Rating: 
Summary: good read
Review: this is the first James hall novel I have read and it was a very good thriller with an interesting cast of characters. Not quite top notch but definitely worth reading.If you like a good thriller that does not follow formula check out: "A Tourist in the Yucatan"
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant in the mind of those who can read!!
Review: This review will be short but straight to the point. The book was brilliant! I loved it. A must read for anyone who loves to read! James Hall is a mastermind with his fictional tales, which make you feel as if you're in them as well. Hall brings each scene together with a gripping chill and leaves the reader begging for more! This was an amazing book and I say to James Hall - Keep Them Coming!!
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't Put It Down!!!!
Review: This review will be short!!!! Hall kept me enthralled from Page 1 to Finish. I couldn't put the book down and stayed up all night to read it!
Rating: 
Summary: Good story, but cliched characters and conclusion drag
Review: This was my first Hall book and I was definitely impressed with his storytelling and the use of action throughout the book. The story is multi-layered and exciting and the various jumping plots conclude cleanly. However, I didn't really think Hannah Keller was a very strong character, she doesn't interact well with the other characters and she seems recycled from other mystery heroines forced to take justice into their own hands. I also didn't care for Hal Bonner, it seems Hall made him the most vile, disgusting man on the face of the earth, and gave him a boring trademark killing method that just gets annoying after a while. I enjoyed the cat and mouse theatrics and the dialogue but Hall definitely went way overboard in his characters, they aren't fascinating at all, their actually quite boring and sad.
Rating:
Summary: good book, but cliched ending
Review: This was my first James Hall book, and I plan to read some more in the future as he seems to be a very good writer. His writing flows clean and easy, making for a fast paced read. The main characters Hannah and Frank were good, but I would have liked to see a little more depth into Frank. Hal and Misty are also good villians, but Hal is perhaps a bit cartoonish, particularily his method of killing. The plot was interesting and had some original ideas compared to the typical plot in the genre. The only problem was that you could see how it would end from a mile away. Although the identity of Hannah's parents killer was a nice suprise. Overall, a good read.
Rating:
Summary: First, but not last
Review: This was my first James Hall novel, but I can't wait to read more. His dialogue between characters is excellent (and funny!) and I found myself grimacing at some of the scene descriptions. He gets the point across without being long-winded. This was a great book and the ending was truly a surprise (which is such a refreshing thing.) Keep writing Mr. Hall!
Rating: 
Summary: Play Misty in Margaritaville
Review: To suggest that Hall's 'Rough Draft' is in a class with Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen is like comparing Mickey Mouse to Ernest Hemingway. None of the characters seem real, and a few would be better suited to a science fiction story. Hal the antisocial homicidal maniac with almost supernatural powers to blend in and kill with his bare hands and Stevie the 11-year-old genius who can manipulate the FBI's computer system have no roots in reality. To please an egomaniacal senator whose daughter Hal killed, super ambitious FBI agent Helen Shane sets up an elaborate scam to trap Hal using heroine Hannah Keller as bait. The detestable Shane misses obvious opportunities to nail Hal while Hannah unrealistically gets sucked into the plan endangering her fragile son Randall along the way. Agent Frank Sheffield, torn between Shane's directives and his feelings for Hannah, has enough backbone to challenge Helen and the senator but will straight out lie to Hannah when she starts to figure things out. On top of an incredulous plot, Hall also builds in awkward gimmicks like the fact that Hannah's name and Frank's kayak are palindromes, which ties to the coded messages that Hannah's been getting. When the character named Misty hijacked the boat named Margaritaville, it seemed an apt metaphor for the lack of symmetry to this story.
Rating:
Summary: Play Misty in Margaritaville
Review: To suggest that Hall's 'Rough Draft' is in a class with Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen is like comparing Mickey Mouse to Ernest Hemingway. None of the characters seem real, and a few would be better suited to a science fiction story. Hal the antisocial homicidal maniac with almost supernatural powers to blend in and kill with his bare hands and Stevie the 11-year-old genius who can manipulate the FBI's computer system have no roots in reality. To please an egomaniacal senator whose daughter Hal killed, super ambitious FBI agent Helen Shane sets up an elaborate scam to trap Hal using heroine Hannah Keller as bait. The detestable Shane misses obvious opportunities to nail Hal while Hannah unrealistically gets sucked into the plan endangering her fragile son Randall along the way. Agent Frank Sheffield, torn between Shane's directives and his feelings for Hannah, has enough backbone to challenge Helen and the senator but will straight out lie to Hannah when she starts to figure things out. On top of an incredulous plot, Hall also builds in awkward gimmicks like the fact that Hannah's name and Frank's kayak are palindromes, which ties to the coded messages that Hannah's been getting. When the character named Misty hijacked the boat named Margaritaville, it seemed an apt metaphor for the lack of symmetry to this story.
Rating:
Summary: Murder In Miami
Review: When Miami police officer Hannah Keller arrives at her parents' house to pick up her 11-year-old son, she finds both parents murdered and her son deeply traumatised. It looks as though the person responsible is J.J. Fielding, an embezzler on the run after ripping off a drug cartel to the tune of around $400 million. From here things start to get complicated. On Fielding's trail is a hired killer, Hal, who also happens to be a homicidal maniac with a particularly gruesome (and just a little unbelievable) method of murdering his victims. And on his trail is the FBI who decides to use Hannah as bait to lure and capture Hal. Hal, the inevitable psychopathic assassin, is provided as yet another seemingly unstoppable cold-blooded killer who, you just know, will eventually confront Hannah. Apart from a few scenes that stretched the bounds of belief just a little too far for my liking, the book was very entertaining. Once again James Hall has produced a fast-paced book that urges you to keep reading as the climax is brought to its peak.
Rating:
Summary: Nobody does it better!!
Review: With the magnificently entertaining "Rough Draft", James W. Hall has proven, yet again, that he's the best living American crime writer.
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