Rating: 
Summary: I truly enjoyed my crow - prepared by a master
Review: I disliked Body Language intensely -- so much so that I wrote a highly uncomplimentary review. Didn't really like the characters, didn't like the plot, and missed Thorn. And now, James Hall has managed to let us know his daughter (Alex) well enough to like her, and brought back son/hero Thorn with more depth, more complexity, and the good sense to know a keeper when he has one. The story allows for unbelievable heroism and action, and is written so well that it seems truer than most news programs. Consider my earlier words eaten, with relish.
Rating:
Summary: I truly enjoyed my crow - prepared by a master
Review: I disliked Body Language intensely -- so much so that I wrote a highly uncomplimentary review. Didn't really like the characters, didn't like the plot, and missed Thorn. And now, James Hall has managed to let us know his daughter (Alex) well enough to like her, and brought back son/hero Thorn with more depth, more complexity, and the good sense to know a keeper when he has one. The story allows for unbelievable heroism and action, and is written so well that it seems truer than most news programs. Consider my earlier words eaten, with relish.
Rating:
Summary: The best Hall book yet!
Review: I just finished Blackwater Sound, James Hall's newest book and I think this one is his best. The exciting tale of Thorn and Alexandra Rafferty kept me on the edge of my seat and unable to turn the pages fast enough. His popularity is sure to grow after this thrilling addition to his lineup. His lyrical writing will entertain any reader and I hope there will be plenty more where this came from. I highly recommend anyone interesting in finding quality suspense writing to check out this book!
Rating:
Summary: great writing makes for enjoyable read
Review: I know I've enjoyed a book when I go online to discover which other books the author has written. As soon as I finished 'Blackwater Sound' I found myself searching for the next book by James W. Hall that I would read. Hall's charachters are vividly drawn and though flawed, very likeable. I was happy to discover that Hall's newest novel revisits Thorn, Alexandra, Lawton and Sugarman as I've grown to love them.In 'Blackwater Sound' Thorn is accidentally visited by an injured old man, Lawton Collins, who is suffering from not only a knife wound but the early stages of Alzheimer's. He likes Lawton and tries to help him by giving him a place to stay and some rudimentary first aid. Lawton wanders off and his daughter, Alexandra, in an effort to find her father encounters Thorn. She is understandably upset with Thorn's irresponsible care of her dad and each goes off separately to search for Lawton and to investigate his connection to the murder of a shady friend, a missing electronic device and a recent airplane crash. Inevitably they find they must work together to solve this intriguing mystery. The plot is original, the writing crisp and the charachters are unforgettable. You'll really enjoy this one!
Rating: 
Summary: James Hall losing his touch
Review: I used to love James Hall's novels particularly his Thorn novels. With this book and his last few, I think he is losing it. I give this book 2 stars only because I love Thorn and I still have hope for the author. What's bad. I used to read Hall because of his original and quarky bad guys. I also read him for his use of language (he's also a poet) and imagination. In this book the bad guys don't seem very unusual, the language is that of a dime novel, the coincidences are to many, and certain important events are left unexplained... such as an explosion that plays a key role towards the end of the book. This novel seem like a novel that was rushed and nobody double checked. It also has lost most of the grit (as have his last two or three books) that made him such a fun read. I hope Mr. Hall recovers from his roller coaster ride into mediocrity.
Rating: 
Summary: Another great JW Hall book with some minor flaws
Review: I was really looking forward to reading this book when I found out that JW Hall was bringing back Thorn, Sugerman and Alexandra. The book is almost written in a lyrical way and for that reason enjoyable to read. The first chapter is right out of Hemingway and takes your breath away: a killer Mama Marlin. And as usual, Hall brings to the fore some real funky villains. Talk about brotherly love to the extreme. But there were so many unanswered "holes" in the story. Didn't she and her father bump into him in a previous novel (Body Language)? And what's with this NERF box or gun. I'd hate to be in the same boat with it when someone pushed the button and turned off all the power. Holy Buck Rogers! And what's with the big explosion in the marina? What caused it? How does it relate to the story? Of course, Thorn got to rescue Alexandra and see her in the all together. And how did Alexandra get injured? I thought she was back on the boat. And finally the ending... I'm not going to give it away, but...c'mon JW! You traded a grouper for a marlin. Bring back the BIG MAMA MARLIN!
Rating:
Summary: What happened?
