Clemmie: A Novel

By John D. MacDonald and Dean Koontz

Clemmie, one of many classic novels from crime writer John D. MacDonald, the beloved author of Cape Fear and the Travis McGee series, is now available as an eBook.
 
Married, straitlaced, and struggling to rise out of middle management, Craig Fitz is stuck in a life of boredom and routine—until he meets the irresistible Clemmie Bennet. A rich girl who plays by her own rules, Clemmie is the shot in the arm Craig has been looking for. She gives him his first taste of what it’s like to live on the edge—and it’s intoxicating. But beneath her fun-loving, thrill-seeking facade, this intoxicating sex kitten is an unpredictable terror. And the deeper he falls into Clemmie’s nightmarish games, the closer Craig comes to losing everything: his family, his career, even his life.
 
Features a new Introduction by Dean Koontz
 
Praise for John D. MacDonald
 
“The great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller.”—Stephen King
 
“My favorite novelist of all time.”—Dean Koontz
 
“To diggers a thousand years from now, the works of John D. MacDonald would be a treasure on the order of the tomb of Tutankhamen.”—Kurt Vonnegut
 
“A master storyteller, a masterful suspense writer . . . John D. MacDonald is a shining example for all of us in the field. Talk about the best.”—Mary Higgins Clark

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jun 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9780307827029

Reviews for Clemmie

[waldhaus1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I found myself annoyed and angered by the protagonist on many occasions. Initially introduced as someone likeable and respectable he evolves into a self indulgent drink. Is almost like watching a horror movie where you want to yell to the hero'don't go into that scary from our dark and Dusty house. In the horror movie the hell gets in trouble and you enjoy seeing how he escapes. In Clemmie I couldn't enjoy the alcoholic scenes or self indulgent sensuous behavior. Clemmie wasnt appealing enough to make the affair appealing or exciting, just dreary. I also found the constant smoking unpleasant. It reminds me that MacDonald eventually died of heart disease probably brought on by his own smoking. Without question the characters come to life and a good picture of the U.S. of the fifties is drawn.

[datrappert · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This was a very painful read. As usual, MacDonald sucks you into a world of people you normally wouldn’t choose to be around and exposes you to their most basic human desires, attitudes, and prejudices. In this case, we get to watch the disintegration of a 39-year old man, a manager at a factory, when he gets involved with a shameless, unstable, highly manipulative 23-year old rich girl with a string of failed relationships and an institutionalization in her past. The man has been left alone for the summer as his British-born wife and two young daughters are spending the summer in England with the wife’s relatives. By chance, the husband meets and then can’t resist having a series of dalliances with the irresistible Clemmie. About page 150 or so, it becomes almost too much to bear as the protagonist makes one terrible decision after another, compounding his problems at home and at work. Though absent, the wife’s presence is always felt. MacDonald tells the story of how the couple met during the war and came to marry. Because he describes their relationship so well, the husband’s continued stupidity is hard to understand and even harder to read about. But, as always with MacDonald, there are some great passages, such as a very effective scene in an attic where the husband becomes engrossed in the various family scraps and memories packed and stored in boxes there.In parallel with his descent into adultery (an old-fashioned word perhaps, but this is a pretty old-fashioned book), the husband also neglects his duties at work. After all, it is kind of hard to work when you’re drunk most all the time. In fact, this guy makes the characters in most noir novels look like teetotalers. His boss has brought in a couple of McKinsey-style management consultants, so he can tell the writing is on the wall. Along the way, MacDonald does get to make some pretty shrewd observations about business. Throughout his writing career, his Wharton School and Harvard MBA side is never too far below the surface.To sum the book up, it would have been far more successful had MacDonald managed to cut out about 50 pages. While John MacD is fun to go slumming with, I would have liked to have gotten home before daylight!

[andyray_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

this is one of macdonald's worst performances. there is ample reason for women to point at this and say it is blatent sexism; a man's hatred of women. but that is not the problem. the problem is no one in clemmie is likable. surely not the "heroine."