21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Dish Best Eaten Cold, February 25, 2002
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.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hall's first and best, May 8, 1997
By A Customer
This review is from: Under Cover of Daylight (Paperback)
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.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great south Florida mystery, September 11, 2002
I don't know how I managed to go this long without being aware of James W. Hall, but I did. I was a huge Travis McGee fan and, although Hall's Thorn character is quite different from John D. McDonald's wonderful knight-errant, it was great to return to south Florida for a terrific story. Thorn is a much more gritty character than McGee, and Hall's writing style is also grittier. Thorn is a hermit-like eccentric with a troubled past who earns a living in the Florida Keys making bonefish lures. He winds up in the middle of a mystery that he decides to resolve himself. Hall describes his setting beautifully and fills his version of the Keys with some odd and quirky characters. All of his characters, even the minor ones, are rich and well fleshed out. The story flows smoothly and the pages fly by. I'm looking forward to reading all of Hall's mysteries, especially those featuring the Thorn character. Very highly recommended.
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