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Library | Call Number | Status |
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Searching... Lyons Public Library | M HALL | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... McMinnville Public Library | Hall, J. | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
The Braswell family had everything people would kill for: money, looks, power. But their eldest son, the family's shining light, died in a bizarre fishing accident. And when he disappeared-hauled into the depths by the giant marlin he had been fighting-he took with him a secret so corrupt that it could destroy the Braswells.Ten years later, a huge airliner crashes in the steamy shallows off the Florida coast, killing all aboard. Helping pull bodies from the water, Thorn finds himself drawn into a bizarre conspiracy: someone has developed a high tech weapon capable of destroying electrical systems in a powerful flash. The terrorist potential is huge. How are the secretive Braswells and their family-owned company, MicroDyne, involved? And what does it have to do with the family's obsessive hunt for the great marlin that killed their golden boy?With the Braswells, James W. Hall introduces one of the most evil and dysfunctional families in the history of fiction. And, along with Thorn, he brings back favorite characters from his earlier books, including Alexandra Rafferty and her father, Lawton Collins, a retired and increasingly dotty former police investigator whose methods of investigation result in his kidnapping. A story that bristles with all the heat and tension of a tropical Florida summer, Blackwater Sound is destined to rank among the greatest suspense thrillers of the new decade.
Summary
It comes out of nowhere--an airliner silently dropping from the sky into the torpid shallows of Florida's Blackwater Sound. Thorn witnesses the crash and pulls the survivors to safety, soon finding himself thrust into the media spotlight as a reluctant hero--and consumed by an elaborate conspiracy born out of the psychotic fantasies of a prominent Florida family. But their link to the doomed Rio-bound flight only touches the surface of a private world of murder, power, and revenge. And it'sluring Thorn and crime-scene photographer Alexandra Rafferty dangerously close to the harrowing family secret that should have perished in the flames...
Author Notes
James W. Hall was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. After graduating from Eckerd College in Florida and earning additional degrees from John Hopkins University and the University of Utah, He began to write poetry. Among his published books of poetry are The Lady from the Dark Green Hills, The Mating Reflex, and False Statements.
Following his successful 20-year career as a poet, he decided it was time to switch gears and try his hand at writing fictional crime novels. He published his first novel, Under Cover of Daylight, in 1987. Since then he has written over 15 novels including the Thorn Mysteries series, Bones of Coral, Hard Aground, Rough Draft, and Forests of the Night. Several of his novels have been optioned for film and he has written screenplays for two of those projects. He is a professor of literature and writing at Florida International University.
(Bowker Author Biography)
James W. Hall was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. After graduating from Eckerd College in Florida and earning additional degrees from John Hopkins University and the University of Utah, He began to write poetry. Among his published books of poetry are The Lady from the Dark Green Hills, The Mating Reflex, and False Statements.
Following his successful 20-year career as a poet, he decided it was time to switch gears and try his hand at writing fictional crime novels. He published his first novel, Under Cover of Daylight, in 1987. Since then he has written over 15 novels including the Thorn Mysteries series, Bones of Coral, Hard Aground, Rough Draft, and Forests of the Night. Several of his novels have been optioned for film and he has written screenplays for two of those projects. He is a professor of literature and writing at Florida International University.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Hall's dangerous bone-fishing iconoclast Thorn (Under Cover of Daylight, etc.) and gorgeous police photographer Alexandra Rafferty (Body Language) join forces in a thriller that should swell the author's ranks of admirers. From dramatic beginning to chilling ending, Hall's never been better. When a passenger plane crash-lands near Thorn's boat in the Florida coastal waters, Thorn finds himself thrust into a rescue operation that leads him deeper and deeper into the lunatic world of the Braswell family. The Braswell children boy genius Andy, psychopathic Johnny and dangerously beautiful Morgan make an impressively deadly combination. When circumstances lead Alexandra's wandering and forgetful father, Lawton Collins, into Thorn's path and into the clutches of the Braswells, Thorn and Alexandra become uneasy allies. There's much more at stake than the rescue of one endearing old man with a confused mind the Braswells' evil plans to market a terrifying device promises a reign of terror of awesome proportions. But all that is secondary to Hall's celebration of human and animal determination and grit: Thorn's principled effort to rescue Lawton and a great blue marlin's savage fight to survive. Hall's marlin is a magnificent creature, which the Braswells have hunted for a decade like Ahab after Moby Dick. Hall the poet and Hall the novelist have never been more beautifully melded than they are in this book. The result is suspense, entertainment and high-quality literature. (Jan. 7) Forecast: Backed by a national author tour and ad campaign, with pre-pub raves from Dennis Lehane, James Lee Burke, Robert Crais, Scott Turow and Michael Connelly, this crime novel seems destined for bestsellerdom. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
