Death Trap: A Novel

John D. MacDonald

Jun 2013 · Sold by Random House

About this ebook

Death Trap, 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.
 
As a teenage wild child, Jane Ann Paulson had earned her wicked reputation, but no one deserves the shocking death she receives. When the police find a suspect, everyone relaxes . . . everyone except for Hugh MacReedy. A construction engineer by trade, Hugh has no business investigating a murder. But he happens to owe a big debt to the innocent man they’re sending to the electric chair. And so Hugh begins to look into Jane Ann’s death, not knowing that her quiet little town is sitting on some ugly secrets, that he’s about to blow the lid off each and every one of them, and that he’s just put a very tempting target on his back.
 
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

Ratings and reviews

Many years ago, I had most of John D. MacDonald's books, which I read with great pleasure. Then I moved from a big house to a much smaller condominium, and gave them all away. Shortly thereafter, I began recollecting them as E-books. As I collected Travis McGee novels, I often thought of this book, which has many of the same characteristics, although Hugh MacReedy is in may ways a simpler person than Trav. Today I had the opportunity to buy Death Trap. I did so. Then I read the book in one sitting. It is just as good as it was the first time I read it; and I'm sure I will remember it for another thirty years.

About the author

John D. MacDonald was an American novelist and short-story writer. His works include the Travis McGee series and the novel The Executioners, which was adapted into the film Cape Fear. In 1962 MacDonald was named a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America; in 1980, he won a National Book Award. In print he delighted in smashing the bad guys, deflating the pompous, and exposing the venal. In life, he was a truly empathetic man; his friends, family, and colleagues found him to be loyal, generous, and practical. In business, he was fastidiously ethical. About being a writer, he once expressed with gleeful astonishment, “They pay me to do this! They don’t realize, I would pay them.” He spent the later part of his life in Florida with his wife and son. He died in 1986.