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Thorn Mystery #9
Magic City
A simple black-and-white photograph taken during the 1964 Cassius Clay–Sonny Liston fight on Miami Beach may hold the key to a horrific, politically motivated crime forty-two years earlier. After it mysteriously reappears, the photo is burned in an act of arson that sets off a modern-day killing spree reaching from the quiet neighborhoods of Miami to the back corridors of the White House. What the killer did not know is that a copy of the photograph still remains. When it falls into Thorn's hands, he and everyone close to him—including his beloved Alexandra—become the targets of madmen and trained hitmen, each of whom has a powerful motive to see the photograph destroyed…and each of whom will go to murderous lengths to make it disappear forever.
12 pages, Audio CD
First published March 1, 2007
262 people are currently reading
298 people want to read
About the author
Richard Allen
277 books2 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
June 19, 2019
Thorn is thinking of moving to the big city of Miami with his girlfriend. Her father is suffering from dementia and needs help.
A photographer gives an exhibit. One of his pictures, of the first Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston fight, provokes a deadly response from somebody in the photo. Thorn gets involved when some thugs invade the father's house.
From there, we get a bunch of people running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Nobody knows what they're doing.
A bit too self congratulatory, but suitable twisty for fans of this sort of thing.
A photographer gives an exhibit. One of his pictures, of the first Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston fight, provokes a deadly response from somebody in the photo. Thorn gets involved when some thugs invade the father's house.
From there, we get a bunch of people running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Nobody knows what they're doing.
A bit too self congratulatory, but suitable twisty for fans of this sort of thing.
June 2, 2020
Usually when you think of "murder-mystery-solving Florida beach bums," the first name that comes to mind is John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee. But there is another -- the single-named Thorn, who hangs out in the Keys, ties flies, fishes and occasionally goes medieval on some bad guy.
This particular Thorn adventure pulls him out of his comfort zone in the laid-back Keys and plops him down in the middle of frenetic, insane Miami, as well as in the middle of a plot that stretches back to one of the the Magic City's defining moments of the 1960s. The inclusion of so much Miami history in this story is a big reason why I liked this book so much, despite its shambolic plotting.
One night in 1964, a brash young boxer then known as Cassius Clay took on the heavyweight champ, Sonny Liston, in Miami. Later that same night, a team of armed intruders broke into the home of the leader of an anti-Castro group and shot him, his wife, his daughter and five of his militia members who were staying there at the time. There's a connection between the two, and the evidence of it is contained in a photo that goes on display as part of an art exhibit while Thorn is visiting Miami to babysit his girlfriend's elderly father while she goes out of town.
One of the people who sees the photo at the exhibit is former Miami mayor Stanton King, who is there with his gorgeous redheaded wife Lola. King is horrified to see the photo, so much so that he calls in his two adopted Cuban sons to break into the gallery that night and destroy it and any copies. Unfortunately the two are also the sons of the anti-Castro leader who was killed that night, and one of them, whose nickname is Snake, has sworn to find out what really happened to his family.
Thus King's attempt to squash all evidence of the connection between the boxing match and the massacre ends up unraveling the whole thing as Thorn winds up with the only remaining print of the photo, which the photographer had given to his girlfriend's father, Lawton, who had been a cop working security that night.
The plot starts off a little wacky -- Thorn fights off an intruder by sticking him in the shoulder with an electric drill, and there's a fight inside an adult toys store. But then the bullets start to fly and something pretty serious happens and everything after that is pretty grim. The shootout led to a development that I found so upsetting I had to put the book aside for a couple of days, but I was glad I went back to it and finished it.
As I said, the plot itself is only so-so, with Thorn and Snake dodging here and there, at first chasing each other than then banding together to stay alive and try to figure out what secrets the photo holds. The other problem is that there's no clear single bad guy. One character is clearly based on Ollie North and G. Gordon Liddy, and he's fun for a while but he winds up doing very little before he's gone from the story. Thorn's girlfriend, a crime scene tech, gets very little to do besides be put in jeopardy, and his best friend Sugar keeps offering to help and keeps getting turned down. Both could have had more playing time.
