Mean High Tide [Hardcover]

James W. Hall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 14, 1994

Beneath the still blue waters off  Key Largo a woman dives into a dazzling array of  color. But behind the shimmering schools of fish,  somewhere in the shadows of the reef, a death trap  awaits. In minutes one life will be expertly,  brutally taken, and another plunged into a mean season  of fury, obsession, and revenge... His name is  Thorn, his world is mangrove islands, open waters, and  the ghosts of a too-violent past. Darcy Richards  was everything to him. Now, finding her killer is.  Wading into a seething mystery, Thorn is  catapulted into a nightmare of violence and deception.  There lurks a sensual young woman with a hard come-on,  an aging former mobster, and a diabolical ex-CIA  man. What they all have in common is each other's  mad ruthlessness -- and a little red fish that will  make some people very rich, and others very  dead...


From the Paperback edition.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After a two-book hiatus, Thorn--the quixotic fly-tying Florida Keys protagonist of Under Cover of Daylight and Tropical Freeze --is back with a bang in Hall's fifth thriller. Darcy Richards, the love of Thorn's life and his assistant at best-buddy Sugarman's ragtag security agency, dies in a mysterious diving accident after enigmatically asking Thorn if he's ever heard of red tilapia, the exotic food fish. When he discovers that Darcy was murdered via a paralyzing judo handhold known only to covertly trained assassins, Thorn vows revenge. Following a bullet-dodging introduction to Sylvie, the sociopathic daughter of murderous Harden Winchester, Thorn stumbles across a twisted family tree. Hall ricochets this oddball cast helter-skelter through the sleazy mazes of south Florida's tourist-clotted off-ramps, across the alligator-infested Everglades to posh Naples and beyond. As usual, Hall's Uzi-punctuated prose is compelling. Despite the uncharacteristically bad, comic-opera melodrama of the climactic scene, Hall manages in this quirky, thought-provoking nail-biter to convey with ominous clarity the ecological warning: "The future is now."
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

The author of best-selling thrillers like Hard Aground (Delacorte, 1993) returns with yet another violent romp through the Florida Keys.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd (February 14, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0434000949
• ISBN-13: 978-0434000944
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,661,387 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Walking Catfish, Grass Carp, Zebra Mussels, etc., August 1, 2003

By 

Charles J. Marr (Cambridge Springs, Pa USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mean High Tide (Paperback)

Invasive exotic species, get the picture? Eventually so does Thorn. A breeding program to develop a species of "red" tilapia under the theory that Americans will eat anything that's "red," not so far fetched now that we know about red dye in farmed salmon, threatens to unleash a flood of unwelcome visitors into the glades watershed. The story is a bit heavy handed, but after all so is Thorn.
I discovered a used copy of this novel in a bookstore in the Keys a few years ago while hunting a poolside "read." Almost got as red as the tilapia as I forgot the time in the sun and since have hunted down the entire series. A rough, tough south Florida adventure novel, and while not Hall's best it's worth the time if you like this sort of fiction. I do.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hall delivers once again!, May 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Mean High Tide (Paperback)

James W. Hall is an excellent author, his books are always full of adventure, non stop edge of your seat suspense and packed with factual scientific information pertinent to the day in time.

Hall introduces the story by forcing the reader to feel what it's really like to be inside of Thorn's skin. With the death of his close companion we share his anger, outrage, frustration and grief. The plot of the story holds more meaning because the reader is personally and emotionally tied to the story.

Although the story is obviously fictional one cannot help wondering how far fetched a biological disaster as such could really be. In nature one finds that these occurances are often natually corrected however this book presents the question, "What if it occurs intentionally?" and more importantly, "Why?"

James W. Hall is indisputably worth your money, attention and time. Don't stop with Mean High Tide!!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic novel. Lyrical and scary, December 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Mean High Tide (Paperback)

Hall is the best of the Florida writers. His novels are complex and beautifully written and always full of scary situations and wild bad guys. Mean High Tide is one of his very best, which to my mind makes it one of the best thrillers I've ever read.

Just the opening few chapters will blow anyone away who loves good writing and wild characters. There's a scene on the coral reefs in Key Largo that is as vivid and richly detailed as any underwater writing I've ever read. And in the same scene a moment occurs that is break-your-heart sad and scary at once.

His environmental concerns are also richly detailed in this book. The very real threat of the tilapia fish being introduced into the warm tropical waters of Florida gives the book a moral weight that most thrillers lack.

He's the best. Read all of them. But if you want to see Thorn at his most creative and angriest, read this novel.