Customer Reviews

Magic City [With Headphones]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Magic City is significant not only for James W. Hall's seductive storytelling, but also because it represents a milestone of sorts, marking Hall's twentieth year as a novelist. Yes, fans, it's been twenty years since the superlative Under Cover of Daylight, which, by the way, featured the same protagonist as Magic City, the enigmatic Thorn. Oh how time flies when you're having fun...

This time out, the mayhem is triggered by a forty-year old photograph, a picture of then Mayor of Miami Beach Stanton King and his guests in the audience of the 1964 prizefight between Cassius Clay and Sonny Liston. Its reappearance at a retrospective of the photographer's work sends certain parties into a panic, causing them to trigger a search for all extant copies. Unfortunately for him, but fortunately for action/thriller fans, one of those copies belongs to the father of Thorn's paramour Alexandra, retired cop Lawton Collins. Pulled into the matter by circumstance, Thorn meets lethal force with equally lethally force in an attempt to protect his loved ones.

Fast paced, harrowing, and thoroughly compelling, Hall's fourteenth novel proves once again that Miami Beach is still a fertile breeding ground for thrillers, as the author holds a mirror up to the last forty years of the city's history, even as he puts his series character Thorn through some very demanding paces. Hall's regular readers and fans of writers as diverse as John D. MacDonald, Carl Hiaasen, Randy Wayne White, James O. Born and Tim Dorsey will no doubt enjoy this offering.

On February 25, 1964, Cassius Clay defeated Sonny Liston. In Miami, Florida, a 12-year-old boy named Manuel Ricardo Morales, known as Snake, listens excitedly to the radio transmission of the fight. Originally from Cuba, Snake and his family came to Miami to elude the Fidel Castro regime. On this night, most of the members of the Morales family are killed, as Snake sees who he believes to be Castro's hit men enter his home and leave him an orphan. Although he fights back valiantly --- like his hero, Cassius Clay --- Snake also loses his beloved girlfriend, Carmen, to these thugs.

A photograph of the fight becomes critical to the plot from this point forward --- because sitting in row three of that picture is the man responsible for these horrific murders. A now-grown-up Snake discovers that Lawton Collins is in possession of a copy of the photograph and goes to Lawton's house to retrieve it. There, he and his friend find Thorn Truman, our protagonist, who is engaged to Alexandria Collins. "He would find the photo, decipher its meaning, and then do what was necessary, accomplishing each step with dispassionate focus. As Cassius had fought. Aloof, above the fray, deliberate, calculated, and merciless."

Lawton Collins is a terrific character. A retired cop, with a great sense of humor and irony, he is not a fan of Thorn dating his daughter. "It's about time she got back," Lawton said. "Leaving her old man in the hands of an unreliable doofus, what kind of daughter would do that to her defenseless old dad."

As a highly valued CIA operative, Pauline Caufield's role in maintaining a high-profile manufacturing executive cover provides readers with a second plot. The two storylines come together with the significance of the Cassius Clay-Sonny Liston photo.

What is particularly interesting about MAGIC CITY is the weaving and depth of the plot lines. Just when you think that James W. Hall has written a commonplace novel, he smacks you with another piece of the puzzle. This incredibly well-crafted story has all the elements to surprise, captivate and reassure the reader that this is a book worth reading.

Thorn Truman is hesitant to leave his home in the Florida Keys for his visit to Alexandria in Miami. He will soon see that he has good reason to be reluctant, as his trip to Miami will be nothing but ordinary. When the federal government, the CIA, Cuban rebels and the Catholic Church are involved, action reigns. Who is exonerated, who is blamed, and who sinks back into the woodwork? Read MAGIC CITY and find out for yourself.

--- Reviewed by Marge Fletcher

While I am a fan of the Thorn series, this one started out promising, but turned a little cartoonish in the last 50 pages. Lola was very unbelievable with her "stinging". I also couldn't get past all of the amazing coincidences (people still living in the same place after 40+ years and remembering the details of a particular crime.)

I will, however keep reading about Thorn. Hopefully James Hall will get back on track.

I like Hall. I really like the reprint of his first novel. Classic South Florida, and this too is a fastpaced Thorn adventure with our fly-tying Keys boat bum conch hero bustin things up in the dark designs of Miami. But it ain't the Keys and be forewarned. It starts with a snook in a mangrove pool near Thorn's Largo home and ends there as well, but aside from that there is no organic connection to the keys. This is good and bad. Good: an action packed novel, intense. New bad guys; many of us Keys afficianados are getting a little tired of long in the tooth heroes battling wicked condo developers. Nary a one shows his greedy face here. Bad: there is also precious little of Thorn's sattelite characters: Alexandra and Sugarman. And aside from the Altzhimers, the relationship of Thorn and her father is unexplained.

The premise in this novel is the gangster, Cuban exile, C.I.A. entanglements of the early sixties with Miami politicos and their resurfacing in the last decade via a photograph. There's pellet gun potshot madness on the beach and amid mangroves. Femme fatales. Murder. Agent provocateuring. Shadow figures. But there is a bit of a hole here and there in motivation and resolution. Almost like Hall wants to keep a couple of these folk around for the next step up the coast. Really, for a setting, I like Key Largo better and hope that in future he doen't drag us to Boca, DelRay or (appropriately) Melbourne as we chase down these aged spies and counter-revolutionaries.