I did like the final twist in the story, which explains the real reason why one government agency is treating this photo 's reemergence as a disaster that had to be scrubbed from history. And I liked the ultimate fate of one of the big villains in the story.
But the real star of this story is Magic City, with its tangled history, its beauty and menace, its collection of connivers and collaborators and crooks, all scrambling for money and power and love. That's worth four stars right there.
This particular Thorn adventure pulls him out of his comfort zone in the laid-back Keys and plops him down in the middle of frenetic, insane Miami, as well as in the middle of a plot that stretches back to one of the the Magic City's defining moments of the 1960s. The inclusion of so much Miami history in this story is a big reason why I liked this book so much, despite its shambolic plotting.
One night in 1964, a brash young boxer then known as Cassius Clay took on the heavyweight champ, Sonny Liston, in Miami. Later that same night, a team of armed intruders broke into the home of the leader of an anti-Castro group and shot him, his wife, his daughter and five of his militia members who were staying there at the time. There's a connection between the two, and the evidence of it is contained in a photo that goes on display as part of an art exhibit while Thorn is visiting Miami to babysit his girlfriend's elderly father while she goes out of town.
One of the people who sees the photo at the exhibit is former Miami mayor Stanton King, who is there with his gorgeous redheaded wife Lola. King is horrified to see the photo, so much so that he calls in his two adopted Cuban sons to break into the gallery that night and destroy it and any copies. Unfortunately the two are also the sons of the anti-Castro leader who was killed that night, and one of them, whose nickname is Snake, has sworn to find out what really happened to his family.
Thus King's attempt to squash all evidence of the connection between the boxing match and the massacre ends up unraveling the whole thing as Thorn winds up with the only remaining print of the photo, which the photographer had given to his girlfriend's father, Lawton, who had been a cop working security that night.
The plot starts off a little wacky -- Thorn fights off an intruder by sticking him in the shoulder with an electric drill, and there's a fight inside an adult toys store. But then the bullets start to fly and something pretty serious happens and everything after that is pretty grim. The shootout led to a development that I found so upsetting I had to put the book aside for a couple of days, but I was glad I went back to it and finished it.
As I said, the plot itself is only so-so, with Thorn and Snake dodging here and there, at first chasing each other than then banding together to stay alive and try to figure out what secrets the photo holds. The other problem is that there's no clear single bad guy. One character is clearly based on Ollie North and G. Gordon Liddy, and he's fun for a while but he winds up doing very little before he's gone from the story. Thorn's girlfriend, a crime scene tech, gets very little to do besides be put in jeopardy, and his best friend Sugar keeps offering to help and keeps getting turned down. Both could have had more playing time.
I did like the final twist in the story, which explains the real reason why one government agency is treating this photo 's reemergence as a disaster that had to be scrubbed from history. And I liked the ultimate fate of one of the big villains in the story.
But the real star of this story is Magic City, with its tangled history, its beauty and menace, its collection of connivers and collaborators and crooks, all scrambling for money and power and love. That's worth four stars right there.
June 18, 2025
I didn’t realize it’s in a series of books about Thorn so I felt like I was missing something. Book is good but too much detail around things that don’t matter. Several pages could be cut out that are just describing things that have nothing to do with the book.
October 27, 2018
A very entertaining read. The story is well crafted and the writing is superb where you can really felt the suspense in this book. Definitely 5 stars for beautiful writing and compelling story.
July 30, 2015
I’m always on the lookout for new authors I’ve never read before. I recently finished my first James Hall novel, ‘Magic City.’
Will I read a second novel? Perhaps, but not for a while.
Overall, I’m giving this book a rating of a solid 2. There were things I liked and things I didn’t.
5---I give the story itself a solid 5. The plot was something new, not the same ol’ same ol rehashed storyline. It was clever and well-thought out with some plot twists and turns which I like.
3---I’ve always liked novels where I can relate to the characters on some level. I want to feel for them, feel like I have a vested interest in the outcome. I like to be able to cheer the good guy and boo the bad guy. I didn’t feel drawn in or connected to any of the. I didn’t like them. I didn’t dislike them. They left me feeling somewhat meh.
As a matter of fact, it wasn’t until I read other reviews that I learned the protagonist, Thorn, is recurring. Realizing that now makes me a bit hesitant to try another Hall novel. Since I didn’t quite relate to Thorn in this particular novel, as of now, I’m not feeling any urgency to read another book featuring a hero who leaves me feeling flat.
2---I have to give the authors writing style a 2. A very week 2. I admit that ‘style’ is something that’s very personal. We all have different opinions. For example, many people don’t like the style of David Baldacci. I love his novels. On the flip side, I know many people who love Lee Child. I think Lee Child is awful.
I really felt that in Magic City, I had to get through the author’s style, wade through his excessive use of words and euphemisms to get at the story itself.
For example, there was one scene in which the hero, Thorn is backed against a wall. The bad guy draws a gun on him. This was after an intense shootout and altercation. Exciting stuff. Good stuff. Action packed stuff. And now our hero is in mortal danger. Oh boy! Suddenly, the action grinds to a halt. For 3 paragraphs we are told what the hero is thinking and deciding to do. He looks right and sees a b c d and e. He looks left and sees a b c d and e. He thinks back to a memory from childhood.
You get the idea. To me it brought a good scene to a dead halt.
Early on, around page 35, Thorn is making love to his girlfriend Alexandra. Now, I don’t want to sound like a prude. I’m not. The fact the author spent 3 pages describing the intimacy may bother some but it didn’t really bother me. Personally, it seemed like a bit of filler and had nothing to do with the plot or the story. However, what irritated me was in this scene-as in many others-I felt like the author had to remind us little people that HE is the author and we are just little people. Someone once said ‘Good writing doesn’t feel like writing.’ Yet, there were many times in this novel, especially the intimacy scene, where it seemed like the author felt a need to impress us with his mastery of the language and supposedly very clever euphemisms. The sex scene is a glaring example of this.
Excerpt from page 34:
She worked her other hand into the small of his back, touching a knob in his lumbar region. Just there. Pressing it with her fingertips. Top of spine. Base of spine. Making some electrical connection. Alexandra, the conduit.
Later in this same scene:
Then after an interminable moment, she flinched. Her haunches quivered: a rumble rose between them. Some forewarning below the crust of the earth. An ancient growl awakening geologic plates.
You get the idea.
I’m rating this novel a strong 2.
Will I read a second novel? Perhaps, but not for a while.
Overall, I’m giving this book a rating of a solid 2. There were things I liked and things I didn’t.
5---I give the story itself a solid 5. The plot was something new, not the same ol’ same ol rehashed storyline. It was clever and well-thought out with some plot twists and turns which I like.
3---I’ve always liked novels where I can relate to the characters on some level. I want to feel for them, feel like I have a vested interest in the outcome. I like to be able to cheer the good guy and boo the bad guy. I didn’t feel drawn in or connected to any of the. I didn’t like them. I didn’t dislike them. They left me feeling somewhat meh.
As a matter of fact, it wasn’t until I read other reviews that I learned the protagonist, Thorn, is recurring. Realizing that now makes me a bit hesitant to try another Hall novel. Since I didn’t quite relate to Thorn in this particular novel, as of now, I’m not feeling any urgency to read another book featuring a hero who leaves me feeling flat.
2---I have to give the authors writing style a 2. A very week 2. I admit that ‘style’ is something that’s very personal. We all have different opinions. For example, many people don’t like the style of David Baldacci. I love his novels. On the flip side, I know many people who love Lee Child. I think Lee Child is awful.
I really felt that in Magic City, I had to get through the author’s style, wade through his excessive use of words and euphemisms to get at the story itself.
