Forests of the Night : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: ENTERTAINING AND EXCITING LISTENING
Review:
Laural Merlington, a veteran of countless audio book performances, is a true pro. She reads with control and distinction, allowing the narrative to carry listeners along.

Forests of the Night will more than carry listeners along - it'll have them on the edges of their seats. Charlotte Monroe is a police woman with amazing gifts - she can read people's faces and body language. She lives in Coral Gable, Florida with her husband, Parker, and their emotionally disturbed teenager, Gracey.

Gracey is so unstable that she runs away from home to be with an outlaw, not just any outlaw but Jacob Panther, a criminal on the FBI's most wanted list. The chase to find Gracey and Panther takes Charlotte to the Great Smoky Mountains and Cherokee land. Little does she know that she's now not only in North Carolina but also smack in the middle of a Cherokee feud that's been going on for over 150 years.

Hall. As always creates complex characters - no stick figures here - and parallel plots. Makes for an absorbing story and good listening.

- Gail Cooke

Rating:
Summary: A great story.
Review: Hall takes a break from his wonderful Thorn character stories and instead takes us on a wild goose chase from Florida to Carolina. All the while, the good guys, the bad guys and the ones we haven't made our minds up on yet, suffer and benefit from the choices of their youth. Youthful binges, indescretions, lost loves, etc. they all come back to roost for these people, and that is the beautiful part of the book. It's full of unique characters. If you grew up in the southeast and went to summer camps in North Carolina like i did this is a must read. For everybody else who is a returning fan of the Thorn mysteries, this is a welcome escape and is enjoyable as a stand alone.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Best
Review: I loved this book. I have read all of Mr. Halls' books and although I enjoyed them all, I think this is the best. I like to read about the whole character,past, present, family etc. I like the fact that the treatment of the illness the child has and the disagreement between the parents about that treatment is very real. I enjoy the story revolving around Native American history of the Cherokee Indians. I really wish this story of Charlotte Monroe and her family would be continued.

Rating:
Summary: strong crime thriller
Review: In her Coral Gables, Florida home, police detective Charlotte Monroe shockingly sees her spouse Parker and their daughter Gracey amiably talking with Jacob Bright Sky Panther, who she recognizes from the FBI's Most Wanted list. Jacob escapes abducting Gracey. Stunned, Charlotte questions her husband who reluctantly confesses that Jacob is his son from a summer affair with a Cherokee woman years ago in a North Carolina camp owned by his father. That same season arson burned down the camp killing his dad.

Charlotte believes that Gracey is being held in the North Carolina Mountains near the sight of the burned out camp. There Charlotte and Parker hope to rescue their daughter though the latter does not believe his son would harm his stepsister. Making matters more complex is bad blood flows, as it has for over a hundred sixty years, between whites and Native Americans, placing their teenage daughter in further jeopardy.

The opening prequel from 1838 is incredible, which makes for a tough act to follow, but for the most part James W. Hall achieves the objective. The exhilarating story line is at its best when either the felon Jacob or the schizoid Gracey serves as the focus as these two characters seem so genuine. Charlotte is an intriguing police officer with unique talents that surface as she behaves like a lioness seeking to rescue her cub. On the other hand, Parker, as the key link between the players, is one dimensional and never comes across as someone in conflict struggling between what to do for his two offspring. Fans will relish this tense thriller especially when the action moves to the Carolina mountainside.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary!!!
Review: James W. Hall has set the bar very high for mystery/thrillers coming out this year with "Forests of the Night."

It is sophisticated suspense at the highest level...distinguished writing...powerful prose.

The first rate story line is concise and examines corruption, wantonness and depravity in man. The villains are beyond salvation and vicious in the way they go about their hideous acts. The last time the criminal element was so chilling was in "Dirty White Boys" by Stephen Hunter. These thugs make your skin crawl and sleep with the light on...because you know they truly exist.

The past and present collide...going back 160 years to a deathly pact made between the government and a Cherokee patriot over "The Trail of Tears."

A present day descendent (Jacob Panther) swoops down upon a dedicated Coral Gables cop (Charlotte Monroe), her high profile lawyer husband and their schizophrenic teenaged daughter, altering the lives of all as the startling revelations unfold.

Panther has assassinated a businessman in Miami and when he takes off for North Carolina, the daughter follows and aids his flight.

The Monroes head to North Carolina and are confronted by evil incarnate in the form of a stonewalling sheriff; his father, a corrupt congressman and the congressman's reclusive brother.

Their attempts to locate and rescue their daughter are challenged at every level.

To say anymore would give away too much.

The twists are magnificent and lead to a breath-taking finish.

The villain's identity is divulged with about a hundred pages to go...and that only makes you turn the pages faster.


Rating:
Summary: A disappointment
Review: This book has a lot of promise but more I read, the more disappointed I became. It starts off in 1838 telling the story of the Cherokee Tsali who sheds the blood of two soldiers who are trying to remove him and his family from their home in the North Carolina mountains. By order of President Jackson and Congress all Cherokee are to be removed from their ancestoral homes and relocated to Oklahoma. This became known as the Trail of Tears. A third of the Cherokee National died before reaching Oklahoma. Tsali ultimately sacrifices his family in order to enable the remaining Cherokee to keep their land.

The story then moves to present day Miami. Charlotte Monroe is a policewoman with the ability to read people's faces and body language. This is an ability that the FBI wants to teach to their agents. They want Charlotte to work for them. I'm not sure what happens to that ability when a stranger comes to visit her family because she calls the FBI to report him instead of giving him a chance to explain why he's there. She recognizes him as being on the Most Wanted List. What follows are a car chase, murders, mental illness, a runaway, lost love and family history that goes back over a hundred years.

I continued to read because the plot intrigued me. However, it continued to get more and more outlandlish. One of the more silly plot points to me is the premise that poodles can be bred to be killer dogs. (It sounds a little like something from Monty Python. Killer rabbit, anyone?) Apparently the breeder thought this would be a good idea because "they appeared deceptively harmless. A deception that just might prove useful one day." Huh?

I found this book at the library and have not read any of Mr. Hall's previous books so I have no reference to anything else he's written. I finished the book because I want to know what happened but found myself skipping parts to find out. I hoped that there would be more focus on Charlotte's ability to read people but that didn't happen.