Customer Rating:  
Summary: A tightly wound thriller - even if the plot is familiar
Comment: James Hall is one of my favourite authors, although I have to admit that most of his recent efforts have been a little underwhelming. Hell's Bay is Hall's best in a while, although it still falls short of novels like Bones of Coral and Gone Wild. Hall has always favored darker themes, and his writing is generally more lyrical than other authors in this sub genre (the South Florida crime novel). Hell's Bay is as dark as we've come to expect from Hall, but the writing here is leaner than usual.
The Plot: Thorn agrees to be the first mate on a former lover's new commercial venture, taking small groups on week-long fishing expeditions deep in the everglades on a custom-made houseboat. The maiden voyage includes a travel writer and her photographer and a father/daughter pair who turn out to be Thorn's uncle and cousin. Unfortunately, Thorn and his new found family also happen to be the target of a woman whose life was destroyed by Thorn's family's corporate interests, and she seems determined to kill them all in Hell's Bay.
Hell's Bay is not an epic (a scant 300 pages) and features a pretty straightforward plot. There aren't many twists and turns, not much in the way of sub plots, and relatively few characters to keep track of. The basic premise of the novel is a familiar one. A small group of people, in a remote location, cut off from the outside world, are under siege from someone who wants to kill them, but doesn't appear to be in a great rush to do it.
The plot device is familiar (the isolated location is usually a rustic cabin in the deep woods, not a houseboat in the everglades - but it's still familiar). Hall makes good use of the setting though and effectively ratchets up the tension. Hell's Bay is a tightly wound, taut thriller.
What's missing? There isn't much of the dark quirky humour you usually find in a South Florida crime novel. The villain is filled with anger (for pretty good reason) but anger isn't creative and twisted enough to make her a really memorable killer (although I did like her tag line "How long can you hold your breath").
On an irrelevant side note: I did think it was strange that Thorn, a man who hates the trappings of civilization, would think that taking a large house boat deep into the everglades was a good idea. It seems to me that he would think a commercial enterprise going into the pristine, untouched everglades is an obscenity that he would want no part of. (Of course, if he didn't agree to go on the trip - there wouldn't be much of a story).
Bottom line: Hell's Bay is not overly original and is a far cry from Hall's best work, but it is a fast paced, lean, mean thriller.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Read it - if you dare!
Comment: Award-winning Hall's latest Thorn Mystery is as exciting and enticing as the last. A murderous tale set in the creepy, dank Everglades, this book will chill you to the bone. I found the plot to be a little slow in the beginning, but it definitely pays off to keep reading! The suspense picks up and packs a punch- you won't be sorry! For another great mystery writer who often sets his books in exotic locales, including Miami, check out Don Bruns. His latest is St. Bart's Breakdown.
Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the Best
Comment: In this novel, James W. Hall reminded me of Carl Hiassen without the humor. Well written, interesting characters, a company wreaking ecological mayhem on the folks of Florida and a killer on the loose in the Everglades.
If that doesn't wet your whistle then you must have a very full and interesting life.
I have read many of Mr.Hall's novels involving the intrepid and inegmatic Thorn and I would rank this one right up there with the best of them.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fast action, dark Florida
Comment: From the central Florida of Lithia Springs to Clearwater, off the tourist routes, we have seen the southern equivalent of strip mines and "boney piles" or "slag heaps." These radon sources are at the center of this latst of Hall's attacks on the destruction of the Florida habitat. This is a tightly planned and fast moving novel which for a surprise does not pit Thorn against real estate developers. It also reveals a good bit about his background, which we learned with the recent republication of Hall's early work. All in all it is a good rad. A grand and exciting opening; nice complication and surprise - yes potential reader, Florida small towns have curious ties of kin/friendship that entangle locals in ways mysterious to outsiders- and Hall weaves this into the plot.
I am a bit overwhelmed by the ritualized violence of the ending. It runs on, chapter after chapter. I think it could be compressed. Confrontation with the killer would have sufficed. The meeting with the bull shark is a bit too much. Perhaps Hall's next novel will confront us with a killer manatee overturning kayaks and airboats in Everglades City.
Still, this is a good novel. The description of the glades, back country and the serene beauty of the rivers is enough to carry it all. If you like Florida action novels, this is for you.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Simply Awful
Comment: I had to read it. I was on a long distance flight with nothing else in my carry-on.
It's about one of those good-for-nothing Florida bums who accomplish nothing and criticize everything. Because he got there first no one else is allowed to move there. He claims the newcomers are ruining the Everglades through their ignorance but he does nothing himself to ensure their preservation, such as staying out of pristine areas of the Everglades that he only was able to spot through the use of aerial photographs and could only enter by chopping delicate flora away.
Our hero is a total hypocrite, yet held in much esteem by seemingly worthwhile people who actually accomplish something in their lives besides utter havoc.
Don't waste your money.
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