For example, there was one scene in which the hero, Thorn is backed against a wall. The bad guy draws a gun on him. This was after an intense shootout and altercation. Exciting stuff. Good stuff. Action packed stuff. And now our hero is in mortal danger. Oh boy! Suddenly, the action grinds to a halt. For 3 paragraphs we are told what the hero is thinking and deciding to do. He looks right and sees a b c d and e. He looks left and sees a b c d and e. He thinks back to a memory from childhood.
You get the idea. To me it brought a good scene to a dead halt.
Early on, around page 35, Thorn is making love to his girlfriend Alexandra. Now, I don’t want to sound like a prude. I’m not. The fact the author spent 3 pages describing the intimacy may bother some but it didn’t really bother me. Personally, it seemed like a bit of filler and had nothing to do with the plot or the story. However, what irritated me was in this scene-as in many others-I felt like the author had to remind us little people that HE is the author and we are just little people. Someone once said ‘Good writing doesn’t feel like writing.’ Yet, there were many times in this novel, especially the intimacy scene, where it seemed like the author felt a need to impress us with his mastery of the language and supposedly very clever euphemisms. The sex scene is a glaring example of this.
Excerpt from page 34:
She worked her other hand into the small of his back, touching a knob in his lumbar region. Just there. Pressing it with her fingertips. Top of spine. Base of spine. Making some electrical connection. Alexandra, the conduit.
Later in this same scene:
Then after an interminable moment, she flinched. Her haunches quivered: a rumble rose between them. Some forewarning below the crust of the earth. An ancient growl awakening geologic plates.
You get the idea.
I’m rating this novel a strong 2.
Read
February 20, 2010Magic City, by James W. Hall, A-minus, Narrated by Richard Allen, produced by Tantor Media, downloaded from audible.com.
The publisher’s note says that this novel is based in part on real events from recently declassified documents. Thorne, a young man who has spent most of his life on Key Largo or in the Keys, has become attracted to a woman who is a police technician in Miami. He decides to move to Miami and figure out whether he and Alexandra have anything in common. When he gets to Miami, Alexandra is just getting ready to take a dog she has trained to get more search and rescue training, and asks Thorne to stay with her father. In the meantime, there is a museum exhibition opened of the photographs of a particular famous photographer, Allen Bingham. When a couple of the politicians going through the exhibit see a particular photograph, taken at the Clay-Liston fight in 1964 which shows certain people sitting together who aren’t supposed to be familiar with each other, the word is put out to get the photo and make sure no one else sees it. Two boys Snake and Carlos are commanded to get hold of the picture. Snake realizes that the picture has meaning for him too as his family was slaughtered on that night, and they might be connections between their deaths and the people who viewed the fight. The boys burn up the whole photographic exhibit and then go to Bingham’s house where, after destroying the negative they learn that he has given a copy of the photo to the neighbors across the street-Alexandra’s father. The boys come to the house the next day and are surprised by Thorne who is repairing the roof, everyone else gone. They enter the house and find the photograph, and then Thorne does something that changes the course of his life and everyone connected to him. He jumps off the roof and gets the picture away from the two boys. This begins a struggle between various interests, greedy polticians, CIA operatives, and the two boys themselves, to get the picture. It’s an activity-filled page turner that keeps you on your toes until the end.
The publisher’s note says that this novel is based in part on real events from recently declassified documents. Thorne, a young man who has spent most of his life on Key Largo or in the Keys, has become attracted to a woman who is a police technician in Miami. He decides to move to Miami and figure out whether he and Alexandra have anything in common. When he gets to Miami, Alexandra is just getting ready to take a dog she has trained to get more search and rescue training, and asks Thorne to stay with her father. In the meantime, there is a museum exhibition opened of the photographs of a particular famous photographer, Allen Bingham. When a couple of the politicians going through the exhibit see a particular photograph, taken at the Clay-Liston fight in 1964 which shows certain people sitting together who aren’t supposed to be familiar with each other, the word is put out to get the photo and make sure no one else sees it. Two boys Snake and Carlos are commanded to get hold of the picture. Snake realizes that the picture has meaning for him too as his family was slaughtered on that night, and they might be connections between their deaths and the people who viewed the fight. The boys burn up the whole photographic exhibit and then go to Bingham’s house where, after destroying the negative they learn that he has given a copy of the photo to the neighbors across the street-Alexandra’s father. The boys come to the house the next day and are surprised by Thorne who is repairing the roof, everyone else gone. They enter the house and find the photograph, and then Thorne does something that changes the course of his life and everyone connected to him. He jumps off the roof and gets the picture away from the two boys. This begins a struggle between various interests, greedy polticians, CIA operatives, and the two boys themselves, to get the picture. It’s an activity-filled page turner that keeps you on your toes until the end.
