Synopsis
Praise for Blackwater Sound
“If violence can be poetic, Hall has the lyric voice for it.”—-Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review
“A fine read.”—-Washington Post Book World
“Hall keeps the tension high and the surprises coming.”—-People magazine (Page Turner of the Week)
“Terrific.” —-Scott Turow, author of Presumed Innocent and The Burden of Proof
“I believe no one has written more lyrically of the Gulfstream since Ernest Hemingway.” —-James Lee Burke, author of Bitterroot and Purple Cane Road
“A gorgeous and compelling novel.”—-Robert Crais, author of L.A. Requiem and Demolition Angel
“Startlingly explosive.”—-Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River and Darkness, Take My Hand
“His best yet.”—-Michael Connelly, author of A Darkness More than Night and Angels Flight
“This is a book you can’t put down. . . . James Hall is a treasure waiting to be discovered.”
—-Stephen J. Cannell, New York Times bestselling author of The Tin Collectors and The Viking Funeral
Publishers Weekly
Hall (Blackwater Sound; Buzz Cut; etc.) once again sweeps the sand, surf and swamps of Key Largo, in a hyperdramatic mystery featuring sensitive tough-guy Thorn and his live-in girlfriend, Alexandra Rafferty. Hall sums up the plot nicely at the beginning of the book: "Lunacy and violence. Pirates, pirates, pirates." Thorn's long-ago fling with a beautiful woman named Anne Joy comes back to haunt him years later when Anne's brother, Vic Joy, a modern-day pirate along the Gulf Coast, decides he needs to add Thorn's five-acre property to his ill-gotten business and real estate empire. Anne and Vic are the damaged products of a dirt-poor Kentucky upbringing overseen by a smalltime dope-dealing father and a deranged mother with an all-consuming passion for pirates. Thorn refuses to sell to Vic, triggering a complicated coercion scheme that eventually includes the kidnapping of the nine-year-old daughter of Thorn's best friend. The local body count builds until Thorn is in an all-out battle against the deranged Vic, with a complement of U.S. helicopters and a small army of cutthroat international pirates. Hall's crisp writing, plus the ticking-clock suspense of the child-in-peril subplot and amusing secondary characters like Alexandra's dotty dad make this an exhilarating addition to the series. (June) Forecast: Hall is generally considered to be the stylist of the South Florida bunch and should be recommended to those fans of Hiassen, Leonard and Standiford (see the review of his latest novel, Havana Run, below) who haven't stumbled upon him yet. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.