Off the Chart A Novel (Audible Audio Edition) James W Hall John Bedford Lloyd Macmillan Audio Books
Download As PDF : Off the Chart A Novel (Audible Audio Edition) James W Hall John Bedford Lloyd Macmillan Audio Books
Before Thorn fell in love with crime-scene photographer Alexandra Rafferty, he was involved with Anne Joy, a beautiful woman who abandoned a violent life to forge a new, happier one in the Florida Keys. But her past includes her sadistic brother Vic, now a wealthy rogue businessman who specializes in the hijacking of pleasure boats and who delights in cruelly murdering their owners. Vic is obsessed by his sister and will do whatever it takes to drive his sister's lovers away-even murder. When Vic decides that he must possess the land on which Thorn's beloved home is built, nothing will stand in his way-not even the life of a little girl, the daughter of Thorn's closest friend.
Off the Chart A Novel (Audible Audio Edition) James W Hall John Bedford Lloyd Macmillan Audio Books
Early in this one, still-thorny and always-horny Thorn finds himself trying to explain to Alexandra, his current squeeze, the kiss a waitress named Anne Joy has just planted on his lips. Turns out, Anne and Thorn had a passionate but short-lived fling a while back. She's the sister of the notorious hoodlum Vic Joy, and guess what? We haven't heard the last of her - or her brother.Don't think for a second Vic Joy hasn't heard about Thorn. He has. Vic's the type who pulls the legs off frogs, and collects the testicles of family enemies. Not the kind of guy you want plotting to bring you down.
It's not long at all before a hoodlum named Marty Messina arrives at Thorn's doorstep in the Florida Keys and offers him 3 million for his property. When Thorn declines to sell, it's the signal for Vic to put into motion a plan designed to change his mind, and fast.
James W. Hall likes to build his stories by jumping from one character's head to another's. The Thorn novels, for example, include a minor character named Sugarman, a private eye who is usually enlisted to help Thorn in some way. At some point in the story, you can expect to find yourself in Sugarman's head as he investigates some bit of the puzzle facing Thorn in the main thread of the story.
Hall is particularly adept at building his villain's characterizations this way, and his stories always feature vivid and believable bad guys.
Vic Joy's plan is simple; he grabs Sugarman's 11 year old daughter and holds her for ransom. The deed to Thorn's property for the girl. Take it or leave it.
This time, though, when the jump to Sugarman's head comes, it ends up lasting too long, and the several segments of the plot involving him and his search for his kidnapped daughter take up way too much of the stage time, while little or nothing is going on with Thorn. It's a major flaw I haven't seen before in this prolific author's work.
In fact, if Thorn hadn't been (conveniently) kidnapped by Vic and dragged along to attend the big convention of pirates at the denouement - the same place (too coincidenatlly) where Sugarman's daughter is being held, he wouldn't even have been in on the big climactic showdown which for the most part fizzled rather than sizzled.
It doesn't feel as if as much energy went into the creation of this novel as has been invested in the others. There are spurts of color, especially when the scene involves Alexandra's demented father, but for the most part Thorn is lifeless. It's almost as if he doesn't give a damn about his own story.
Read the other Thorn novels first, then if you absolutely need another fix, pick up this one.
Art Tirrell is the author of The Secret Ever Keeps.
"simply put, the best underwater scenes I've ever read." reviewer Meg W.
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Off the Chart A Novel (Audible Audio Edition) James W Hall John Bedford Lloyd Macmillan Audio Books Reviews
I am a big James Hall fan and think he is the best of the Florida mystery/detective writers. In a league with Connelly, Crais and Lahane. This is a book searching for an idea. Half way through for the first time ever I thought I might have to put down a Hall book. It picked up then but there were just too many gaps. Where did they get a seaplane? How did it land so close without detection? How much punishment can Thorn take? Why is Thorn so contrary when he evidently leads a charmed life. I'll read more but hopefully there will be a return to form.
Thorn is great. What a hoot this guy is. Flippant like Spenser or Elvis Cole. And able to defeat the bad guys with cunning and guile. He is not a great fighter like a Kung Foo hero.. He is smart and resilient.
Love the Thorn Series. Am reading all of the books. The sex seems to have calmed down.
another great novel from Hall. Not quite as absorbing as his others but still very good!
