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Thorn Mystery #16
Trickster
When a mysterious teenage girl appears at his door, Thorn’s attempt to help her sends him on a journey that leads to a shocking discovery: every calamity in Thorn’s life for the past twenty years—and there’ve been plenty—has been engineered by a powerful enemy. This man known as Trickster has made it his mission to torment Thorn and those around him in deadly ways. But now that sadistic game is about to come to its ultimate conclusion.
240 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 4, 2022
353 people are currently reading
852 people want to read
About the author
James W. Hall
88 books488 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
James W. Hall is an Edgar and Shamus Award-winning author whose books have been translated into a dozen languages. He has written twenty-one novels, four books of poetry, two collections of short stories, and two works of non-fiction. He also won a John D. MacDonald Award for Excellence in Florida Fiction, presented by the JDM Bibliophile.
He has a master’s degree in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University and a doctorate in literature from the University of Utah. He was a professor of literature and creative writing at Florida International University for 40 years where he taught such writers as Vicky Hendricks, Christine Kling, Barbara Parker and Dennis Lehane.
James W. Hall is an Edgar and Shamus Award-winning author whose books have been translated into a dozen languages. He has written twenty-one novels, four books of poetry, two collections of short stories, and two works of non-fiction. He also won a John D. MacDonald Award for Excellence in Florida Fiction, presented by the JDM Bibliophile.
He has a master’s degree in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University and a doctorate in literature from the University of Utah. He was a professor of literature and creative writing at Florida International University for 40 years where he taught such writers as Vicky Hendricks, Christine Kling, Barbara Parker and Dennis Lehane.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
July 24, 2022
I've been a Hall fan since meeting him back in '88 and getting a signed copy of his first paperback release "Under Cover of Daylight" as I was browsing in a South Florida bookstore. It has been a great series, and this is one of the best, probably since it takes place in the Keys where Hall used to live so is able to wax eloquent in his great descriptive passages. It landed closer to my heart since I experienced an interesting sailing incident in that area and loved reliving it through this book.
Lots of twists and turns, unexpected developments, some great characters and interesting plot twists. Highly recommended. Be warned, diving into this one could hook you on the whole series!
Lots of twists and turns, unexpected developments, some great characters and interesting plot twists. Highly recommended. Be warned, diving into this one could hook you on the whole series!
January 19, 2023
A Very Clever Storyline!
I was so excited to see this pop up on my feed that as soon as I saw it, I bought, read it, and LOVED it!
"Good reliable authors, sure, I get it. I have some I come back to over and over. Comfort food."
Thorn is back! and this time he is set off on a whirlwind adventure after Stetson, a seventeen-year-old girl in need of help shows up on his doorstep.
Thorn learns of a man named Trickster who quickly becomes one of Thorn's greatest enemies after discovering a sadistic game that Trickster put in motion twenty years ago.
The story unfolds and as the events of the present become clearer the past only gets fuzzier as Thorn digs deeper to find out the truth to what is real and what tragedies may have been caused at the hands of Trickster.
"Sometimes, you scrape a fingernail across the skin of this island just deep enough to break the surface, the maggots come crawling out."
I was so excited to see this pop up on my feed that as soon as I saw it, I bought, read it, and LOVED it!
"Good reliable authors, sure, I get it. I have some I come back to over and over. Comfort food."
Thorn is back! and this time he is set off on a whirlwind adventure after Stetson, a seventeen-year-old girl in need of help shows up on his doorstep.
Thorn learns of a man named Trickster who quickly becomes one of Thorn's greatest enemies after discovering a sadistic game that Trickster put in motion twenty years ago.
The story unfolds and as the events of the present become clearer the past only gets fuzzier as Thorn digs deeper to find out the truth to what is real and what tragedies may have been caused at the hands of Trickster.
"Sometimes, you scrape a fingernail across the skin of this island just deep enough to break the surface, the maggots come crawling out."
August 18, 2022
Kindle Unlimited choice
It was very different from my usual choice of book and sometimes that is good enough. I won't revisit the series, however. Some interesting bits about Florida Keys and fishing that I enjoyed. There were healthy doses of sardonic humor that kept me reading, but I am not tempted to dip into the 15 books that preceded this one. I would classify this as having appeal to a male audience.
