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Cape Fear (Formerly Titled the Executioners)
by John D. Macdonald
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Fawcett (2006-04-25)
ISBN: 0449131904
EAN: 9780449131909
Dewy Decimal #: 813.54
Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
Edition: Rei Mti
Release Date: 2006-04-25
SKU: MOZ128349
Condition: Very Good
Comments: 0449131904 MMPB free of markings. Cover shows light to moderate wear. Interior & spine evidence only gentle use; overall, a very serviceable copy. Your book will be carefully protected for transit in sturdy, weather-resistant packaging. We are prompt, efficient, communicative.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
An insane criminal threatens to destroy a family, and the police are powerless to protect them.
For fourteen years convicted rapist Max Cady nursed his hatred for Sam Bowden into an insane passion for revenge. He lived only for the day he would be free -- free to track down and destroy the man who had put him behind bars.
Murder was merciful compared to what Cady had in mind -- and what Cady had in mind was Bowden's innocent and lovely teenaged daughter . . . .
"A powerful and frightening story." -- The New York Times
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Customer Reviews
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A Compact Thriller with Good Character Development
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-05-16
This tidy novel by John D. MacDonald would probably be lost today in the tidal wave of 20th-century thrillers and mysteries, if it weren't for the 1962 movie version with Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck (and the 1991 remake by Martin Scorsese, which I have not seen). While the book has a bit less action than the movie, it does develop the characters in much more interesting ways. The Sam of the book, for example, is more human and less steely jawed than Gregory Peck's portrayal, while his wife has more of a take-charge attitude than Polly Bergen displayed. We also learn more about the villain than the 1962 movie revealed.
The plot and various details of the setting are quite different from the 1962 movie. The setting is not specific (and has nothing to do with the Cape Fear River). The climax and the events leading up to it are especially unlike the movie (a nice surprise).
One other aspect of the book I need to comment on: MacDonald's portrayal of law practice is a little off the mark. First, in a conversation with one of his law partners, Sam is told that he's the token honest man in the firm, that every law firm has one, and that most lawyers are continually bending the rules. In reality, most lawyers are very particular about the rules; the rule-benders and corner-cutters are the minority. Second, at one point Sam calls his partner to "ask" if he can take a week off. Law-firm partners (especially in a small firm like Sam's) are all "bosses"; they don't need to ask each other for permission to take time off. (They may ask another partner if s/he wouldn't mind covering a matter while they're gone, but that's not what Sam was doing.) In any event, those are minor quibbles.
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fun, suspenseful .. yet forgettable
Rating (4)
Date: 2008-05-15
'Cape Fear' by John MacDonald equates to so many mystery novels found on supermarket shelves nowadays. That is, there is a formulaic plot, some honest to goodness suspense, and one getting the sense of reading the book before (, or perhaps seeing it on television). Although the book is set in the 1950s and has a dated feel to it, I still found it suspenseful and the story largely credible.
So what about the story? Well it is only roughly similar to the film adaptations. We have and "Ozzie & Harriet"-type of family who are stalked by a crazed psychopath and sexual predator. It seems that "Ozzie" was instrumental in sending Mr Psycho to the clink because he witnessed him raping a teenager. Fast forward fifteen years and we have our wholesome family, now with a nubile fifteen year old daughter, scared witless. But in the end they do collect their wits in order to survive (...sorry, no spoilers).
Bottom line: a reasonably good read that probably would have gone out of print if not due to the legacy of the film adaptations.
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Enjoyable, but Minor
Rating  (3)
Date: 2007-12-06
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
CAPE FEAR is an entertaining novel written by John MacDonald in 1957. It's essentially a story about a civilized man whose family is being threatened by a murderous psychopath. The central theme of the book is how far the man will go to protect himself and the ones he loves.
MacDonald is certainly a highly skilled and intelligent writer, but CAPE FEAR left me somewhat cold. It's not very suspenseful or gripping, and I didn't feel the characters (especially the main character's children) were very well developed. A lot of the dialogue is pretty stilted. It's an interesting book on a thematic level, but I wasn't very engaged by it.
In short, CAPE FEAR is an enjoyable way to spend a few hours, but I wouldn't recommend it to a modern reader looking for fast-paced thrills.
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Enjoyable Read
Rating (4)
Date: 2007-08-06
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is a good read and MacDonald has an easy to read prose style. This is an enjoyable but not gripping book. I liked it but it is not a grab you by the shirt collar suspense book.
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"I'm Gonna Give You The Word, Lieutenant."
Rating  (5)
Date: 2005-08-02
4 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
CAPE FEAR (formerly THE EXECUTIONERS, which was somewhat of a spoiler title and better changed) is one of prolific author John D. MacDonald's many classic thrillers. MacDonald, who brought the world Travis McGee, has written a short, taut frightening tale of a homicidal stalker.
In 1943 while overseas, JAG Lieutenant Sam Bowden stopped the rape of an Aussie Sheila and helped to convict one Sergeant Max Cady, sending him up for life at Leavenworth. But now it's 1957, Bowden is comfortably practicing law in the Hudson Valley and environs, and Max Cady's sentence has been commuted. Cady smashes Bowden's idyllic Eisenhower-era life to bits by beginning the slow and deliberate hunt of his wife and children, while Sam's beloved legal system is paralyzed by its own sense of fairness.
A phenomenally frightening book which was made into 1962's terrifying film CAPE FEAR starring Gregory Peck (as Bowden) and Robert Mitchum (as Cady), and 1991's remake starring Nick Nolte and Robert DeNiro, CAPE FEAR is one of those rare books that makes you shiver---and the Peck/Mitchum version particularly is even more effective, one of the best book-to-film translations ever. Well worth reading (and/or seeing) CAPE FEAR lives all the way up to its name.
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