“Welcome to Golden Sands, the dream condominium built on a weak foundation and a thousand dirty secrets. Here is a panoramic look at the shocking facts of life in a Sun Belt community -- the real estate swindles and political payoffs, the maintenance charges that run up and the health benefits that run cut...the crackups and marital breakdowns...the disaster that awaits those who play in the path of the hurricane...”
I sort of hate-read this novel. I stumbled upon this book and thought the premise was interesting. The 1970s was full of disaster films, so I thought I was getting a book that was sort in the vein of The Towering Inferno or Earthquake! And I’ve read –but no for a long, long time- a few of MacDonald’s Travis Magee thrillers. Those were tight, noir-ish “male gazing” comic thrillers. Here he tries something different, a semi-disaster tale written (supposedly) satire? At least for me, it does not work. But I generally –for whatever reason- feel compelled to continue reading, hoping it’ll get better. Read it to the end or as much as I can before I throw it in the corner.
While released in 1977, this tale resembles late 1960’s early 70s look at the changing demographics of Florida (though always an enclave of the retired and aging conservative base). From my view, there are many flaws, from way to many characters – I got to point where a flow chart would’ve been helpful. Also, the other sin is not one of those characters stood out enough to hook me (and no real villain, as everyone seems guilty of something). Maybe the satire was just this, dubious businessmen dealing with groups of retired couples who all fear living longer than their money.
It’s also clear very early on that MacDonald was going to take a meticulous look into how corrupt politicians, shady bankers, corner-cutting construction crews, greedy real estate salespeople and crooked land developers was setting the stage for disaster – hurricane that fills the last quarter of the book. But as much as some might find the minutiae aspect of all these deals fascinating, it really is dull and boring and the book drags. I mean analysis of the financial structure of condominium construction and the engineering of building might be worth something for some, but not for me. This very slow build annoyed me, and by page 100 plus, I was waiting for when the hurricane was finally going to show and smash it all to pieces. And that doesn’t show up for hundreds of pages. Bummer.
While MacDonald may have been first author to take on these sleazy people of Florida, others like Dave Barry, Tim Dorsey, and Carl Hiaasen have done much better with their tales quirky characters, local politics, and satirical look into the local people and culture of the Sunshine State – even with a large cast of characters.
There was two-part movie version of this book that originally aired on HBO in April of 1980 and then syndicated by Universal Studios in November 1980. It starred Barbara Eden, Dan Haggerty and Steve Forrest, along with a cadre of aging Hollywood actors. You can watch it on Youtube.
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