You Live Once
John D. MacDonald
Fawcett

This was originally published as a Fawcett Gold Medal book, but the edition I have is a later one without that designation on the cover. But it’s still a great book. It’s one of the bundle I wrote about in my last post.

Clint Sewell is a rising middle manager in a midwest firm. He’s fairly new to town. Lately he’s been seen in the company of a local heiress, one Mary Olen. Even though Clint would like things to happen with her, their relationship is something of a ruse. Clint’s boss, Dodd Raymond, who happens to be married, is a hometown boy.  He and Mary knew each other years ago.  Now that he’s back in town, they’re having an affair.  He’s got Clint acting as Mary’s date so he can spend time with her.

The book opens with Clint being awakened from a deep sleep by a couple of police officers.  Mary didn’t come home last night, and Clint was the last person seen with her.  He tells them the truth.  Mary dropped him off after a double date with the Raymonds.  She was supposed to pick him up and take him up to a party at her family’s lake house.

The police believe him and leave.  Clint goes into his bedroom to get dressed and finds Mary in his closet.  She’s been strangled by one of Clint’s belts.  In a panic, Clint disposes of her body.  He soon realizes that this was a mistake.  But it’s too late to turn back now.  Clint can only hope he can find the real killer before suspicion is focused on him.

For a short novel, this one packs a lot in.  There’s not as much of the social commentary you find in the Travis McGee novels, but this book as written a few years before McGee came along and is a bit shorter than the typical McGee. Clint Sewell is a flawed protagonist, which are always the most interesting kind.

John D. MacDonald

There is a real mystery here, because the obvious suspect isn’t a good fit for the killer.  And Clint doesn’t have much time to figure out who it is.  The pacing is relentless.  MacDonald surprised me more than once.  You Live Once probably isn’t a classic, but it’s a solid novel by John D. MacDonald.  That makes it better than average.  The perspective is first-person, so we share Clint’s thoughts, his fears, his desperation.  I started You Live Once on Saturday evening and finished it the next afternoon.

John D. MacDonald is mostly out of print now, although someone is reprinting the Travis McGee novels.  But he’s not forgotten.  If you get a chance to talk with people who have been mystery and thriller fans since the 1960s and 1970s, you’ll hear his name mentioned along with Donald Westlake/Richard Stark and Jim Thompson as a writer who helped define the field in those decades.  He’s someone that people like Stephen King look up to.  Read him and find out why.

I’ll be reading more MacDonald over the next few months.  And not just for fun.  There’s a lot an aspiring writer can learn from him.