Customer Reviews

Blackwater Sound

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Blackwater Sound brings together Thorn and Sugarman with police photographer Alex and her father from Body Language. As usual, Hall delivers an excellent thriller with superb pacing, interesting characters and a few explosions here and there. We hate the people that Thorn hates, but still feel the ambivalence for hating someone who deserves it.

I was glad to see some more of Sugarman in this book, as he's a chracter who's intrigued me in other books. Bringing in Alex from his other series doesn't feel gimmicky at all -- it's a very natural weaving of two sets of characters that I already knew from having read all of the other Hall books.

Starting with Blackwater Sound would deprive a reader of some fuller character understanding from the other books -- but would certainly motivate someone to go back and read all of the other books to learn more about them.

Just a good, solid, enjoyable book.

Long ago I read a Thorn story and promptly forgot the title. Every time I’d read a mystery with a Florida setting, I thought of Thorn. I’d question mystery experts about a guy who lives on the Keys, a real outsider who doesn’t want any ties and cares not about material things. Recently, I saw a message on the Amazon Discussion Board about “Blackwater Sound,” immediately made the connection, and ordered the book. I was not disappointed.

The haunting prologue described young Andy Braswell who, attempting to attach an electronic device on a Moby Dick sized marlin, was dragged and lost at sea. Ten years later, his mother has committed suicide, his father is still obsessed with catching the marlin, and his brother and sister are emotional wrecks.

The story proper opens with a horrendous crash of a commercial airliner into Blackwater Sound off Key Largo, FL. Thorn is part of the rescue operation. The crash, the sounds and the aftermath, are skillfully and almost poetically rendered by the author. I thought I had read the ultimate in crash descriptions in Andrew Klavan’s “Hunting Down Amanda,” but Mr. Hall is in a class by himself.

The story is well paced and the characterizations are excellent. These are stand-alone type people. After you have read this book, you will surely agree that dysfunctional families are each different unto themselves. The technology is a little weak, but is more than made up for by the stirring battles between man and marlin. Mr. Hall’s expertise is in fishing not gadgets. Recommended.

Thorne is back, which means we all have good reason to rejoice. As much as I loved Hall's previous two books -- "Body Language" and "Rough Draft" -- I was ready to hang with my old buddy Thorne again.

Hall is the best of the Florida writers -- in fact, he may just be the best living suspense novelist. And, the great news is that "Blackwater Sound" as as good as anything he's ever written. There plot is both elegant and subtle -- no super-villians or schtick. It's smart stuff all the way through. Enormously entertaining crime fiction that's also fine literature.

I'm ready for his next one.

I am subject to a strange form of psychopathic dysfunction which compels me to read the last book in a series before going back and reading any of its predecessors. Or it feels that way, anyway. Usually the reason is that everyone is raving about a book and I am too impatient to read 10 books just so I can read the latest and bestest. Generally this theory works out; I like the latest book and go back and read all the rest of the series with the serene knowledge that, even if the author trips up a bit, it will work out in the end. James W. Hall is such a case in point.

The story opens on a Braswell family fishing expedition, where the oldest son is pulled overboard and drowned in the process of tagging a giant marlin. After that short prequel, the scene shifts forward to the Florida Keys ten years later where Thorn, the hero of these mystery/adventure tales is boating with his (soon to be ex-) girlfriend. Technically, I believe she breaks up with him for being too interesting. In any case, this piece of business done, a commercial jet crashes right in front of him. Thorn goes to the rescue, and notices that another boat, which he later tracks to the Braswells, is not helping at all. This is the first tightening of a web that draws Thorn into direct conflict with the wealthy and powerful Braswells, their compulsions, and a weapon that can destroy electronic systems.

The Braswells are the ultimate dysfunctional family. The are headed by A.J., who lives only to find Big Mother, the fish that killed his son Andy. Johnny, the youngest, is a bit of a psychotic space cadet who loves knives and gangster movies. Cleaning up after everyone else is Morgan, who runs the family company, keeps Johnny from becoming a serial killer, and has some very weird problems of her own. It is Morgan who has cooked up a scheme, using some of Andy's formula's and plans, to create a world class weapon of destruction. The Braswells have only one reaction to people who get in their way, and Thorn naturally moves to the top of the list.

On Thorn's side are Alexandra Rafferty, a police photographer, and her father, the mostly wacky but sometimes wise Lawton Collins. His good friend Sugarman also plays a vital roll. The bill is filled out with countless other characters, some witty, some grim, and all well painted. While 'Blackwater Sound' is mostly action, Hall's ability to build character is outstanding, and has to be a large part of the reason that readers keep coming back. I am tempted to compare these stories to those of the dean of Florida mystery writers, John MacDonald, who is a long time favorite of mine. But the truth is that both of these writers are masters in their own right. Certainly, if you like one, you will no doubt like the other. By all means, read this novel. As I've indicated, there is no problem with starting at with this volume, or any other.

I know I've enjoyed a book when I go online to discover which other books the author has written. As soon as I finished 'Blackwater Sound' I found myself searching for the next book by James W. Hall that I would read. Hall's charachters are vividly drawn and though flawed, very likeable. I was happy to discover that Hall's newest novel revisits Thorn, Alexandra, Lawton and Sugarman as I've grown to love them.