July 30, 2012
In this 15th out of 17 in his series of suspense-thrillers, Hall is in top form, and this is an excellent read even if you never read the others. Thorn, the off-the-grid fishing "bum" with special survival skills, takes a trial run on living in Miami with his policewoman girlfriend, and shitstorm of trouble lands immediately on his plate. An art exhibition includes a photograph of the audience at the famous Clay-Liston fight in 1964, which raises the violent interest of several parties. All prove dangerous to his girlfriend and her father, and soon to Thorn, due to their possession of one of the copies. The tale elucidates a special time in the history of the city when pro- and anti-Castro factions worked hard against each other, with the CIA and organized crime contributing to the chaos after the Bay of Pigs incursion. In its focus on the character of Snake, a Cuban whose anti-Castro family was murdered the day after the fight, the story is also a rendering of a semi-mythical quest of a child to understand and somehow mitigate the tragic past of his family. Because Thorn himself is similarly shaped by a senseless loss of his parents at an early age, he identifies with Snake and takes risks that undermines the safety of those he loves.
June 14, 2018
A non-stop thrill ride down the road of action-filled suspense.
Miami - Feb. 25, 1964: The night of the Cassius Clay -Sonny Liston fight. Twelve-year-old Manuel "Snake" Morales is awake when his house is raided by pro-Castro gunmen who kill his anti-Castro militia leader father, Jorge, and his mother, Maria, as well as five of Jorge's men.
Snake and his younger brother, Carlos, escape with their lives.
They are taken-in and adopted by the young Mayor of Miami, Stanton King.
The city is outraged over the killings.
40 years later: Thorn is up in Miami from Key West to keep an eye on his girlfriend, Alex's, elderly father while she and her dog, Buck, go to Tampa for a week to attend a police training exercise.
He's also contemplating on moving to Miami to be with Alex.
One night, while at a gallery show, Stanton King notices a photograph taken the night of the Clay/Liston bout. A photograph that could bear grave consequences for certain people.
King orders Snake and Carlos to search for and destroy all copies of this image.
During the course of their task they finally discover that there's one copy left. And it's in the possession of Lawton Collins, Alex's father!
Inevitably, Snake and his brother cross paths with Thorn and before long Alex and her Dad are in danger.
Add the CIA and government involvement to the mix and it's game on.
A rocket of a plot full of startling revelations and excitement.
Miami - Feb. 25, 1964: The night of the Cassius Clay -Sonny Liston fight. Twelve-year-old Manuel "Snake" Morales is awake when his house is raided by pro-Castro gunmen who kill his anti-Castro militia leader father, Jorge, and his mother, Maria, as well as five of Jorge's men.
Snake and his younger brother, Carlos, escape with their lives.
They are taken-in and adopted by the young Mayor of Miami, Stanton King.
The city is outraged over the killings.
40 years later: Thorn is up in Miami from Key West to keep an eye on his girlfriend, Alex's, elderly father while she and her dog, Buck, go to Tampa for a week to attend a police training exercise.
He's also contemplating on moving to Miami to be with Alex.
One night, while at a gallery show, Stanton King notices a photograph taken the night of the Clay/Liston bout. A photograph that could bear grave consequences for certain people.
King orders Snake and Carlos to search for and destroy all copies of this image.
During the course of their task they finally discover that there's one copy left. And it's in the possession of Lawton Collins, Alex's father!
