Finished: MacDonald's 'A Man of Affairs'

A Man of Affairs by John D. MacDonald was an odd little book I enjoyed quite a bit.

I didn’t find it to be hardboiled fiction (certainly wasn’t a detective novel). It was more like a 1960s (?) business thriller set on a private island in the Bahamas. There were some affairs, a lot of drink, some fist-fights and murders, all centered around the takeover of a business by a playboy titan of industry.

Sam Glidden owed all his success to the opportunities he'd received from Thomas McGann, president of the Harrison Corporation. But now McGann was dead, and Mike Dean, a wildly flamboyant business speculator, was looking to add the Harrison Corporation to his long list of conquests. McGann's spoiled offspring, Tommy and Louise, saw the chance to make instant big bucks by selling out their shares. But Sam Glidden couldn't stand to see everything he'd worked for gobbled up by a barracuda like Mike Dean. So he wangled an invitation to the sand-and-surf soiree Dean planned for Louise and Tommy in the Bahamas ...

Amazonians seemed to like it alright, giving it a 4 of 5 stars. Goodreaders slightly less at 3.8. The Haugenometer settled at a 6 of 10.

If you don’t check out this book, you should check out something by John D. MacDonald. The dude sold over 70 million books in his day so he must’ve been doing something right.