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Title: Under Cover of Daylight by James W. Hall ISBN: 0-393-32125-8 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: March, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.36 (11 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Hall's first and best
Comment: This is the novel where Hall introduced Thorn,
his anti-hero protagonist.
This is the best of Hall's novels - it's the template after which all of the others are patterned.
It has all of the elements that make hall's work exciting - the lazy Florida Keys setting, the quirky characters, the complicated plots, and the brilliant prose.
This book also has an intensity the later ones lack - Thorn is like a force of nature, and in this book, you really FEEL that.
This is the single best crime novel I have ever read.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Dish Best Eaten Cold
Comment: Having recently read the latest volume in the Thorn series ('Blackwater Sound') to my great satisfaction, I decided to pursue reading the rest of the novels, this time in more orthodox order. I began this first book expecting an enjoyable, but slightly less effective story and discovered instead that the Thorn tales start right out with a tour-de-force. James Hall has been writing for a while, and it is a bit embarrassing to have to admit that I somehow managed to miss a writer of this caliber.
'Under Cover of Daylight' is about revenge, to put it plainly. Fifteen years earlier the 19 year old Thorn killed Dallas James, the man whose driving caused the death of Thorn's parents before Thorn had even known them. Now 35, Thorn has yet to integrate that death and accept himself, to get his life past that awful moment and back on track. These hidden feelings interfere in his current relationship with Sarah Ryan, a Miami lawyer, who is also the close friend of his foster mother, Kate Truman. Kate and Sarah share another interest, a deep desire to keep commercialism from destroying the Florida Keys.
Suddenly Kate turns up dead in her boat... Deeply stricken, Thorn is once again compelled to take justice on himself. One more time he seeks revenge. The two quests, one by a 19 year old boy and the other by a mature man, play against each other. Thorn seeks a more complicated blood price this time... All of this is threaded together by his feelings for Sarah, for a relationship that takes as many twists and turns as the complex plot of the book.
I was surprised again by the depth of Thorn's character. It would be far easier for Hall to make Thorn into a good-guy heavy, but that never happens. Underneath the seemingly unambitious and directionless maker of fishing lures are surprising facets of character. Hall's facility with character is not limited to Thorn. Sarah, and Sugarman, Thorn's closest friend also manage to avoid becoming stereotypes. Perhaps most surprising are the killers themselves, who spring to life - unpleasant, tormented, and psychotic, but totally fascinating.
This is a treat of a book, from its eccentric actors to the details of fishing and life in the Keys. It creates a Florida that you want to go down and touch. To see if it might just be real after all. You will find much violence, but little of it excessive. There is a fine sense of what is needed to bring the story home without the need to disgust or offend the reader. I am looking forward to the remainder of this series. You should too.
Rating: 5
Summary: A spectacular debut!
Comment: In 1987's "Under Cover of Daylight" James W. Hall introduces Thorn, the nonconformist antihero, and reveals his troubled past.
It is a believable suspenseful story of secrets, revenge, personal loss and an elaborate land grab scheme.
A drunken driver who escaped conviction killed Thorn's parents.
At age nineteen, Thorn avenges their death.
Twenty years later, living in the Keys---life seems good for Thorn. His hand made bone fish flies are in huge demand---there is plenty of time for Thorn and his friend Sugarman to enjoy the Keys lifestyle---and prosecuting attorney Sarah Ryan has entered his life.
And then---a psycho hired killer murders Thorn's adoptive mother (who actively opposes the condo developers). Once again Thorn is compelled to find justice on his terms.
This is a dynamic debut novel. All the characters are richly drawn; the Keys come vividly to life, the plot races along and the resolution is most satisfying.
"Under Cover of Daylight" is a most worthy reread for all fans of James W. Hall and Thorn.
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Title: Tropical Freeze by James W. Hall ISBN: 0393318958 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: August, 1999 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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Title: Mean High Tide by James Hall ISBN: 044021355X Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 05 January, 1995 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Red Sky at Night by James Hall ISBN: 0440225744 Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 08 June, 1998 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Off the Chart: A Novel by James W. Hall ISBN: 0312271786 Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur Pub. Date: 14 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Bones of Coral by James Hall ISBN: 044021453X Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 04 April, 1993 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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