The plots of the Travis McGee novels are comparatively uncomplicated.

Although McGee (and Meyer, when present) must generally collect evidence and make deductions, discovering the identity of culprits is not usually the central concern. As in The Lonely Silver Rain, the villain is often identified by events rather than by detective work, and although surprises are common at the end of the novels, they only rarely involve discoveries of identity. Instead, the model for the Travis McGee plot is the hunt, with McGee stalking his quarry, using various forms of concealment, reacting to changing circumstances, and finally moving in. Subplots are common, involving McGee's relationships with subsidiary figures encountered in the course of the operation.

Characterization is probably MacDonald's finest skill as a writer. He develops character mainly through dialogue, and he has an extraordinarily acute ear for the rhythms of real speech and for those clues which...