It was very different from my usual choice of book and sometimes that is good enough. I won't revisit the series, however. Some interesting bits about Florida Keys and fishing that I enjoyed. There were healthy doses of sardonic humor that kept me reading, but I am not tempted to dip into the 15 books that preceded this one. I would classify this as having appeal to a male audience.
September 28, 2024
This may or may not be the final Thorn novel.
Thorn is minding his own business, maybe a little bored, when an obnoxious teenager comes to his house and acts like a brat.
Turns out she's the daughter of a long lost love. Said love has made a fortune writing books about a character with a startling resemblance to Thorn. The daughter is disappointed in the real thing. Then things start to get a little weird.
It seems the love's ex-husband is behind almost everything that's gone wrong in Thorn's life for years.
It's all very meta, which is why I think it may be the last book.
Thorn is minding his own business, maybe a little bored, when an obnoxious teenager comes to his house and acts like a brat.
Turns out she's the daughter of a long lost love. Said love has made a fortune writing books about a character with a startling resemblance to Thorn. The daughter is disappointed in the real thing. Then things start to get a little weird.
It seems the love's ex-husband is behind almost everything that's gone wrong in Thorn's life for years.
It's all very meta, which is why I think it may be the last book.
March 4, 2025
Trickster by James W. Hall is book 16 in the Thorn Mystery series and this one is definitely worth diving in. This book is full of action, neverending questions and mystery. This book is full of action, never-ending questions and mystery. Seriously, there is so much happening.
I liked that the story was completely different from others. I never read even similar plot so it was a big excitement for me.
Thorn lives his quiet life until one day, a young girl appears on his doorstep. No, she is not his daughter, she clarifies this confusion straight away and drops the bomb - his life has been captured in the book series for the past 20 years. How is that even possible if he never spoke with anyone and has no idea who is the author? Finding the answers will send him down to the wild rabbit hole...
I don't know why and when I got this book, it had been on my Kindle forever. I didn't realise that it is a series so I read this as standalone. Because I don't know what I am missing out, I didn't feel I missed something. The book felt complete, and didn't raise the questions about the main character so I believe you don't need to start from 1 to have this story.
I liked that the story was completely different from others. I never read even similar plot so it was a big excitement for me.
Thorn lives his quiet life until one day, a young girl appears on his doorstep. No, she is not his daughter, she clarifies this confusion straight away and drops the bomb - his life has been captured in the book series for the past 20 years. How is that even possible if he never spoke with anyone and has no idea who is the author? Finding the answers will send him down to the wild rabbit hole...
I don't know why and when I got this book, it had been on my Kindle forever. I didn't realise that it is a series so I read this as standalone. Because I don't know what I am missing out, I didn't feel I missed something. The book felt complete, and didn't raise the questions about the main character so I believe you don't need to start from 1 to have this story.
July 19, 2022
the worst Thorne book I’ve read
Glad it was so short, and I fast forwarded to the end. Hall has been sleep walking through these books for a while, should just move on. Or is someone ghost writing them. And he has the nerve to slam hiiason. Boo.
Glad it was so short, and I fast forwarded to the end. Hall has been sleep walking through these books for a while, should just move on. Or is someone ghost writing them. And he has the nerve to slam hiiason. Boo.
December 3, 2024
A Weak effort for such a talented writer
The prose is great but the plot is not. The villain is a caricature with unlimited resources and the ability to call upon, and dispose of, henchmen without especial difficulty. A number of plot lines get left unresolved. The villains demise is particularly unsettling. He is portrayed as standing on a piece of one inch thick plate glass which presumably tempered glass. That material is brittle on its edges but very strong in the plane. One heroine (with no firearm experience) fires several shots towards the glass near villains feet. The glass shatters and villain falls to his death. Problem is that the rounds were fired at a very acute angle and would most likely richotet away without damage to the heavy glass.
Not an impressive effort.
The prose is great but the plot is not. The villain is a caricature with unlimited resources and the ability to call upon, and dispose of, henchmen without especial difficulty. A number of plot lines get left unresolved. The villains demise is particularly unsettling. He is portrayed as standing on a piece of one inch thick plate glass which presumably tempered glass. That material is brittle on its edges but very strong in the plane. One heroine (with no firearm experience) fires several shots towards the glass near villains feet. The glass shatters and villain falls to his death. Problem is that the rounds were fired at a very acute angle and would most likely richotet away without damage to the heavy glass.
