Silencer

Bound: Somebody Got Dead - SunPost Weekly April 15, 2010 ([...]) James W. Hall Gives Us Silencer John Hood In a perfect world I would've spilled all kinds of ink over James W. Hall's Silencer (St. Martin's $24.99) back at the end of January when it first racked. After all, it is James W. Hall, a wily wordslinger of whom I've glowing written about on more than a few occasions in these very pages. But see I received an advance copy of the book a month or two before its official release, and it being Hall and me being impatient, I read it at once. So by the time the mail lady delivered the actual hardcover, I was on to other readings. Stupid of me, I know. And more than a mite unprofessional too. But hey, it's my column and I'll write about what I want to, when I want to, no matter what some stinkin' calendar says. Which is to say: brace yourselves, because I'm about to sing the praises of a deadly piece of fiction, and that means somebody's gonna get dead, real dead. In this case the soon-to-get-dead somebody is a good guy, one of the last actually, born of a time when the land meant more than money to a man. And this man, Earl Hammond, had land, lots and lots of it. Two-hundred thousand acres, as matter of fact. And before this old-time landowner shuffled off this all too mortal coil he wanted to make sure it stayed basically the same way it was when it was passed down to him. To do so Hammond has to get in on some intricate landswap between the State of Florida and Rusty Stabler, the fierce and true better half to Thorn, Hall's perennial anti-hero. Thorn himself inherited a massive swath of once pristine Florida wilderness that he was content to let revert back to its original glory, and Stabler had convinced him to sell it to the state under their (now extinct) Florida Forever program just to be sure his wishes were honored. When Hammond shows up a day late and the state is now 500 million dollars short, she finds a way to make everybody happy. Well, not everybody. See, Hammond's got an ill-tempered cutthroat of a grandson named Browning who won't be anywhere near close to content with the relatively small parcel of land granddad will set aside for him and his brother Frisco. Hell, he's so dead set against this deal he's willing to kill the old man - and anyone else who may get in the way. I take that back. Browning, the sad and sorry excuse for a human being doesn't have enough guts to follow through on any of his diabolical plans. Come to think of it, he doesn't even have the brains for the diabolical plans in the first placed. The thinking he leaves mostly to his old football buddy, the shiny Antwan Shelton. The killing will mostly come courtesy of Jonah and Moses Faust, two no account Florida crackers with not one bit of sense between them. Of course other folks get in on the thinking and the killing too, and after the Faust brothers snatch Thorn and throw him in a pit, the good guys get to come to the proverbial rescue. Here the goo

Thorn is a unique character. In the previous installment of this series he inherited a billion-dollar corporation, but spurned any involvement in its operation, leaving the day-to-day activities to his girlfriend, Rusty, who seems to be doing a bang-up job. Both, however, are interested in preserving the environment, and toward that end, Rusty develops a deal in which the State of Florida buys acres and acres of the company's land holdings for $500,000, which money can then be used to buy the Coquino Ranch and preserve it in its natural state, in which it has existed for generations. But things are never easy where Thorn is concerned (he seems to get himself into all kinds of situations) and this deal is no exception. There are those who oppose the swap and take drastic steps to stop it, including murdering the owner of the ranch and putting a contract out on Thorn, who is kidnapped prefatory to shooting him. The tale unfolds with vivid descriptions and deep suspense. How Thorn eludes his death and how his friends attempt to save him is gripping and poignantly written. This suspenseful novel certainly is one of the author's best, and it is highly recommended.

After his father, Earl Hammond, is shot dead and two deviant contract killers kidnap a family heir, Thorn, it is up to Frisco Hammond and his brother's wife to solve the two crimes, which may possibly be connected, in an endeavor that pits brother against brother, wife against husband. BT. This latest thriller that features one of my favorite protagonists, Thorn--not even sure he has a first name--moves at a steady (fast) pace and never lets up. Great characters in the heartland of Florida makes for a good thriller that James W. Hall fans come to expect.

If James W. Hall is not already on your "must read" list, do yourself the favor of adding him immediately. "Silencer" is his eleventh novel to feature Thorn, the Key Largo private investigator and crafter of fishing lures. Thorn inherited an immense fortune (see "Hell's Bay")and is interested in giving much of it away in humantarian efforts. His girlfriend, Rusty Stabler, brokers a deal with Earl Hammond Jr. to swap lands in a complicated deal that will result in the preservation of 300 square miles of inland Florida land. But the night before the deal is to be finalized, Hammond is killed under suspicious circumstances in front of family and the Florida Governor and almost simultaneously, Thorn is kidnapped and thrown into a deep, seemingly impenetrable sink hole by the Faust brothers, hired killers who live on Hammond's Coquina Ranch. Earl Hammond's vast holdings have been kept free of development except for grandson, Browning's, efforts to establish a big-game hunting preserve for high rollers in a section of the ranch. With Thorn trapped in the deep pit, Sugarman, his longtime friend and partner, and Rusty begin tracking him down. Enter Frisco Hammond, a Miami police officer, who is the older prodigal son and brother to Browning, who returns to the ranch to team with Clare, Browning's suspicious wife, to uncover the truth to what has happened at Coquina ranch. What secrets does the Hammond Ranch harbor from its celebrity studded past (Edison, Ford, Hemingway, Rockefeller) that haunt Earl Hammond Jr. today? What are Browning and his buddy, Antwon Shelton, former NFLer, cooking up--and how is the Governor involved? Can Thorn find a way out of his underground prison to exact revenge against his kidnappers? Can Sugarman and Rusty find Thorn and penetrate the maze that is the Coquina Ranch? What role do Frisco and Clare play in untangling the mystery? These questions are all satisfyingly answered in Hall's fast paced, multi-leveled suspense thriller that will, at times, have the reader rushing through pages to get answers. As in all his work, Hall is very successful at creating fully fleshed, believable characters along with tightly knitted plots punctuated by occasional raw violence and unexpected detours. James Hall is a great writer and friend to the Florida environs and I can often "see" the lands and people he describes just by reading his words. A highly recommended novel and author.

In Key Largo, Florida Rusty Stabler offers a deal to her reclusive boyfriend private investigator Thorn who has come into a nice but unexpected inheritance. He appreciate what she proffers as that will environmentally protect 300 square miles from avaricious developers. Part of the consideration would shut down Earl Hammond's Coquina Ranch game-hunting operation as he plans to donate his property to the State to keep it safe from greedy developers. However, soon after Rusty pitches her proposal, someone kills Hammond and Thorn is kidnapped. While the sleuth is struggling to come around and escape, his friend Sugarman searches for him unsuccessfully. Meanwhile professional killers Jonah and Moses Faust are working a serial killer memorabilia deal on the side of their paying gig of abducting Thorn; and Hammond's sons (ex-football star Browning and Miami cop Frisco) want justice and plan to obtain it for their late father. This is an excellent Florida wilderness thriller that grips the audience throughout while also making a strong case for the environment. Thorn is at his best digging his way out of ironically a natural prison of a deep sinkhole while Frisco and Browning's wife Clare investigate the murder and the abduction that they tie together by the protect the land deal; neither realizes the real connection dates back to Depression Era developers in this great suspense thriller. Harriet Klausner