Inevitably, Snake and his brother cross paths with Thorn and before long Alex and her Dad are in danger.
Add the CIA and government involvement to the mix and it's game on.
A rocket of a plot full of startling revelations and excitement.
July 29, 2017
I am really starting to fry on reading Hall's books, and I think I have six more to go, and a new one due out this fall. The plot is marginally more interesting than most in that it centers on a photograph taken during the Liston-Clay fight in Miami in 1964 which could prove highly incriminating to many people--and they all want to get their hands on it to destroy it. If anything, it was a break from the usual Florida environment concerns voiced by Hall, although I'm right back in them currently with the next book. Per usual, Thorn throws himself into the avenging angel role, thereby losing the current dame in his life who gets tired of his drifting only to spring into action when he's at risk. I think anyone would grow weary of this, even the author who has said he doesn't even like Thorn and never intended to have him around this long.
May 17, 2025
The best Thorn yet (for me)!
3 1/2. I have read 4 or 5 Thorn books previously and this is by far the leader in the clubhouse. As always, the Florida setting is a nice component . A terrific twisty story, more action than I even wanted on occasion, and twists and turns galore, especially at the finish. We have a touch of Sugarman, a little girlfriend action and a myriad of solid villains. And luckily, not too much sap. Good stuff.
3 1/2. I have read 4 or 5 Thorn books previously and this is by far the leader in the clubhouse. As always, the Florida setting is a nice component . A terrific twisty story, more action than I even wanted on occasion, and twists and turns galore, especially at the finish. We have a touch of Sugarman, a little girlfriend action and a myriad of solid villains. And luckily, not too much sap. Good stuff.
May 20, 2023
This is one of those books about Thorn that you can't put down. Hall made me nostalgia for Miami and the Keys, as he has in the best earlier books around this character, and I likely would have read the book in one sitting if given the opportunity. If you like mysteries, south Florida, or suspense, I can't recommend these books enough, and this is right up at the top of the heap.
April 7, 2025
An intriguing historical mystery and evocative writing set in a beautifully realised milieu. Makes for an excellent read.
I was not familiar with this author or the serious. I thought it was a standalone and it can certainly be read as one. I will look out for more (and not worry about what order I read them in)
I was not familiar with this author or the serious. I thought it was a standalone and it can certainly be read as one. I will look out for more (and not worry about what order I read them in)
September 3, 2022
Good story based on historical events and declassified secret files. Read out of order in the series (not like me) and now will back track. I like the protagonist—an off the grid guy, a bonefish fly tier, a man trouble finds…
April 8, 2025
Mysteries upon mystery
There are so many twists and turns in this plot that you better keep a note pad handy. There are dozens of slimy characters and shots fired and bodies falling from high places. Follow the bad characters for over forty years of crime and lost love.
There are so many twists and turns in this plot that you better keep a note pad handy. There are dozens of slimy characters and shots fired and bodies falling from high places. Follow the bad characters for over forty years of crime and lost love.
June 18, 2025
I wanted to like this book a lot more than I actually did. I’m a big fan of the character Thorn, who is the main guy in this series. Maybe it’s because I read it so out of order, but I did not like the story and felt it was odd for him to be involved in it.
August 13, 2017
His books are always interesting. Good "escape" for a couple of days.
September 28, 2018
3.5 stars
March 4, 2019
Like his writing style!
December 26, 2020
Not my favorite Thorn book. But eventually it got going.
January 12, 2022
Good story. Interesting characters and premise. Thought this was a new author but he was already on my list. I'll have to find more.
June 1, 2022
3.5 - pretty violent but Thorn is moving into the future - a flip phone and the Internet has arrived! The descriptions of Florida make me wish I'd seen it back in the 50-60's.
September 25, 2022
3.5 stars. Thorn gets pulled into a 40 year old case involving murder, mobsters and Cuban expatriates
December 1, 2022
Entertaining reading with twists and turns to keep you guessing--I will read more!