More spirited apocalyptic escapism pitting Thorn, the hero lesser mortals disapprovingly describe as "some kind of amateur vigilante," against a hideously dysfunctional South Florida family. Every since her adored teenaged brother Andy was drowned by a giant marlin and her mother killed herself in grief, Darlene Braswell has been a woman with a mission. Armed with Andy's notes and diagrams, the cold-eyed beauty has taken control of her father's company, MicroDyne-using the technological breakthroughs Andy envisioned to bail the firm out of troubled waters-and of her lumpish kid brother Johnny, whose principal interests are watching old gangster movies and replicating their dialogue and weaponry in real-life situations. Now MicroDyne is on the verge of perfecting a device worthy of James Bond: a High Energy Radio Frequency (HERF) gun that knocks out all electrical circuits in its target area, whether that's a tavern or an airliner. Unfortunately for Darlene, Thorn just happens to be breaking up with his latest lissome lover in a boat directly under the Rio-bound flight Darlene decides to bring down, and Arnold Peretti, the best friend of Darlene's father, has decided to turn evidence of HERF's power over to the press. Johnny can neutralize Arnold, of course, but how can any mere mortal, armed with whatever high-tech wizardry, hope to succeed against the alliance of crime-scene photographer Alexandra Rafferty (Body Language, 1998) and the imperishably virile Thorn (Rough Draft, 2000)? It's true that Thorn will have his work cut out for him getting close to Darlene and the crew of her nefarious yacht ByteMe, but it's not true that he has nothing Darlene and her father want: He can promise access to the monstrous marlin that killed golden-boy Andy. Average for this action-packed series, built for speed rather than reflection, and boasting still another in the most grotesque gallery of villains since the glory days of Dick Tracy. Author tour
Library Journal Review
The most recent of Hall's thrillers, featuring the man known only as Thorn, lives up to the series' reputation. At the scene of an airline crash, Thorn becomes entangled in the mystery of its connection to the successful but dysfunctional Braswell family, and the listener's attention is captured immediately. An assignment brings police photographer Alexandra Rafferty into the widening net along with her Alzheimer's-suffering father, Lawton. Ten years ago a trophy-sized blue marlin took genius Andy Braswell to the water's depths along with a transmitter that patriarch A J, daughter Morgan, and psychopathic Johnny tune in to annually. In the rush to find one of Andy's inventions, a HURF weapon explodes. Dick Hill's impressive arsenal of vocal characterizations completes this highly recommended program. Sandy Glover, West Linn P.L., OR (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Hall's dangerous bone-fishing iconoclast Thorn (Under Cover of Daylight, etc.) and gorgeous police photographer Alexandra Rafferty (Body Language) join forces in a thriller that should swell the author's ranks of admirers. From dramatic beginning to chilling ending, Hall's never been better. When a passenger plane crash-lands near Thorn's boat in the Florida coastal waters, Thorn finds himself thrust into a rescue operation that leads him deeper and deeper into the lunatic world of the Braswell family. The Braswell children boy genius Andy, psychopathic Johnny and dangerously beautiful Morgan make an impressively deadly combination. When circumstances lead Alexandra's wandering and forgetful father, Lawton Collins, into Thorn's path and into the clutches of the Braswells, Thorn and Alexandra become uneasy allies. There's much more at stake than the rescue of one endearing old man with a confused mind the Braswells' evil plans to market a terrifying device promises a reign of terror of awesome proportions. But all that is secondary to Hall's celebration of human and animal determination and grit: Thorn's principled effort to rescue Lawton and a great blue marlin's savage fight to survive. Hall's marlin is a magnificent creature, which the Braswells have hunted for a decade like Ahab after Moby Dick. Hall the poet and Hall the novelist have never been more beautifully melded than they are in this book. The result is suspense, entertainment and high-quality literature. (Jan. 7) Forecast: Backed by a national author tour and ad campaign, with pre-pub raves from Dennis Lehane, James Lee Burke, Robert Crais, Scott Turow and Michael Connelly, this crime novel seems destined for bestsellerdom. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
More spirited apocalyptic escapism pitting Thorn, the hero lesser mortals disapprovingly describe as "some kind of amateur vigilante," against a hideously dysfunctional South Florida family. Every since her adored teenaged brother Andy was drowned by a giant marlin and her mother killed herself in grief, Darlene Braswell has been a woman with a mission. Armed with Andy's notes and diagrams, the cold-eyed beauty has taken control of her father's company, MicroDyne-using the technological breakthroughs Andy envisioned to bail the firm out of troubled waters-and of her lumpish kid brother Johnny, whose principal interests are watching old gangster movies and replicating their dialogue and weaponry in real-life situations. Now MicroDyne is on the verge of perfecting a device worthy of James Bond: a High Energy Radio Frequency (HERF) gun that knocks out all electrical circuits in its target area, whether that's a tavern or an airliner. Unfortunately for Darlene, Thorn just happens to be breaking up with his latest lissome lover in a boat directly under the Rio-bound flight Darlene decides to bring down, and Arnold Peretti, the best friend of Darlene's father, has decided to turn evidence of HERF's power over to the press. Johnny can neutralize Arnold, of course, but how can any mere mortal, armed with whatever high-tech wizardry, hope to succeed against the alliance of crime-scene photographer Alexandra Rafferty (Body Language, 1998) and the imperishably virile Thorn (Rough Draft, 2000)? It's true that Thorn will have his work cut out for him getting close to Darlene and the crew of her nefarious yacht ByteMe, but it's not true that he has nothing Darlene and her father want: He can promise access to the monstrous marlin that killed golden-boy Andy. Average for this action-packed series, built for speed rather than reflection, and boasting still another in the most grotesque gallery of villains since the glory days of Dick Tracy. Author tour
Library Journal Review
The most recent of Hall's thrillers, featuring the man known only as Thorn, lives up to the series' reputation. At the scene of an airline crash, Thorn becomes entangled in the mystery of its connection to the successful but dysfunctional Braswell family, and the listener's attention is captured immediately. An assignment brings police photographer Alexandra Rafferty into the widening net along with her Alzheimer's-suffering father, Lawton. Ten years ago a trophy-sized blue marlin took genius Andy Braswell to the water's depths along with a transmitter that patriarch A J, daughter Morgan, and psychopathic Johnny tune in to annually. In the rush to find one of Andy's inventions, a HURF weapon explodes. Dick Hill's impressive arsenal of vocal characterizations completes this highly recommended program. Sandy Glover, West Linn P.L., OR (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.