In 'Blackwater Sound' Thorn is accidentally visited by an injured old man, Lawton Collins, who is suffering from not only a knife wound but the early stages of Alzheimer's. He likes Lawton and tries to help him by giving him a place to stay and some rudimentary first aid. Lawton wanders off and his daughter, Alexandra, in an effort to find her father encounters Thorn. She is understandably upset with Thorn's irresponsible care of her dad and each goes off separately to search for Lawton and to investigate his connection to the murder of a shady friend, a missing electronic device and a recent airplane crash. Inevitably they find they must work together to solve this intriguing mystery.

The plot is original, the writing crisp and the charachters are unforgettable. You'll really enjoy this one!

Thorn is back and so is Alexandra Rafferty. Fans of James W. Hall's Florida thrillers would recognize those names from previous novels. Thorn is the quintessential Florida hero who prefers to spend his time fishing in the keys. His idyllic life is commonly placed on hold whenever he is subjected to outside evil forces that he must contend with. In this case, he witnesses a jumbo jet crash land in the gulf while he is fishing there. After rescuing as many passengers as he could he notices something not quite right going on. He soon discovers the existence of a device that could shut off electricity at a distance. Hence, the ability to cause massive power failures, not only among aircrafts such as the one Thorn witnessed, but, in whole sections of cities. The device is being sold by the miscreant family called the Braswells. The father, AJ, is obsessed with the capture of a huge marlin responsible for the freak death of his eldest son Andy. Johnny, mentally deficient, is a psychopathic killer and his beautiful sister, Morgan, is evil incarnate. It is this family that Thorn must battle to stop the sale of this potentially devastating weapon. Teaming with Thorn is Alexandra Rafferty, the heroine of BODY LANGUAGE. Alexandra is a Miami PD photographic specialist. Her father, Lawton, suffering from Alzheimer's has stumbled upon the device and is held hostage by the Braswells until it is recovered.
The unique aspect of James W. Hall's books is the combination of a superior thriller with truly poetic and lyrical language. He is, not only a superb storyteller, but is a highly talented writer. He bears comparison to James Lee Burke in evoking the Florida landscape. The descriptions of fishing for the marlin is so magnificently described that one can't help thinking of Hemingway's OLD MAN AND THE SEA. The villains are quite similar to those in previous books. The psychopath, Johnny Braswell, bears an uncanny resemblance to Butler Jack, the terrorist of BUZZ CUT. The characters, however, are an overall believable bunch and ones that are quite familiar to fans of Mr. Hall of whom I proudly count myself as one of them. Highly recommended as are all of his books.

I've read a few of Hall's books, actually all of them. When I finished Black Water Sound I debated with myself for a while and decided it was better than Undercover of Daylight and Bones of Coral, my two previous favorites. It may be that I am fifteen years older than I was when I first started reading Mr. Hall or maybe because Mr. Hall is older, wiser, has refined his craft, uses more sophisticated language, has dialed in so deeply to the unique world that is the Florida Keys, is able to describe the dynamics of relationships better than he ever did, or maybe he's just doing what he's always done, write a damed good book. In any event, James Hall has come up with a great story that brings together his bread-and-butter character, Thorn, with a captavating female character from a previous book to turn this action/adventure/thriller/mystery into a literary page-turner. Only James Hall could write a story mixing high-tech terrorism and Marlin fishing. Good and evil, old and new, love and hate described by a master of description. The chapters fly along so fast, I actually tried to slow it down.
Anyway, I think I'll have to give this one a bunch of stars.

In deciding what books to acquire and then spend precious time reading, I often read through Amazon.com customer reviews. When I find a book that has received an average rating of four or more by at least a combined total of 25 or more reviewers, I consider it a good bet. Such was James W. Hall's Blackwater Sound, a well-crafted page turner.

I was put off by one customer reviewer who gave it only one star and went on to badmouth the book and its author in a big way. The reviewer assured us that he is not a "callow moron," but he fails to tell us what kind of moron he is. If you like an action-packed thriller with really evil bad guys and good guys you'll cheer for, then disregard the one ridiculous review, go with the percentages, and read this book!

After taking some time off from his series character, James Hall has returned to writing about Thorn, a man who treasures his fierce independence only slightly less than his love of crusades. When last seen, Thorn was recovering from a mad doctor's unnecessary treatments, but now (without any real explanation) he is back to peak health and enjoying the mellow life of fishing, beer and beautiful women.

In this story, his idyllic life is disrupted when a plane crashes while he is out at sea. It soon becomes apparent that this crash was not accidental, but is the result of a dysfunctional family and the nasty weapon they have developed. This also gets Thorn entangled with Alexandra Rafferty, the heroine of Hall's previous novel, Body Language.

For Hall, one of the sharper writers in the field, this is not his best effort. Compared to past novels, his villains this time are only slightly warped and the chemistry between Thorn and Alex is relatively minimal. In addition, Thorn isn't as interesting as in the past, perhaps getting stuck in the rut of many series characters.

Nonetheless, even weaker Hall is entertaining reading, and there is a lot of fun along the way. If you've never read Hall, you'd think this was pretty good crime fiction (and you'll be even happier when you read his other books). If you are a Hall fan, you should find this slightly disappointing, but still a worthwhile read.

I disliked Body Language intensely -- so much so that I wrote a highly uncomplimentary review. Didn't really like the characters, didn't like the plot, and missed Thorn. And now, James Hall has managed to let us know his daughter (Alex) well enough to like her, and brought back son/hero Thorn with more depth, more complexity, and the good sense to know a keeper when he has one. The story allows for unbelievable heroism and action, and is written so well that it seems truer than most news programs. Consider my earlier words eaten, with relish.