July 15, 2024
Great captivating story. Lots of action going on. The suspense was worth the time to read! The story enticed me to read up on history of events in history.
April 6, 2025
What a story!
Old Miami 1964, murder and mayhem. Forty years later, revenge. Cubans, CIA, local politics and desperate love. An astounding mystery.
Old Miami 1964, murder and mayhem. Forty years later, revenge. Cubans, CIA, local politics and desperate love. An astounding mystery.
April 9, 2025
3.5 stars. Lots of distracting typos.
April 10, 2025
Great story great characters
Read
April 11, 2025One impulsive act by Thorn starts a whole train of events, multiple murders and political intrigue plus the end of his relationship with Alex. Great story and setting well worth the read.
April 18, 2025
Fast paced
Quirky and fun with action, emotion, humor, plot twists, etc. Good characters you learn to like. Bad characters you learn to hate. Best of all a good dog.
Quirky and fun with action, emotion, humor, plot twists, etc. Good characters you learn to like. Bad characters you learn to hate. Best of all a good dog.
July 12, 2008
http://www.miamisunpost.com/archives/...
Bound 03/08/07
102 in the Shade
In James W. Hall’s Magic City, Even the Shadows Have Shadows
— and They Burn
Key rats and cops, Cuban ultra-nationalists and paid-for politicos, all with secrets to be kept— or else.
By John Hood
Miami seethes with story. High, low and just plain otherwise. Hot, most of those tales tend to be heated, and, as we all well show, heated very often gets intemperate. Our town’s peculiar place in the sun also requires those stories to be shady, very shady, lest each boil over into a rage. But even under the most royal of palms, things bubble up, get blistery, burn.
Yes, in Miami even the shadows scorch.
Neo-noir novelist James W. Hall knows about shady, and he knows about shadow, and, yes, he knows about heat, and what it can do to a town. The rash that can trigger a finger, the sweat that can blind an eye, the bake that can bloody a landscape — he sees it, feels it, lives it, writes it.
Like the town from which it nabs its name, Hall’s Magic City is all hot and then some, despite the fevered cool of its composition. One hundred and two degrees in the shade of even a bright winter’s day, twice that in the head and the heart of its night, it is the snap and crackle and pop of madness making its merry way into our history, the kinda tale we tell ourselves when no one’s talking.
And here the silence is telling. Spooks and mobsters, Key rats and cops, Cuban ultra-nationalists and paid-for politicos, all with secrets to be kept— or else. Like Ellroy doing LA when he got ahold of its most Confidential, or DeLillo in the Big Easy under the sign of Libra, Hall hails the conspiracies of our lives. Dirty deeds get done, and we all come undone.
But it is too a book that very much respects our sodden strip of paradise, its critters, its creatures, its comforts. Wily and well-wrought, Hall has Peter Matthiessen’s learn of the lay of the land, Thomas McGuane’s feel for the way of the water, John D. MacDonald’s sense of propriety and Carl Hiaasen’s wage against the killing of the light.
Beyond all that, though, Hall’s Magic City is the story of a town sprung from overheated imaginations and overstimulated drives, a mess of murder and mayhem and mystery. That it’s the cat’s 14th book to break and still manages to remain quintessentially compelling can only mean one thing — Hall’s sure damn good at telling a badass story.
We gave the FIU professor of lit and writing a few Qs to A; this is what he had to say:
Why Miami?
It’s everything everywhere else wants to be. And, my god, what luck, it’s home.
Hiaasen or Barry?
Love ’em both. Carl put the Z in zany, and Dave put the green in booger.
Chandler or Hammett?
Who can choose? Poetry and hardass.
Thompson or Spillane?
Thompson. For the lurid, elbow-in-your-face prose.
Crews or Willeford?
You mean Feast of Snakes, Harry? Oh, my. I love A Childhood about as much as any book I’ve read. He does Florida better than nearly anyone. Charlie was dark and twisted and wonderful. Kiss Your Ass Good-Bye. How could you not love a writer who titles a novel that? And he was a colleague of James Lee Burke for a while at Miami-Dade. Now there’s some nuclear fission.
Ellroy or Connelly?
Mike not James. Miami is the new, weirder LA.
Buchanan or Grafton?
Sue’s got a few more letters to go before she’s rich as Oprah. Wish I’d thought of that 20 years ago. And Edna knows her way around badass cops and newsrooms better than anyone out there.
McGee or Dortmunder?
Travis, hands down.
Grift or graft?
Is there a difference?
Knife or gun?
Guns are boring. Knives are evil. It’s the third choice I like the best.
Bound 03/08/07
102 in the Shade
In James W. Hall’s Magic City, Even the Shadows Have Shadows
— and They Burn
Key rats and cops, Cuban ultra-nationalists and paid-for politicos, all with secrets to be kept— or else.
By John Hood
Miami seethes with story. High, low and just plain otherwise. Hot, most of those tales tend to be heated, and, as we all well show, heated very often gets intemperate. Our town’s peculiar place in the sun also requires those stories to be shady, very shady, lest each boil over into a rage. But even under the most royal of palms, things bubble up, get blistery, burn.
Yes, in Miami even the shadows scorch.
Neo-noir novelist James W. Hall knows about shady, and he knows about shadow, and, yes, he knows about heat, and what it can do to a town. The rash that can trigger a finger, the sweat that can blind an eye, the bake that can bloody a landscape — he sees it, feels it, lives it, writes it.
Like the town from which it nabs its name, Hall’s Magic City is all hot and then some, despite the fevered cool of its composition. One hundred and two degrees in the shade of even a bright winter’s day, twice that in the head and the heart of its night, it is the snap and crackle and pop of madness making its merry way into our history, the kinda tale we tell ourselves when no one’s talking.
And here the silence is telling. Spooks and mobsters, Key rats and cops, Cuban ultra-nationalists and paid-for politicos, all with secrets to be kept— or else. Like Ellroy doing LA when he got ahold of its most Confidential, or DeLillo in the Big Easy under the sign of Libra, Hall hails the conspiracies of our lives. Dirty deeds get done, and we all come undone.
But it is too a book that very much respects our sodden strip of paradise, its critters, its creatures, its comforts. Wily and well-wrought, Hall has Peter Matthiessen’s learn of the lay of the land, Thomas McGuane’s feel for the way of the water, John D. MacDonald’s sense of propriety and Carl Hiaasen’s wage against the killing of the light.
Beyond all that, though, Hall’s Magic City is the story of a town sprung from overheated imaginations and overstimulated drives, a mess of murder and mayhem and mystery. That it’s the cat’s 14th book to break and still manages to remain quintessentially compelling can only mean one thing — Hall’s sure damn good at telling a badass story.
We gave the FIU professor of lit and writing a few Qs to A; this is what he had to say:
Why Miami?
It’s everything everywhere else wants to be. And, my god, what luck, it’s home.
Hiaasen or Barry?
Love ’em both. Carl put the Z in zany, and Dave put the green in booger.
Chandler or Hammett?
Who can choose? Poetry and hardass.
Thompson or Spillane?
Thompson. For the lurid, elbow-in-your-face prose.
Crews or Willeford?
You mean Feast of Snakes, Harry? Oh, my. I love A Childhood about as much as any book I’ve read. He does Florida better than nearly anyone. Charlie was dark and twisted and wonderful. Kiss Your Ass Good-Bye. How could you not love a writer who titles a novel that? And he was a colleague of James Lee Burke for a while at Miami-Dade. Now there’s some nuclear fission.
Ellroy or Connelly?
Mike not James. Miami is the new, weirder LA.
Buchanan or Grafton?
Sue’s got a few more letters to go before she’s rich as Oprah. Wish I’d thought of that 20 years ago. And Edna knows her way around badass cops and newsrooms better than anyone out there.
McGee or Dortmunder?
Travis, hands down.
Grift or graft?
Is there a difference?
Knife or gun?
Guns are boring. Knives are evil. It’s the third choice I like the best.
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