Well written and interesting. I was somewhat leery after reading a prior novel with our guy being poisoned and paralyzed. That whole story line made me unconfortable. The ending felt contrived in that one
Before going to Key West last week, I asked at the forum for suggestions of books set near there, and Hall's series came up.
This is the first and only book of his that have read. It was an entertaining tale about a mysterious EMP device which triggered an airplane crash that kicks off the story.
I did not find that there was any mystery here, and, frankly, little action. Nonetheless, it entertained me with the Key Largo setting, and that was sufficient. However, in comparison to the other action novelists that I read, this was weak stuff. I have another of his books on my which I will read when I return to Southern Florida (to visit my dad).
The ediiton was fine with no significant typos or formatting issues.
How do you like your Thorn? I like him fine and I like Hall's novels. So why the four stars and not five? Because this novel does not drive to a conclusion with quite the force of his other works. It has very complex plots (that's right PLOTS with an "S"). Now these are related and they are topical. Piracy, of both commercial vessels and the increasingly large and expensive fleet of pleasure craft is a serious and undiscussed problem outside the south Florida area. And the computer/cell phones, a vital part of high tech bucaneering, play a role in a kidnapping involving Sugarman's daughter. But so does birdwatching.
A brother-sister pirate duo is at the core of events. Both are influenced by myth, but each turns to the life for a different reason. The brother merely extends his land based piracy; the sister, a woman from Thorn's past, flies the jolly roger with her new lover. Chance meetings of important characters in restaurants (well, Monroe county is actually a small place in resident population), stray dogs, Largo-Miami commutes, fifteen foot stilt construction, roaring route one traffic, and even the strange web of law enforcement agencies of the Keys is all there. And Alexandra Rafferty, crime photographer, and her retired police officer/Alzheimer's suffering father have moved in with Thorn.
Sometimes less is more. Of course whoever posts the signs behind the counter at Seven Mile Grill or the decorating gang at Captain Tony's clearly don't believe that. Complicated as conch chowder, this one. Keys style.
Early in this one, still-thorny and always-horny Thorn finds himself trying to explain to Alexandra, his current squeeze, the kiss a waitress named Anne Joy has just planted on his lips. Turns out, Anne and Thorn had a passionate but short-lived fling a while back. She's the sister of the notorious hoodlum Vic Joy, and guess what? We haven't heard the last of her - or her brother.
Don't think for a second Vic Joy hasn't heard about Thorn. He has. Vic's the type who pulls the legs off frogs, and collects the testicles of family enemies. Not the kind of guy you want plotting to bring you down.
It's not long at all before a hoodlum named Marty Messina arrives at Thorn's doorstep in the Florida Keys and offers him 3 million for his property. When Thorn declines to sell, it's the signal for Vic to put into motion a plan designed to change his mind, and fast.
James W. Hall likes to build his stories by jumping from one character's head to another's. The Thorn novels, for example, include a minor character named Sugarman, a private eye who is usually enlisted to help Thorn in some way. At some point in the story, you can expect to find yourself in Sugarman's head as he investigates some bit of the puzzle facing Thorn in the main thread of the story.
Hall is particularly adept at building his villain's characterizations this way, and his stories always feature vivid and believable bad guys.
Vic Joy's plan is simple; he grabs Sugarman's 11 year old daughter and holds her for ransom. The deed to Thorn's property for the girl. Take it or leave it.
This time, though, when the jump to Sugarman's head comes, it ends up lasting too long, and the several segments of the plot involving him and his search for his kidnapped daughter take up way too much of the stage time, while little or nothing is going on with Thorn. It's a major flaw I haven't seen before in this prolific author's work.
In fact, if Thorn hadn't been (conveniently) kidnapped by Vic and dragged along to attend the big convention of pirates at the denouement - the same place (too coincidenatlly) where Sugarman's daughter is being held, he wouldn't even have been in on the big climactic showdown which for the most part fizzled rather than sizzled.
It doesn't feel as if as much energy went into the creation of this novel as has been invested in the others. There are spurts of color, especially when the scene involves Alexandra's demented father, but for the most part Thorn is lifeless. It's almost as if he doesn't give a damn about his own story.
Read the other Thorn novels first, then if you absolutely need another fix, pick up this one.
Art Tirrell is the author of The Secret Ever Keeps.
"simply put, the best underwater scenes I've ever read." reviewer Meg W.
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