Under Cover of Daylight
by James W. Hall
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Book Summary Information
Author: James W. HallEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-03
ISBN: 0393321258
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Book Reviews of Under Cover of Daylight
Book Review: PURE NOIR-- EXCELLENT AS BLACK TRUFFLE
Summary: 5 Stars
This is taught noir pulp fiction right out of an old time crime magazine. The novel opens with flash backs to South Florida. Young Thorn is introduced as a lean, blond, young man with muscles like taught steel and a long- fermented anger ready to blow the top off a pressure cooker. James w. Hall lays the groundwork for this pot-boiler with panache. Cold blooded murder committed to avenge a 6 year old crime is served up right off the bat. Then , our protagonist grows up into a young Jan Michael Vincent type (before he went to seed) living an idyllic pastorale in Key Largo. Thorn is a good ole boy sexing up his lawyer-hottie- girlfriend. Trouble starts to percolate immediately when Thorn's foster mom and girlfriend go on an eco crusade to save the wood rat. Thorn's foster mom, Kate, takes 2 wierd looking Cubans on her charter fishing boat. One of the Marielitos goes Jack Nicholson in THE SHINING and rapes and murders Thorn's foster mom. I am only on page 50. The reading has been easy, professional, powerful, concise, and beautiful and lyrical. The stage is set for some powerful revenge. Hall introduces characters like plunking stones in a pond. The evil matricidal daughter, a smarmy and slick, perverted, greedy real estate lawyer, our twisted assassins, and Thorn's lover who has a duplicitous agenda. Each character is described deftly, succinctly, and credibly. As the plot hums along building with incremental development; Hall manages a lyrical counterpoint beautifully describing the unique environment and culture of the keys. The writing is so superb I am nostalgic for my own travels to the balmy and beautiful Conch Republic. I savor this book like I would caviar and Ciroc. Well the plot continues to motor along nicely; bouncing from Key Largo to Key West. The description of glitzy new Florida is drawn in counterpoint to the faint patina of the old Conch Keys-- still visible if you know where to look. Between page 90 and 190 the editor hit the snooze button. There are many grammar and spelling errors. The book is so excellent I deduct no stars for this. Because of the excellence of the author I place the blame on the editor and publisher. Towards the end of the book there is a hot sex scene so graphic it could pass for porno-- in a good way. I am 40 pages from the finish and sad at the prospect that this delicious pot-boiler is almost over. Hall is an heir to John D. Macdonald and The Travis McGee series. Hall is as good as early Randy Wayne White. All recent works of Randy Wayne White are terrible and shameless. Thomas Pynchon INHERENT VICE is awful. I will sift through the works of Hall to try to find more gems. This book ends the same as it began; pure pulp fiction right out of an old fashioned crime magazine.
Summary of Under Cover of Daylight
"This book is a beauty. . . . The plot, the action, the marvelous sense of place, are enough to keep anyone reading."?Elmore Leonard
James W. Hall?s haunting debut novel first introduced the rugged character Thorn and the breathtaking South Florida landscape where he lives. Thorn?s past includes a savage act of revenge on the drunken hit-and-run killer of his parents. Now, fifteen years later, Thorn still cannot escape that moment, or the darkness he took into his soul that night. Not even his best friend, Sugarman, knows the truth. Not even Sarah Ryan knows the depths of her lover?s pain. Then suddenly, the nightmare begins again as Thorn?s foster mother is found slaughtered. Thorn can almost taste the rage as he stalks her killer and waits. "An exciting, well-crafted first novel that smoothly places complex, believable characters into an action-filled plot."?Washington Post "It starts good and stays good, right to the end."?Chicago TribuneLiterature & Fiction Books
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