Review: I'm a huge fan of James Hall's work and have read everything he's published to date except his poetry, and I've only missed that because I can't find it. For me, his strength lies in the balance of characterizations, plot, and description--at his best his prose is truly poetic. Only a few living authors in his genre are his equal; among them I would count Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, and James Burke. That these three, along with Robert Crais (another author whose works I greatly enjoy) wrote complementary reviews for the blurb of Blackwater Sound really whetted my appetite for Hall's latest, and I began it with real anticipation. One of the Hallmarks (pun fully intended) of Hall's writing is a plot in which big issues are at stake--it's not just a case of solving or preventing a murder; ecological catastrophe, grisly human experimentation or the ownership of Miami are up for grabs. Blackwater Sound is no exception, and this novel concerns an experimental weapon capable of destroying electrical systems at a distance--devastating for airplanes, banks, and in fact most of modern life. Hall's antihero Thorn comes to the rescue--in spite of the fact that in his last appearance (Red Sky at Night) he was suffering from drug-induced paralysis and a gunshot from which we were told he might not fully recover. This crisis, which was so devastating and profound for Thorn, is not even mentioned in passing in Blackwater Sound. Frankly I think we've seen enough of Thorn for a while--although I like him, he's losing his credibility unless he really is a bad-luck magnet; as one of the characters says: "the baddest luck I've ever known." But the book starts beautifully. Here are the first two sentences: "The marlin was the color of the ocean at twenty fathoms, an iridescent blue, with eerie light smoldering within its silky flesh as if its electrons had become unstable by the cold friction of the sea. A ghostly phosphorescence, a gleaming flash, its large eye unblinking as it slipped into a seam in the current, then rose toward the luminous surface where a school of tuna was pecking at the tiny larvae and crustaceans snagged on a weed line." To me, there's a sense of joy in the language that Hall conveys, and I'm captivated by writing like this. Inexplicably, though, somewhere along the way the book becomes just another thriller. As other reviewers have mentioned, there is an explosion which is not explained and very subtly set-up {actually the paperback differs from the hardback in that a few lines are added concerning it}, and which propels events in a direction they might not otherwise have taken. Thorn and the female protagonist, Alexandra, fall deeply and suddenly in love most unconvincingly since they have been deeply antagonistic towards one another. One of the minor characters who Thorn enlisted in his aid is killed and there is no fallout whatsoever--Thorn apparently never gives him another thought. And finally, the villain who had acted so coolly throughout the rest of the book comes back for revenge on Thorn with apparently no more of a plan to kill him than to outdraw him. Compare this writing from the end to those gorgeous opening sentences: "He pulled her up in his arms and held her for a moment, both of them watching as Lawton hauled the grouper up from the shallows. The old man bent down and scooped up the fish and turned around, holding up his silver prize with both hands." I do understand that writers may handle words differently at the beginnings of books than they do at the end, but where has the poetry gone, where is the evocative description? The ending seems flat to me; serviceable, but nothing special. Writing literary thrillers is certainly a special challenge and I'm grateful that Hall accepts it; but I hope for a return to his old magic in his next work.
Rating:
Summary: Hall's Best
Review: I've read a few of Hall's books, actually all of them. When I finished Black Water Sound I debated with myself for a while and decided it was better than Undercover of Daylight and Bones of Coral, my two previous favorites. It may be that I am fifteen years older than I was when I first started reading Mr. Hall or maybe because Mr. Hall is older, wiser, has refined his craft, uses more sophisticated language, has dialed in so deeply to the unique world that is the Florida Keys, is able to describe the dynamics of relationships better than he ever did, or maybe he's just doing what he's always done, write a damed good book. In any event, James Hall has come up with a great story that brings together his bread-and-butter character, Thorn, with a captavating female character from a previous book to turn this action/adventure/thriller/mystery into a literary page-turner. Only James Hall could write a story mixing high-tech terrorism and Marlin fishing. Good and evil, old and new, love and hate described by a master of description. The chapters fly along so fast, I actually tried to slow it down.
Anyway, I think I'll have to give this one a bunch of stars.
Rating:
Summary: not for me
Review: If you like books that are very violent, this may be for you.
If you like books to which the explanation of everything in the plot is, "psychopath" this book may be for you. I hated it. To be fair, in general i hate books where the device to explain an otherwise unbelievable set of characters is: one or more of them is a psychopath, so nothing needs to be explained, he or she is "evil" and could do anything. In addition, the characters are cardboard, the plot, such as it is , is dumb, and the most sympathetic character is a fish.
Rating:
Summary: not for me
Review: If you like books that are very violent, this may be for you.
If you like books to which the explanation of everything in the plot is, "psychopath" this book may be for you. I hated it. To be fair, in general i hate books where the device to explain an otherwise unbelievable set of characters is: one or more of them is a psychopath, so nothing needs to be explained, he or she is "evil" and could do anything. In addition, the characters are cardboard, the plot, such as it is , is dumb, and the most sympathetic character is a fish.
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