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A Thin Difference
Spinning a new twist to the legal drama genre, Frank Turner Hollon explores the moral and the controversial in his third novel, A Thin Difference. Jack Skinner is a criminal defense attorney in a small town in Southern Alabama. His personal life has declined into a battlefield of divorces, bitter children, and tax debt, but the courtroom has always been a safe haven from his otherwise dismal life. For twenty-five years he has lived under a terrible allegation that has dominated his existence and alienated his family. One morning a stranger appears at his office with a pile of cash asking for some minor legal assistance. But two days later the stranger is arrested for the brutal murder of a rich, elderly widow, and Jack takes on the murder case. With his instincts dulled by his belief in his client’s innocence, he sets out to win the biggest case he has ever undertaken. In the process, the two lives of Jack Skinner, his personal and professional, are set on a collision course and the unexpected is only the beginning.
217 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
7 people are currently reading
29 people want to read
About the author
Frank Turner Hollon
18 books22 followersFrank Turner Hollon, a talented author, has works that vary from suspenseful novels, to short stories, to children’s books. Frank Hollon was born on July 24th, 1963 in Huntsville, Alabama. Although born in Alabama, Hollon soon became a Louisiana native when he moved to Slidell, Louisiana, or as he says “the ugliest town in America,” when he was 5 years old. Hollon attended Slidell High School and graduated in 1981. Hollon went to Louisiana Tech University, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude, which earned him a scholarship to Tulane Law School.
Frank Turner Hollon began writing at an early age, usually composing short stories and poetry. He wrote his first book, The Pains of April, in the 1980s, while still in law school. Hollon never really wanted to be a lawyer, but he opted for law school when offered a scholarship, rather than having a full-time job. At the time, he worked at the St. Charles Guesthouse on Prytania Street. Always a free spirit, he even showed up at law school barefooted.
Hollon lived in Louisiana from the age of 5 until he graduated from law school when he was 24. The book, The Pains of April, was Frank Turner Hollon’s first book to be published, and was written while he was in law school in New Orleans. Only a few friends and family read his manuscript while the book sat under his bed for 12 years. This book was published by an Alabama publisher, Sonny Brewer. Another one of Hollon’s books, Life is a Strange Place, is set in New Orleans. This book is currently being made into a movie, called Barry Munday. Hollon has said that Walker Percy, a prestigious Southern author and one of Hollon’s favorite authors, has influenced and greatly affected his writings. Hollon read Percy’s books in New Orleans, and many Walker Percy quotes can be found throughout Hollon’s novels.
Throughout his books, Hollon’s style of writing is very unique, and his stories broadly range. In the psychological suspense story, Blood and Circumstance, the novel is written in the form of a transcript of interviews. Hollon says this is because, “The art of conversation is dying amongst cell phones, e-mails, and text messages. Our minds and bodies are geared instinctively for face-to-face communication.” His second book, The God File, consisted of 47 brief chapters. Throughout Hollon’s collections of writings, each book is notably different than the last. He has established a wide variety of readers, with dark, psychological suspenseful novels, to children’s books, to short stories. Each book seems to be a response to the previous one. Hollon creates intriguing and dynamic characters. From dysfunctional “mercy killers” to lawyers and psychiatrists, the book Blood and Circumstance challenges the reader to evaluate their own beliefs and keeps the reader interested. Strong opinions are voiced in many of the books about subjects like religion and legal matters, but usually they are not Hollon’s beliefs. He says that he writes through the eyes of his characters, thus investigating opinions that are not really his own. Hollon says, “After drowning in a very serious subject or character, I sometimes seek the lightness of a funny novel or children's book.”
Today, Frank Turner Hollon lives in Baldwin County, Alabama, with his wife and family. He still practices law, yet manages to keep a successful writing career and continues to write books.
(source: faculty.ashrosary.org/faculty/wohl/20...)
Frank Turner Hollon began writing at an early age, usually composing short stories and poetry. He wrote his first book, The Pains of April, in the 1980s, while still in law school. Hollon never really wanted to be a lawyer, but he opted for law school when offered a scholarship, rather than having a full-time job. At the time, he worked at the St. Charles Guesthouse on Prytania Street. Always a free spirit, he even showed up at law school barefooted.
Hollon lived in Louisiana from the age of 5 until he graduated from law school when he was 24. The book, The Pains of April, was Frank Turner Hollon’s first book to be published, and was written while he was in law school in New Orleans. Only a few friends and family read his manuscript while the book sat under his bed for 12 years. This book was published by an Alabama publisher, Sonny Brewer. Another one of Hollon’s books, Life is a Strange Place, is set in New Orleans. This book is currently being made into a movie, called Barry Munday. Hollon has said that Walker Percy, a prestigious Southern author and one of Hollon’s favorite authors, has influenced and greatly affected his writings. Hollon read Percy’s books in New Orleans, and many Walker Percy quotes can be found throughout Hollon’s novels.
Throughout his books, Hollon’s style of writing is very unique, and his stories broadly range. In the psychological suspense story, Blood and Circumstance, the novel is written in the form of a transcript of interviews. Hollon says this is because, “The art of conversation is dying amongst cell phones, e-mails, and text messages. Our minds and bodies are geared instinctively for face-to-face communication.” His second book, The God File, consisted of 47 brief chapters. Throughout Hollon’s collections of writings, each book is notably different than the last. He has established a wide variety of readers, with dark, psychological suspenseful novels, to children’s books, to short stories. Each book seems to be a response to the previous one. Hollon creates intriguing and dynamic characters. From dysfunctional “mercy killers” to lawyers and psychiatrists, the book Blood and Circumstance challenges the reader to evaluate their own beliefs and keeps the reader interested. Strong opinions are voiced in many of the books about subjects like religion and legal matters, but usually they are not Hollon’s beliefs. He says that he writes through the eyes of his characters, thus investigating opinions that are not really his own. Hollon says, “After drowning in a very serious subject or character, I sometimes seek the lightness of a funny novel or children's book.”
Today, Frank Turner Hollon lives in Baldwin County, Alabama, with his wife and family. He still practices law, yet manages to keep a successful writing career and continues to write books.
(source: faculty.ashrosary.org/faculty/wohl/20...)
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 20, 2023
Very easy read. Finished it in 2 days
November 22, 2025
4.5- I love me a problematic main character + a never expecting twist at the end. loved this book and my jaw was on the floor at the end🔥🔥🔥
May 17, 2014
I have been enchanted by books, the evocative sound of pages turning, the mesmerizing way the eye moves down the page. A Thin Difference is just this kind of book, the sort of novel that walks with you down a long and unforeseen road, like a pathway into a new world.
Alabama writer-lawyer Frank Turner Hollon, author of The Pains of April and The God File, has done it again. He's written something moving, something strong, something unforgettable. I have read his two recently published novels, and I will read whatever it is he publishes next. And the next book. And the next. Hollon hasn't missed William Faulkner's famous line: "Problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat."
Hollon's characters, I believe, have pulses, pump blood through their arteries, and eat oatmeal for breakfast. Oatmeal and Early Times for breakfast.
Meet Jack Skinner, middle-aged lawyer, alcoholic, father of a wayward daughter, a man askew from his senses at times, a man obsessed with saving another man from lethal injection. Meet Brad Caine, the accused, on trial for robbing and killing an old blueblood rich woman. Caine is said to have stolen seven figures worth of the lady's jewelry. This isn't his first brush with the law. There's more care for the human heart in conflict with itself right there in the pages of this novel than in most of the good books I've read over the years. Hollon's knowledge of the workings of the courtroom, the landscape and haunts of the Gulf Coast, and the terrain of the heart is worthy trade for the price of his book.
This is a story, a mystery. Who killed Haddie Charles, the old lady? I won't tell you. Who will save an almost good man, Jack Skinner? I won't say. How will Jack's daughter make it in this world? It's not easy to tell. Are we the sole masters of our own fate? Never. Can we even know who we are?
Read this book to find out. You'll care about these people. You will want to read more of Frank Turner Hollon. I certainly do.
-Dayne Sherman, author of Welcome to the Fallen Paradise: A Novel and Zion: A Novel (coming soon)
Alabama writer-lawyer Frank Turner Hollon, author of The Pains of April and The God File, has done it again. He's written something moving, something strong, something unforgettable. I have read his two recently published novels, and I will read whatever it is he publishes next. And the next book. And the next. Hollon hasn't missed William Faulkner's famous line: "Problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat."
Hollon's characters, I believe, have pulses, pump blood through their arteries, and eat oatmeal for breakfast. Oatmeal and Early Times for breakfast.
Meet Jack Skinner, middle-aged lawyer, alcoholic, father of a wayward daughter, a man askew from his senses at times, a man obsessed with saving another man from lethal injection. Meet Brad Caine, the accused, on trial for robbing and killing an old blueblood rich woman. Caine is said to have stolen seven figures worth of the lady's jewelry. This isn't his first brush with the law. There's more care for the human heart in conflict with itself right there in the pages of this novel than in most of the good books I've read over the years. Hollon's knowledge of the workings of the courtroom, the landscape and haunts of the Gulf Coast, and the terrain of the heart is worthy trade for the price of his book.
This is a story, a mystery. Who killed Haddie Charles, the old lady? I won't tell you. Who will save an almost good man, Jack Skinner? I won't say. How will Jack's daughter make it in this world? It's not easy to tell. Are we the sole masters of our own fate? Never. Can we even know who we are?
Read this book to find out. You'll care about these people. You will want to read more of Frank Turner Hollon. I certainly do.
-Dayne Sherman, author of Welcome to the Fallen Paradise: A Novel and Zion: A Novel (coming soon)
May 15, 2010
Whoa---the first person narrator made this very different--especially since he is a seedy, down-on-his-luck attorney from Loxley, Alabama, who gets his kicks from defending questionable characters. The tables are turned, however, when his last client frames him, successfully, for a murder he didn't commit--but can't deny without implicating his daughter...his druggy, unstable daughter whose decline has followed her molestation occurring years before. Guess who the culprit is---that is the scary part. I bought this book at a book reading several years ago, and the author wrote, "Don't let this weird book scare you." So, even the author agrees that this book is pretty weird...definitely the right word. Maybe that is a tribute to the success of the "voice" of the narrator.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 3, 2011
Mark Twain once wrote, "I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead" meaning that saying what you need to in fewer words is more difficult than to say it in many words. Frank Turner Hollon writes short books, but in those fewer pages, he writes a more satisfying story than most authors do in twice the space.
His books are somewhat hard to quantify. This is a courtroom drama, but it's so much more. As always, it is the psyche of his characters that is truly compelling, and it is the deep understanding of the flawed human condition that keeps me coming back to his books.
His books are somewhat hard to quantify. This is a courtroom drama, but it's so much more. As always, it is the psyche of his characters that is truly compelling, and it is the deep understanding of the flawed human condition that keeps me coming back to his books.
July 8, 2011
This book had an interesting twist. It is told in the first person, and I always seem to connect to the character more that way. I really liked Jack Skinner. It was cleverly written so that I felt that I really knew him and what makes him tick. But as the end came, he is really unlikable because of things he's done in his past. It makes you think about how you think you really know and like somebody, but you don't really know what's underneath.
February 5, 2013
This was a story about a criminal defense attorney who is sliding down the slippery slope of alcoholism and failed marriages and relationships. He goes to work. He goes home and drinks. Still, he is generally able to function. He takes on a fairly hopeless case which takes some very, very surprising twists. Sad characters, but a well told story.
March 24, 2008
Frank Turner Hollon is a local attorney with a real flair for creating realistic crime stories or stories about those who live on the edge of society. I promise he will become one of your favorite new authors. He writes like I wish I were able!
June 19, 2009
Another fantastic read from Frank Turner Hollon. He writes in the legal drama genre but is so much more - with concise writing, believable characters and some twists and turns. His endings are always an unexpected surprise. Can't wait to read more of his work. Very highly recommend!
February 23, 2012
Local author. Fast read.
January 31, 2013
enjoyed this book!!!! had lots of twists and turns...
July 24, 2013
really enjoyed this novel. It is tightly written and talks about how one mistake years ago can come back and destroy your life. Totally enjoyed the plot and twist at the end.
February 27, 2014
Too superficial
Too superficial
drab plot. Too simple.not deep enough. I did read it through, waiting for the plot to thicken and torque-nope! bland.
Too superficial
drab plot. Too simple.not deep enough. I did read it through, waiting for the plot to thicken and torque-nope! bland.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews