Rating:  Summary: Depressing and morbid Review: Maybe I'm just not a lover of crime suspense type novels, but I really had to push myself to finish this book. I listened to it on audiobook and half-way through the story a tape broke. I almost gave up on it then, but did finish the story. I definitely didn't like the graphic description of the dolphins being mutilated to get their endorphins, but did like the author's quirky characters, especially Pepper. She was a red neck assistant to Dr. Bean Wilson,who was hoping to find a cure for phantom limb pain. He himself had lost his legs in Vietnam and was experiencing excruciating pain in his missing legs. After finding out that dolphins were somehow able to take pain away, he begins experimenting on disabled veterans, who are going through the same pain. Unfortunately, to do the experiments, the doctor needs the spinal columns and brains of dolphins. The patients aren't living through the treatments though, and Thorn, Key West's local private eye, gets into the middle of it all. He is involved in a scuffle which leaves him paralyzed and in the care of Dr. Bean, his childhood friend who would like nothing better than to try out his antidote on Thorn. There is a little suspense, but actually I thought that the Dr. was onto a good idea. If he had a better method for obtaining the endorphins I think it would have merit.
Rating:  Summary: This book's OK, but not great. Review: Maybe I'm just not a lover of crime suspense type novels, but I really had to push myself to finish this book. I listened to it on audiobook and half-way through the story a tape broke. I almost gave up on it then, but did finish the story. I definitely didn't like the graphic description of the dolphins being mutilated to get their endorphins, but did like the author's quirky characters, especially Pepper. She was a red neck assistant to Dr. Bean Wilson,who was hoping to find a cure for phantom limb pain. He himself had lost his legs in Vietnam and was experiencing excruciating pain in his missing legs. After finding out that dolphins were somehow able to take pain away, he begins experimenting on disabled veterans, who are going through the same pain. Unfortunately, to do the experiments, the doctor needs the spinal columns and brains of dolphins. The patients aren't living through the treatments though, and Thorn, Key West's local private eye, gets into the middle of it all. He is involved in a scuffle which leaves him paralyzed and in the care of Dr. Bean, his childhood friend who would like nothing better than to try out his antidote on Thorn. There is a little suspense, but actually I thought that the Dr. was onto a good idea. If he had a better method for obtaining the endorphins I think it would have merit.
Rating:  Summary: Charter member of the big '3' keeps pace!!!! Review: Not to be one-upped by Randy White or Carl Hiaasen
James Hall has created another cast of less than typical characters for this latest Thorn escapade.
He has allowed Thorns love interest to survive two novels and has once again taken all of us south Florida mystery fans to the places we've been and the intigue we wished we had been part of.Perhaps one day we'll see Thorn,Doc Ford and Skink take on the bad guys!!!!
Rating:  Summary: Pain. There is no more lively sensation than that of pain; Review: Pain. There is no more lively sensation than that of pain; its impressions are certain and dependable. Marquis de Sade (1740-1814)What a riveting book! This is my first James W. Hall novel and it I loved it. His strong, bold, vivid characters, often border on the audacious and bizarre. In "Red Sky at Night" Hall pulls you into worlds of paralysis, paraplegics and pain. And as Marquis de Sade said "there is no more lively sensation than that of pain". The Key West setting combined with the madness, murders, mayhem and macabre characters, makes this book a top ratebeach read. Strongly Recommended
Rating:  Summary: Pain. There is no more lively sensation than that of pain; Review: Pain. There is no more lively sensation than that of pain; its impressions are certain and dependable. Marquis de Sade (1740-1814) What a riveting book! This is my first James W. Hall novel and it I loved it. His strong, bold, vivid characters, often border on the audacious and bizarre. In "Red Sky at Night" Hall pulls you into worlds of paralysis, paraplegics and pain. And as Marquis de Sade said "there is no more lively sensation than that of pain". The Key West setting combined with the madness, murders, mayhem and macabre characters, makes this book a top ratebeach read. Strongly Recommended
Rating:  Summary: eminem Review: RED SKY AT NIGHT explores the ethics, or lack thereof, which govern medical science. This realistic piece of fiction uses three-dimensional descriptions and complex plot twists to probe intriguing if not disturbing depths. By combining terror with controversy, this book bites into your conscience, chews it up, and doesn't loosen its hold till the end. By using a villian that is, in fact, pursuing a worthy cause, RED SKY AT NIGHT presses you to decide just how far society should go in quest for miracle cures. You are even led to question the behavior of Thorn, the book's hero. This is a good book for anyone who prefers to have to analyze the rights and wrongs of an issue. At the same time, the action and suspense, makes a good book for those just looking for a thriller.
Rating:  Summary: A Book That Reads You Review: RED SKY AT NIGHT explores the ethics, or lack thereof, which govern medical science. This realistic piece of fiction uses three-dimensional descriptions and complex plot twists to probe intriguing if not disturbing depths. By combining terror with controversy, this book bites into your conscience, chews it up, and doesn't loosen its hold till the end. By using a villian that is, in fact, pursuing a worthy cause, RED SKY AT NIGHT presses you to decide just how far society should go in quest for miracle cures. You are even led to question the behavior of Thorn, the book's hero. This is a good book for anyone who prefers to have to analyze the rights and wrongs of an issue. At the same time, the action and suspense, makes a good book for those just looking for a thriller.
Rating:  Summary: THRILLING... Review: This book is one of the most exciting I've ever read. As an aficionado of mystery (Ruth Rendell is another of my favorites), I give this book a five star rating. In terms of twists and turns it's right up there with Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris and Mercy by David L. Lindsay. It also has a deeply Floridian atmosphere and a few moments of black humor, a la the late lamented John D. McDonald. Don't make any immediate plans if you get ahold of this book; you won't want to put it down. A word of warning to the faint of heart: this is a medical thriller and has a few very dark moments. But the ending crackles and is MOST satisfying. Kudos to James W. Hall; keep them coming!
Rating:  Summary: It's a must HEAR! Review: This was my first audiobook. It was great. The reader did an excellent job of maintaining voice differentiation, allowing me, the listener, to follow the story without becoming confused. I was able to receive a true visual of the atmosphere. I could actually feel and imagine what the characters where experiencing.
Rating:  Summary: A satisfyingly scary medical thriller Review: When eleven dolphins, who were part of a healing experiment, are found decapitated in the
Florida keys, amateur detective Thorn, who swam with the victims, decides to investigate.
Instead of solving the case, Thorn is attacked and left paralyzed from his waist down. To get
around, the now bitter Thorn has to use a wheelchair. The pain is so unbearable, Thorn seeks
miracle cures from the fringe elements of medical science.
.......His search for a cure takes him back to his childhood friend, Dr. Bean Wilson, an embittered
researcher running a pain-relief clinic in the Keys. Thorn quickly realizes that there is something
wrong with the clinic and that the dead dolphins are linked to the research going on there. What
he does not know is that the clinic also experiments on real people, discarding the failures by
tossing them into the ocean. How can Thorn hope to be a thorn in the researcher's side when he
is confined to a wheelchair and his foes know how to make or ease pain beyond human
comprehension?
.....RED SKY AT NIGHT is an exciting medical thriller that raises serious ethical questions involving
medical research. The support cast is tremendous and the Florida Keys make a dynamite setting
in the hands of an artist like James W. Hall. A paralyzed Thorn elicits reader empathy as he goes
through various psychological stages (anger, denial, bitterness, and reluctant acceptance even as
he improves). However, his deadly foe, Bean, comes across more like a caricature of Dr.
Cyclops, a poor fifties movie villain than a crisp unethical nineties killer, taking a bit away from
the novel. But check out his assistants. They more than make up for the lackluster Bean.
This reviewer recommends this novel to fans of action-packed, taut medical thrillers. For an even
greater taste of Mr. Hall, who is among the best writers of thrillers, try any of his previous seven
South Florida novels. They are all great.
......Harriet Klausner
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