn't pull it off.