I’ve written about John D MacDonald before, how important his work is to me. MacDonald was my dad’s favorite author: we had shelves of Travis McGee paperbacks around the house growing up, as well as the jacketed hardcovers of the later editions. In high school, I once failed a book report for shrugging my way through a synopsis of The Turquoise Lament.
Before my dad died, I was buying him the trade paperback copies of the Travs, the ones with the Lee Child introductions (not as insightful as the Carl Hiaasen into to the ‘90s paperback reissues). I have those books now. Next to them I have JDM’s standalones: Condominium, Dead Low Tide, A Flash of Green, The Neon Jungle, All Those Condemned, The Beach Girls and of course The Executioners.
Even though most of these non-series novels were issued with uniform covers, they’re an odd mix of JDM’s early pulp work, later commercial thrillers, and experiments. All well written, not as comforting as the Travs, and exciting for that reason—dangerous, in a sense.
Ocean Drive is that kind of book. It’s a crime saga and a thriller and a look at the rotten underside of a beach town near the border.
So far reviews have been favorable—the Sun says the plot “unfolds with absolute command of pace, tension and mood…Author Sam Wiebe goes from strength to strength, with stellar characters, memorable settings, and clockwork plotting.”
Dead End Follies wrote, “Wiebe shows a solid command of twists and timing to pull you along without ever making you feel duped. He also never feels the need to wrap it up nicely.”
I was on the CBC recently, and there’s a nice interview in the local section of the Sun (imagine finding a giant picture of yourself in the ‘You’ section…weird). And Ocean Drive has been on the BC Bestseller list for three weeks before its official publication date.
A note on the cover, which I think is the best so far: Carly took that picture on Boxing Day two years ago. We were walking with her grandmother along White Rock Beach and saw the pier taped off. During discussions with the cover designer, I sent along the photo as an example of what I wanted. With a little finesse, it ended up working better than anything else.
I love writing about Vancouver, a city I find fascinating in its contradictions and loveable in its prickliness. I feel differently about White Rock. The place warranted a different kind of book. As a standalone, it can go to different places than a Wakeland novel can, while covering similar terrain.
I hope you check it out and enjoy it.
Tuesday April 23rd I’ll be in conversation with historian and podcaster (and bestselling author in her own right) Eve Lazarus at Book Warehouse on Main Street, 7pm start.
Wednesday April 24th, I’m doing a Zoom event with Whodunit Mystery Bookstore in Winnipeg 7pm Mountain time, 5pm Vancouver time (link below).
Zoom Link - https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81254912528
and Wednesday May 8th at the Irish Heather on Georgia Street, will be the dual launch of Ocean Drive and A Lonesome Place for Dying. Book sales by Pulp Fiction Books—who will also ship a signed copy of the book anywhere, by the way. 7pm start.
Six years ago, I decided to take a deep dive into the MacDonald oeuvre. I had never read the books, having grown up in Belgium in a family where the books on the shelf were Simenon, Hard, Boileau-Narcejac and other French writers of "polars" as we say over there... I approach JDM systematically, all the Traps in order, then all the stand alone in chronological sequence. I think I have one compendium of short stories left, otherwise, mission accomplished! I think the biggest inspiration for me was learning to write fast, pound that keyboard like he did, let all the stuff out. Blue Goodbye is still my favorite, with that other one that has the gold Maya statuettes in it!
My dad loved the Travis McGee stuff too! Also Mike Hammer, which I was never able to get into as much. Oh well.
I've added Ocean Drive to my "next" reading list.