Thank god for James Hall and Thorn.
I have just finished Magic City and read the second half in one sitting. This is the most satisfying and riveting thriller I have read for a while and Halls best since Rough Draft.
Magic City puts Thorn way on top, he is always a great character, subtly drawn, always loads of emotional descriptions and real relationships with his friends and enemies.

I love all of the Florida thriller writers but Hiaacen has turned to preaching his message of conservation without the exciting storyline to carry the message.
His last 3 books becoming progressively worthy and dull.
Paul Levine's fun Solomon And Lord have taken over from Jake Lassiter. What's happened to Lawrence Shames?
Alex Rutledge from Tom Corcoran still cuts it.
Randy Wayne White's Doc Ford is reliable, I am about to read Hunters Moon and I am full of hope that Doc Ford is going to win me back to Sanibel Island.

Living in grey London I am very grateful to all the above writers for the hot tropical picture they paint of the Keys and the Gulf and the seedier side of the south Florida Cities.

You have London Bridge, give me Stone crabs, mangroves, stilt houses, Tarpon, bonefish, conch fritters, islands, boats, faded deco and crime
ok maybe not the crime...

Events of the past come up to hit series hero Thorn and latest girl friend - Alexandra Rafferty hard as a pair of orphaned Cuban brothers now grown up attempt to do anything to get their hands on a picture taken at the Miami arena during the Sonny Liston - Cassius Clay fight. Working at cross purposes the 4 try to identify everyone in the picture and solve the mystery of a massacre that took place over 20 years ago - as the CIA, former polticians, and the Catholic church are pulled in. Not as riveting as the usual Thorn thriller - but enjoyable nonetheless.

This may be a decent detective read, but honestly, it's hard to fight through to the substance in audio format. The Publisher's Weekly review above has it right-on; the narrators voice is totally unsuited for the genre, but that's only part of it -- he doesn't do ethnic or female voices well, and mispronounces Meyer Lansky's name as "Mayer" Lansky throughout. This gets especially dicey when he mentions "Mayer" and Miami's MAYOR in the same sentence, which happens frequently. At one point the narrator even mixes his attempts at a woman's voice with a male's during rapid back-and-forth dialogue -- yikes! To top that off, the reader's default accent -- whatever it is -- is sadly reminiscent of the narrator voice in Edward Wood's "Plan 9 from outer space."

This is my first Hall novel, and he's no James Lee Burke; even under the bad narration there's too much overwriting, too much explanation about feelings or thoughts we can supply for ourselves. The protagonist, Thorn, is another vagrant unarmed bad-a** with no address like Jack Reacher in the Lee Child novels -- what is the rationale for such crime solvers? Why not give them a little .22 to carry? Anyway -- I have a long commute and listen to a lot of these kinds of novels, and would like to give the author another chance... I believe Will Patton has narrated one of Hall's novels on CD -- now, THAT would be the ticket!

Length:: 3:30 Mins

This is the best book I've read in a couple of years and in this video book review I tell you why! I don't give away the plot, but I do tell you who will enjoy this book and why! Frank Derfler, author of A Glint in Time

With most authors, there is something special that makes us keep coming back to them. Sometimes it's the characters or the plotting, and occasionally it's some gimmick, like a monk, chef or cat that solves the mystery. For James Hall, there is no gimmick, just great writing, but if there is one thing that always makes his stories stand out, it's his wonderfully twisted villains. The villains are a little less warped in Magic City, but it's still typical James Hall, and that's a great read.

The story actually starts four decades earlier on the day of the Cassius Clay-Sonny Liston fight. After the fight, twelve year old Snake Morales witnesses the murder of his family, most notably his beloved sister. He and his brother Carlos become the wards of Miami mayor Stanton King, but both kids are psychically damaged from the massacre.

In the present day, a photo of the boxing match comes to light that shows several people in the stands who seem to be tied to the murder, including King. Although the ex-mayor realizes the danger of the picture, he appoints Snake and Carlos to destroy all copies of it. What he doesn't count on is Snake's photographic memory picking up on the significance of the picture, but Carlos has already destroyed most of the copies. There is only one left, and it belongs to Lawton Collins, the father of Alex Collins, the girlfriend of series character Thorn.

Carlos and Snake's attempt to steal Lawton's copy is stopped by Thorn, whose resistance will trigger a series of events that will endanger not only the lives of Alex, Thorn and Lawton, but also the relationship between Thorn and Alex. But even as Thorn and Snake engage in their battles (with the uncontrollable Carlos posing his own threats), Thorn feels a certain sympathy for his adversary (having been orphaned suddenly himself) and also realizes that the real enemy is not Snake but someone lurking in the background and linked to the picture.

As often is the case, Hall balances the story being the heroes and villains, and even if the bad guys are not as memorable as past ones, they are still formidable enough. And on the "good" side of the story, Thorn is as engaging as always, as he starts to come to terms with the fact that he's getting older (he's in his late forties) and that there may need to be changes to his solitary beach bum life. But even if you haven't read other Thorn books, this one stands alone well, so whether or not you're new to James Hall, Magic City is a good novel to pick up.

Magic City is a fun read from beginning to end, as are all of James W. Hall's books. Really, the core of a James W. Hall book is the portrayal of the central character - in this case, Thorn. Thorn is a person who is very genuine and easy to relate to. One can feel his pain, his anger, and admire his willingness to take a stand on behalf of justice. In this book's case, justice is about all that Thorn is able to gain, but, as with all his books, that is sufficient to leave one with a very good feeling for having read it, and looking forward to the next. Dr. Richard Beck