Not an impressive effort.
November 13, 2022
A criminal known as Trickster has made it his mission to torment Thorn, and he sends a teenaged girl to Thorn’s lair on Blackwater Sound as his harbinger, calling out the moody avenger to match wits with him. Thorn is made to consider “the possibility that a man might’ve been a shadowy presence in his life for years” (loc972), undermining every good or bad deed over 20 years. Sound comic-bookish? It is. TRICKSTER – involving lost loves, old errors and buried violence – is a much less complicated case for Thorn and his pal Sugarman than most others in this gritty series. On a fairly superficial level, it also asks: What is memory?
April 23, 2023
Thorn and Sugarman, North and Berryman. Has Thorn's life been orchestrated by this Trickster over the years because he slept with his wife, apparently so and now he has to save a teenage girl and her mother from captivity under Trickster's control on his island. Crooked cops and evil henchmen all against Thorn and Sugarman with their superior technology and all the money in the world can't beat the dynamic duo though and mayhem ensues through which Thorn's network of friends and allies prove to be more than a match for evil and money. Good story with plenty of twists and characters you can like or hate.
April 5, 2025
Very Enjoyable Read
I have been re-reading the old “Thorn” books by James W Hall and reading the newer books for the first time. They have all been available from kindle unlimited which makes reading very simple. Trickster is very different from most of these books. It involves taking a look back at many of Thorns past adventures. I enjoyed Trickster very much. I hope Mr Hall keeps adding to his Thorn books and his other series also. Mr Hall is a very good author. His books have been an easy read while
I am dealing with a minor
Health issue. I recommend them to anyone wanting to take a mental trip to the Florida Keys.
I have been re-reading the old “Thorn” books by James W Hall and reading the newer books for the first time. They have all been available from kindle unlimited which makes reading very simple. Trickster is very different from most of these books. It involves taking a look back at many of Thorns past adventures. I enjoyed Trickster very much. I hope Mr Hall keeps adding to his Thorn books and his other series also. Mr Hall is a very good author. His books have been an easy read while
I am dealing with a minor
Health issue. I recommend them to anyone wanting to take a mental trip to the Florida Keys.
April 7, 2025
I like a good mystery and this was not one of them. It seemed like the author really didn't care to write a well written, interesting novel. Never having read anything from this author before, it seems this is one of a long series on the character. Maybe he just doesn't care anymore or had a deadline? The bad guy falling to his death was the worst. Really? When the lady fired shots at the tempered glass he was standing on, they would ricochet back, not allow him to fall to his death. Not worth my time.
July 21, 2022
Best Thorn novel yet. Almost entirely set in the Upper Keys, this is vintage Thorn with many references to past adventures. For those who are familiar with Key Largo and Islamorada, the inclusion of many popular restaurants, water passages, bays and islands makes you feel your riding along silently with Thorn and Sugar as they navigate the perils of dealing with friends and unseen villains of the past.
April 22, 2023
i see this is the last book in this series as well ...i have found that a lot of the times Bookbub ...wonder who decides these things?? it was said to be FREE on there ...didn't know it was book #16 ...news to me ... did i miss it??! any who ...new to James' books ... will see what else he offers. i love a good mystery. mysteries are my favorite. gotta jet ...more to read and more to take care of ...life is moving. move on. going. going ...gone.
April 25, 2023
(3). Hall is a different kind of Florida writer, but also deeply ingrained in the culture. Thorn is a wonderful protagonist, and I have really enjoyed all these freebies in this series. This one is more fun than most. Lots of layers, a truly evil bad guy, and years of history for Thorn and Sugarman to plow back through to get to the bottom of things. A nice piece of a finishing week of winter in the desert. Good stuff.
August 8, 2024
Thorn is back in the dangerous, swirling currents of the Florida Keys for the 16th outing, which I read is his last. I was there from the first 'Under Cover of Daylight' as this denizen of the stilt house, laid-back fishing life battles crooked cops and truly evil villains, often rescuing damsels, usually with his even more easy-going mate Sugarman in support. The title Triskster is an old nemesis but it is Hall's Florida I will miss, as vivid as anything Hemingway ever wrote.
September 17, 2022
I was a faithful reader of Hall's Thorn series back in the day. I had no idea that he was still writing them. This one was okay, but didn't reach the heights of the earlier books.
Thorn and Sugar get wrapped up in the plot of the ex-husband of a former flame of Thorn's from twenty years ago who just couldn't let's go.
Thorn and Sugar get wrapped up in the plot of the ex-husband of a former flame of Thorn's from twenty years ago who just couldn't let's go.
September 26, 2023
I really like this author and series! Thorn is a likeable guy who likes his routines, habits and privacy. I am reading them out of order for no real reason. Now I will be able to see if in the earlier ones he was sabotaged in any way AND if it could have been Trickster... and if Kathy and Stetson and in the later stories. Enjoy!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 20, 2024
3.5 I read his first few books then I wandered off. This book works as standalone. Thorn and Sugarman have very different personalities that usually balance each other. I feel that the story needs to be discovered by the reader, not in reviews. It is a not altogether believable to me, but it was a fast, fun read. I also enjoyed learning more about Fl.
July 21, 2022
The Poet That Knowed It
Any Thorn book is a good one, and no one in the genre waxes prosetic like Hall. Suspense, action, a little heart and fancy English—it’s everything a reader wants…
Any Thorn book is a good one, and no one in the genre waxes prosetic like Hall. Suspense, action, a little heart and fancy English—it’s everything a reader wants…
October 6, 2022
Always delivers
I've been with Thorn almost as long as the author. Travis Mcgee in my youth and thorn and sugar through decades. It doesn't get old. Stories are still great and in these times it's good to see their are characters with charecter!
I've been with Thorn almost as long as the author. Travis Mcgee in my youth and thorn and sugar through decades. It doesn't get old. Stories are still great and in these times it's good to see their are characters with charecter!
April 13, 2023
Lion fish
An exciting tale of love, crime, escapades, escapes, and intrigue with two unlikely friends. Throw in some modern, state of the art technology and you have an incredible story.
An exciting tale of love, crime, escapades, escapes, and intrigue with two unlikely friends. Throw in some modern, state of the art technology and you have an incredible story.
September 6, 2024
Great wrap-up for the Thorn series
As usual, a well written and engaging entry into the Thorn-Sugerman saga. This one had more plot twists than usual, and wrapped up the series nicely.
As usual, a well written and engaging entry into the Thorn-Sugerman saga. This one had more plot twists than usual, and wrapped up the series nicely.
September 24, 2024
Beating the Bad Guys
Living a simple life in the Florida Keys, Thorn seemed to be a happy man. But then a young girl shows up, and he has no idea how to help her. He also finds out his life has been made into best-selling series of books. What's going on??
Living a simple life in the Florida Keys, Thorn seemed to be a happy man. But then a young girl shows up, and he has no idea how to help her. He also finds out his life has been made into best-selling series of books. What's going on??
October 28, 2024
Sorry, but I found this book so immature, in both characters and plot, that it was impossible to "suspend disbelieve" and finish. I gave up two thirds of the way through. I just couldn't do it any longer. Two stars because at least the author tried to entertain me.
January 4, 2026
It's been awhile since I've read a Thorn novel, the last one being "Badaxe". I liked this one more, as it is pretty much centered in the Keys. Thorn and Sugarman get involved in a mystery involving a woman from their past, a feisty teenage girl, and the evil criminal who is controlling them .
July 8, 2022
Global Class
The story is perfect, as always. Nicely twisted plotline surrounding characters who are unique and believable. Highly recommended for all readers.
The story is perfect, as always. Nicely twisted plotline surrounding characters who are unique and believable. Highly recommended for all readers.
August 7, 2022
So happy this one is back to key largo. Loved the way all the old adventures were threaded in . Another page turner. My Old neighbor took me right back home.
April 15, 2023
A page turner
Lots of action, lost love, murder, mayhem, mystery. Definitely a page turner with a surprise twist at the end. I would definitely recommend it.
Lots of action, lost love, murder, mayhem, mystery. Definitely a page turner with a surprise twist at the end. I would definitely recommend it.
June 16, 2023
Excellent
Quite a story. LOVE the ending. Hope further writing includes this new family created by tragedy. Looking forward to more books
Quite a story. LOVE the ending. Hope further writing includes this new family created by tragedy. Looking forward to more books
July 14, 2023
Great read
Ya just got to know when you pick up one of his books he's going to hook you and you are stuck till you've finished
Ya just got to know when you pick up one of his books he's going to hook you and you are stuck till you've finished
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews