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Thorn Mystery #11
Silencer
Earl Hammond, the wealthy patriarch of a family of ranchers, lies dead, shot just as he was to donate his Coquina Ranch to the state to preserve it from developers. Spearheading the plan to save this environmental treasure was Thorn, a reluctant heir to a secret family fortune, who now finds himself in terrible danger as well. A pair of deviant brothers, both contract killers, kidnaps him and drags him to a game preserve, surrounded by herds of exotic and very dangerous animals. He is entrapped in a sinkhole—a geological dungeon from which there is no escape.
But Frisco Hammond, the dark sheep of the family, is drawn into the investigation of his father’s murder and Thorn’s disappearance. He suspects the crimes are related. Helping him is his brother’s beautiful, troubled wife, Clare. They uncover a trail that leads back to the 1930’s, to a cabal of powerful and rich men with a sinister plan.
Silencer pits brother against brother and wife against husband in a thriller that proves once again that James Hall is “the king of the Florida-gothic noir” (Dennis Lehane).
But Frisco Hammond, the dark sheep of the family, is drawn into the investigation of his father’s murder and Thorn’s disappearance. He suspects the crimes are related. Helping him is his brother’s beautiful, troubled wife, Clare. They uncover a trail that leads back to the 1930’s, to a cabal of powerful and rich men with a sinister plan.
Silencer pits brother against brother and wife against husband in a thriller that proves once again that James Hall is “the king of the Florida-gothic noir” (Dennis Lehane).
276 pages, Hardcover
First published January 19, 2010
30 people are currently reading
259 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 58 reviews
May 29, 2022
I found this book hard to follow. It wasn’t one that I really cared for. I’m sure that individuals liked this story but I just couldn’t wrap myself around the plot.
December 19, 2015
PROTAGONIST: Thorn, PI
SETTING: Florida
SERIES: #11 of 11
RATING: 3.0
Thorn is a laid-back kind of guy who likes nothing better than to create fishing lures at his Key Largo place and engage in a little private investigation. He’s recently received a sizable inheritance and has plans to use it in ways that will benefit others. The project he is looking at now involves a land swap with a wealthy rancher, Earl Hammond, that will result in the preservation of several hundred miles of land. He is dependent on his significant other, Rusty Stabler, to work through all of the necessary details. Rusty has been an important part of his life for a while now, and Thorn is on the verge of asking her to marry him. He plans a huge party, totally atypical for him, where he plans to pop the question.
Unfortunately, associates of Earl Hammond have learned about the proposed deal and decide that they need to waylay Thorn. They crash the party and find that Thorn has had way too much to drink, which makes it easy for them to spirit him away. They place him in a huge sinkhole on the outskirts of Hammond’s Coquina Ranch. Of course, Rusty and Thorn’s longtime partner Sugarman go all out to find him.
The most interesting character in the book is Earl’s son Frisco, who is a very honorable police detective who is somewhat estranged from the family. His brother, Browning, is a greedy son of a gun, married to a woman named Claire who is too good for him. Claire gets caught in the middle of a confrontation between Browning and his father and ends up shooting one of the long-time help. Hall has a tendency to make some of his characters into caricatures, with Thorn’s kidnappers and Browning falling into that category. The book concludes with all the parties coming together in the ultimate showdown.
I was never really caught up in SILENCER. Overall, I found that the focus of the book was spread too thin over the Hammonds’ issues and family relationships, the environmental message and Thorn’s rather ludicrous entrapment; and I didn’t find it to be suspenseful at all.
SETTING: Florida
SERIES: #11 of 11
RATING: 3.0
Thorn is a laid-back kind of guy who likes nothing better than to create fishing lures at his Key Largo place and engage in a little private investigation. He’s recently received a sizable inheritance and has plans to use it in ways that will benefit others. The project he is looking at now involves a land swap with a wealthy rancher, Earl Hammond, that will result in the preservation of several hundred miles of land. He is dependent on his significant other, Rusty Stabler, to work through all of the necessary details. Rusty has been an important part of his life for a while now, and Thorn is on the verge of asking her to marry him. He plans a huge party, totally atypical for him, where he plans to pop the question.
Unfortunately, associates of Earl Hammond have learned about the proposed deal and decide that they need to waylay Thorn. They crash the party and find that Thorn has had way too much to drink, which makes it easy for them to spirit him away. They place him in a huge sinkhole on the outskirts of Hammond’s Coquina Ranch. Of course, Rusty and Thorn’s longtime partner Sugarman go all out to find him.
The most interesting character in the book is Earl’s son Frisco, who is a very honorable police detective who is somewhat estranged from the family. His brother, Browning, is a greedy son of a gun, married to a woman named Claire who is too good for him. Claire gets caught in the middle of a confrontation between Browning and his father and ends up shooting one of the long-time help. Hall has a tendency to make some of his characters into caricatures, with Thorn’s kidnappers and Browning falling into that category. The book concludes with all the parties coming together in the ultimate showdown.
I was never really caught up in SILENCER. Overall, I found that the focus of the book was spread too thin over the Hammonds’ issues and family relationships, the environmental message and Thorn’s rather ludicrous entrapment; and I didn’t find it to be suspenseful at all.
January 4, 2019
Five Round Burst (pointblankpodcast.com)
Modelled loosely off of John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee, Thorn is a solitary Florida man, living a quiet life in the Keys like a misanthropic Jimmy Buffett. He makes flies to catch the local bonefish and occasionally joins his ex-cop buddy Sugarman to engage in crime solving shenanigans in south Florida.
In this eleventh novel, Thorn has mellowed out. His girlfriend has even convinced him to throw a party, which he does. Well into the night, a couple tough guys sneak into the house and kidnap Thorn. But why?
The story connects the dots between Thorn, an old Florida Ranch that Thorn was planning to purchase and preserve, and a secret fortune buried in the ranch’s sandy soil.
This book was what I expected A Flash of Green to be. I mean, this is a paint by numbers commercial crime novel, but James W Hall is a strong writer and the themes of greed and environmental preservation give the book topical resonance.
Thorn doesn’t get to do much in this book, and when he does he’s a bit of a Mary Sue. Still, I like and recommend the Thorn series. I just wouldn’t start with book 11. Call this a hit.
Modelled loosely off of John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee, Thorn is a solitary Florida man, living a quiet life in the Keys like a misanthropic Jimmy Buffett. He makes flies to catch the local bonefish and occasionally joins his ex-cop buddy Sugarman to engage in crime solving shenanigans in south Florida.
In this eleventh novel, Thorn has mellowed out. His girlfriend has even convinced him to throw a party, which he does. Well into the night, a couple tough guys sneak into the house and kidnap Thorn. But why?
The story connects the dots between Thorn, an old Florida Ranch that Thorn was planning to purchase and preserve, and a secret fortune buried in the ranch’s sandy soil.
This book was what I expected A Flash of Green to be. I mean, this is a paint by numbers commercial crime novel, but James W Hall is a strong writer and the themes of greed and environmental preservation give the book topical resonance.
Thorn doesn’t get to do much in this book, and when he does he’s a bit of a Mary Sue. Still, I like and recommend the Thorn series. I just wouldn’t start with book 11. Call this a hit.
September 1, 2021
Earl Hammond, the wealthy patriarch of a family of ranchers, lies dead, shot just as he was to donate his Coquina Ranch to the state to preserve it from developers. Spearheading the plan to save this environmental treasure was Thorn, a reluctant heir to a secret family fortune, who now finds himself in terrible danger as well. A pair of deviant brothers, both contract killers, kidnaps him and drags him to a game preserve, surrounded by herds of exotic and very dangerous animals. He is entrapped in a sinkhole—a geological dungeon from which there is no escape.
But Frisco Hammond, the dark sheep of the family, is drawn into the investigation of his father’s murder and Thorn’s disappearance. He suspects the crimes are related. Helping him is his brother’s beautiful, troubled wife, Clare. They uncover a trail that leads back to the 1930’s.
But Frisco Hammond, the dark sheep of the family, is drawn into the investigation of his father’s murder and Thorn’s disappearance. He suspects the crimes are related. Helping him is his brother’s beautiful, troubled wife, Clare. They uncover a trail that leads back to the 1930’s.
August 5, 2017
Maybe I'm starting to burn out on Hall. Another Thorn mystery-crime and once again he's in duck soup. Somehow his current girlfriend Rusty survives. A wealthy family arranges for Thorn to buy their land to keep it pristine....only there's oil in them thar hills and others want the oil and the wealth that comes with it. Bodies all OVER the place. I didn't have to keep putting it down like "Hell's Bay," but it was sheer drudgery working through it. Three more to go.
August 18, 2017
Did not know this was part of a series. I am actually amazed that there are at least 10 prior books. This was a hot mess. Besides the ludicrous story the names. Frisco, Thorn, Taco...really? That's only the tip of the wacky name list. There was an exotic animal shooting park, government conspiracy, just all over the damn place.
May 9, 2017
Another great story
I've read the nine prior books and can't seem to stop. Always exciting up to the always abrupt end. An easy read with great characters! Happy ends. I am now on to book 11,
I've read the nine prior books and can't seem to stop. Always exciting up to the always abrupt end. An easy read with great characters! Happy ends. I am now on to book 11,
February 21, 2019
I assume these characters are in more than one book, but maybe not. It just had the feel of a series character. Takes place in Florida. A conspiracy unravels as the family has an investigator on hand for events.
May 31, 2022
I actually could not even finish the book because I was just not interested in it, I found this book at my Goodwill and really wanted to give it a chance because it seemed like a thriller but it took to long for the story to pick up and I just wasn’t invested.
January 7, 2024
This book was a slow start for me but I ended up really liking it! The beginning was a little hard to follow but once I got a better understanding of the characters and plot, things got really interesting and I read it quickly!
May 6, 2018
I love the cover, not so much the book.
October 12, 2020
seven word review = Thorn in a hole came out whole.
I have been to this area. I really enjoyed reading a book about a remote setting I have visited
I have been to this area. I really enjoyed reading a book about a remote setting I have visited
April 5, 2021
good story, good humor :)
September 30, 2022
A good entry in the Thorn series; like all of them a bit over the top, but somehow appropriate for the characters and the setting.
May 30, 2010
Bound: SunPost Weekly April 15, 2010
http://www.sunpostweekly.com/2010/04/...
Somebody Got Dead
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 good guys include a gal, Rusty, as well as Thorn’s old buddy Sugarman and Browning’s brother Frisco, who now happens to be a Miami cop.
But none of what you just read does even remote justice to the tall tale woven by Hall. The deal I mentioned isn’t as intricate as I made it out to be, and the bad guys are worse and the good guys are better than I could ever describe. Furthermore, the way Hall gets the lay of the land and the ways of the soul can only be appreciated first hand, in his voice, which is resonant with knowing. My job here is simply to make clear that this is a book well worth all the words in the world, regardless of how poorly I spill them.
If you dig Florida, and you dig fiction; then you’ll dig Silencer. And if by chance you’ve never read the work of James W. Hall, well, wait the hell are you waiting for?
http://www.sunpostweekly.com/2010/04/...
Somebody Got Dead
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 good guys include a gal, Rusty, as well as Thorn’s old buddy Sugarman and Browning’s brother Frisco, who now happens to be a Miami cop.
But none of what you just read does even remote justice to the tall tale woven by Hall. The deal I mentioned isn’t as intricate as I made it out to be, and the bad guys are worse and the good guys are better than I could ever describe. Furthermore, the way Hall gets the lay of the land and the ways of the soul can only be appreciated first hand, in his voice, which is resonant with knowing. My job here is simply to make clear that this is a book well worth all the words in the world, regardless of how poorly I spill them.
If you dig Florida, and you dig fiction; then you’ll dig Silencer. And if by chance you’ve never read the work of James W. Hall, well, wait the hell are you waiting for?
September 27, 2012
While Silencer isn’t the greatest novel to emerge from James W. Hall’s keyboard, the sheer sense of geographical setting and trademark suspense allows him to retain his position in the upper echelon of Florida literati. One thing makes me a little nervous, though. One of the plot devices (Thorn stuck in a hole) is reminiscent of the book Deep Shadow by Randy Wayne White, where he stuck his hero (Doc Ford) in an underwater cave for much of the book. Nothing intrinsically wrong with putting heroes in holes but that particular book marked the “jumped the shark” moment for White’s masterful character.
I’m glad to say that James W. Hall doesn’t seem to be losing his grip on Thorn yet, although Silencer more resembles an ensemble piece than previous efforts, leaving large swaths of the narrative to accomplice friends like Rusty and Sugarman. Quite a bit of time was devoted to the baddies also. There’s also nothing intrinsically wrong with taking the time to make bad guys and friends real, but I finished Silencer feeling like Thorn was somehow diminished by the process. Though he had a hand in the final showdown, he would have been toast without his compadres showing up in the nick of time.
Still, through more books than I want to spend time tallying right now, Mr. Hall has given us a truly excellent series of stories revolving around this reclusive Key Largo, fly-tying beach-bum-turned-billionaire trying to give all his money away. That’s where the events in Silencer find Thorn – directing live-in girlfriend and CEO Rusty to find creative ways to put his immense inheritance to work saving natural Florida, specifically a few hundred thousand acres of piney scrubland located southwest of Lake Okeechobee.
There’s an old guy (Earl Jr.) who has spent his life as caretaker of the sprawling chunk of land, known as Coquina Ranch (a place where the likes of Hemingway and Edison used to palaver around the campfire), but is trying to figure out how to keep it from falling into the greedy hands of his grandson, Browning. This towering ex-football star has already turned part of it into an exotic game hunting preserve – is it just me or is “preserve” the wrong word to use when describing the killing of animals? In any event, Browning and his buddies have cooked up a plan to get rid of Earl, Thorn, and Rusty before Thorn’s corporation can buy Coquina Ranch and turn it over to the state for preservation. Not surprisingly, our hero ends up tossed down a well instead, sort of like Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight Rises.
While Rusty and Sugarman search for their missing friend, Thorn is left to make his way up a sheer vertical wall with nothing more than a sardine can and antique engagement ring – sounds like an episode of MacGyver, doesn’t it – and confront a set of homicidal brothers who earn money dealing in serial killer memorabilia on the side. As might be expected, action, mayhem, and a dose of good, old-fashioned tree-hugging environmentalism ensues (a frequent complaint I make about Hall’s plots). It matters not, though. Silencer is another suspense-infested jaunt through a part of Florida that tourists don’t often see, and James W. brings it to life like no one else.
Not the best Thorn adventure around, but compared to most of the drivel masquerading as Florida literature, even 80% of Thorn is still pretty damn good.
I’m glad to say that James W. Hall doesn’t seem to be losing his grip on Thorn yet, although Silencer more resembles an ensemble piece than previous efforts, leaving large swaths of the narrative to accomplice friends like Rusty and Sugarman. Quite a bit of time was devoted to the baddies also. There’s also nothing intrinsically wrong with taking the time to make bad guys and friends real, but I finished Silencer feeling like Thorn was somehow diminished by the process. Though he had a hand in the final showdown, he would have been toast without his compadres showing up in the nick of time.
Still, through more books than I want to spend time tallying right now, Mr. Hall has given us a truly excellent series of stories revolving around this reclusive Key Largo, fly-tying beach-bum-turned-billionaire trying to give all his money away. That’s where the events in Silencer find Thorn – directing live-in girlfriend and CEO Rusty to find creative ways to put his immense inheritance to work saving natural Florida, specifically a few hundred thousand acres of piney scrubland located southwest of Lake Okeechobee.
There’s an old guy (Earl Jr.) who has spent his life as caretaker of the sprawling chunk of land, known as Coquina Ranch (a place where the likes of Hemingway and Edison used to palaver around the campfire), but is trying to figure out how to keep it from falling into the greedy hands of his grandson, Browning. This towering ex-football star has already turned part of it into an exotic game hunting preserve – is it just me or is “preserve” the wrong word to use when describing the killing of animals? In any event, Browning and his buddies have cooked up a plan to get rid of Earl, Thorn, and Rusty before Thorn’s corporation can buy Coquina Ranch and turn it over to the state for preservation. Not surprisingly, our hero ends up tossed down a well instead, sort of like Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight Rises.
While Rusty and Sugarman search for their missing friend, Thorn is left to make his way up a sheer vertical wall with nothing more than a sardine can and antique engagement ring – sounds like an episode of MacGyver, doesn’t it – and confront a set of homicidal brothers who earn money dealing in serial killer memorabilia on the side. As might be expected, action, mayhem, and a dose of good, old-fashioned tree-hugging environmentalism ensues (a frequent complaint I make about Hall’s plots). It matters not, though. Silencer is another suspense-infested jaunt through a part of Florida that tourists don’t often see, and James W. brings it to life like no one else.
Not the best Thorn adventure around, but compared to most of the drivel masquerading as Florida literature, even 80% of Thorn is still pretty damn good.
February 14, 2011
James W. Hall has authored 17 books and they all take place in the wild and beautiful backwoods of Florida. He is concerned about the fragile eco system of Florida and brings this out in his books.
In "Silencer" Earl Hammond, a wealthy ranch owner, who is the patriarch of the Coquina Ranch, is murdered. This is just after he has made a deal with the State of Florida to sell his land to them to preserve it from developers.
Thorn, a man of means and a solitary outdoorsman prefers to remain in the background, is a major player in the deal. He knows that deals like this are instrumental in saving Florida.
Thorn is kidnapped by two psycho brothers who inprison him in a sinkhole that shows little chance of escape.
Hammond has two sons, Frisco, who has left home and joined the Miami Police Department, and Browning, who has stayed at home to run the ranch. Frisco is called in to help in the case and he believes that there is a connection between Earl's murder and Thorn's disappearance.
The suspicion of murder is on a hired hand that comes into play when it is found that he is dying of cancer and was looking for a way to provide for his family. Browning's wife, Clare, becomes involved when she comes on the scene and kills the hired hand.
It is discovered that the trail may go back to the meetings of some very prominent people in the 1930's, and this information is brought to the present with the involvement of a money hungry former Miami Dolphin football players and the Governor of Florida.
A well done mystery that combines murder with the beauty of a not often seen Florida, and the effort to keep it from overdevelopment.
In "Silencer" Earl Hammond, a wealthy ranch owner, who is the patriarch of the Coquina Ranch, is murdered. This is just after he has made a deal with the State of Florida to sell his land to them to preserve it from developers.
Thorn, a man of means and a solitary outdoorsman prefers to remain in the background, is a major player in the deal. He knows that deals like this are instrumental in saving Florida.
Thorn is kidnapped by two psycho brothers who inprison him in a sinkhole that shows little chance of escape.
Hammond has two sons, Frisco, who has left home and joined the Miami Police Department, and Browning, who has stayed at home to run the ranch. Frisco is called in to help in the case and he believes that there is a connection between Earl's murder and Thorn's disappearance.
The suspicion of murder is on a hired hand that comes into play when it is found that he is dying of cancer and was looking for a way to provide for his family. Browning's wife, Clare, becomes involved when she comes on the scene and kills the hired hand.
It is discovered that the trail may go back to the meetings of some very prominent people in the 1930's, and this information is brought to the present with the involvement of a money hungry former Miami Dolphin football players and the Governor of Florida.
A well done mystery that combines murder with the beauty of a not often seen Florida, and the effort to keep it from overdevelopment.
June 20, 2011
Betsy Willeford once told me that James W. Hall started writing Florida mystery stories because it seemed more lucrative than the poetry that was his first love. With Silencer, Hall proves that he still has the heart of the poet and literature professor he was when he first thought up the Thomas Skelton-like character Thorn, and began sticking him in the side of assorted bad guys torn from the news pages.
Hall uses the first chapter of his 16th novel to foreshadow the story to come: A well-meaning but weak character succumbs to the lure of quick easy money and agrees to end the life of a proud but doddering patriarch. The victim is an African Watusi bull in a game ranch, where even lowlife hiphop stars can bag a trophy without risk, and Hall uses the scene to sketch out not only his setting but his theme. That he can do the job and still introduce his hero by the time the second chapter starts on Page 10 is testimony to his craft.
Where Hall wanders off, again, is in his reliance on global conspiracies, characters that border on being cutouts, and physical scenes that leave me saying, “He did what?”
But I gladly forgive him of these minor transgressions because of the pure poetry he brings to a place he clearly loves, even if that by itself won’t pay the bills. Ramp up the action and his love songs to a land under siege become beach reads, commercial fiction that won’t make you feel like showering when you’ve turned the last page.
As a bonus, his description of Jimmy Buffett as the “John Denver of the Keys” is wickedly funny.
Hall uses the first chapter of his 16th novel to foreshadow the story to come: A well-meaning but weak character succumbs to the lure of quick easy money and agrees to end the life of a proud but doddering patriarch. The victim is an African Watusi bull in a game ranch, where even lowlife hiphop stars can bag a trophy without risk, and Hall uses the scene to sketch out not only his setting but his theme. That he can do the job and still introduce his hero by the time the second chapter starts on Page 10 is testimony to his craft.
Where Hall wanders off, again, is in his reliance on global conspiracies, characters that border on being cutouts, and physical scenes that leave me saying, “He did what?”
But I gladly forgive him of these minor transgressions because of the pure poetry he brings to a place he clearly loves, even if that by itself won’t pay the bills. Ramp up the action and his love songs to a land under siege become beach reads, commercial fiction that won’t make you feel like showering when you’ve turned the last page.
As a bonus, his description of Jimmy Buffett as the “John Denver of the Keys” is wickedly funny.
November 15, 2012
Poor old Thorn. He’s been around so long now that I imagine him as looking a lot like the actor Sam Elliott. Even after he miraculously inherits “the third-largest privately held corporation in the United States” (p11), the semi-misanthropic maker of handcrafted fishing lures ends up shoved down a Central Florida sinkhole. As his old pal/sidekick Sugarman says, look for him: “In the heart of the heart of the trouble” (p128). Even with his unexpected capacity and ambition to become “John Beresford Tipton” (readers of a certain age salute you for that Page 123 reference to TV’s THE MILLIONAIRE, Mr. Hall!) poor Thorn finds himself stalked by several determined exemplars of Florida-Gothic villainy. Whazzup, one might ask, with Florida and serial killers?
As usual, Thorn is surprisingly resourceful when pressed and able to kill in self-defense without even a small twitch of regret. The good guys in SILENCER are every bit as interesting as the baddies, even when they’re hard to differentiate at first. One of the better-portrayed mammals in the novel is a Tennessee Walker in the Miami PD Mounted Patrol; another is an exotic Watusi bull.
At 276 pages long, with capacious white space on each page, the story is the right length to stay tightly focused and exciting. As always with a “Thorn” thriller, it’s as salty as a Key West dock and built to go the distance, come what may.
As usual, Thorn is surprisingly resourceful when pressed and able to kill in self-defense without even a small twitch of regret. The good guys in SILENCER are every bit as interesting as the baddies, even when they’re hard to differentiate at first. One of the better-portrayed mammals in the novel is a Tennessee Walker in the Miami PD Mounted Patrol; another is an exotic Watusi bull.
At 276 pages long, with capacious white space on each page, the story is the right length to stay tightly focused and exciting. As always with a “Thorn” thriller, it’s as salty as a Key West dock and built to go the distance, come what may.
July 1, 2014
#11 in Thorn series. Off-the-grid Florida denizen Thorn subsists by fishing and tying self designed bonefish flies. He finds opportunities to act as a knight errant and join the forces of good-vs-evil in the proud Florida tradition of Travis Magee. This entry presents Thorn with a novel dilemma and the reader with a pleasant evening.
Thorn is excited when girlfriend Rusty presents a deal to protect 300 square miles of Florida from development and conserve Earl Hammond's Coquina Ranch. Then Hammond is shot to death and Thorn is kidnapped. As Thorn tries to figure a way out, Rusty and Sugarman try to track him. Killers Jonah and Moses Faust and Hammond's sons, Jock Browning and cop Frisco play large roles.
Thorn is excited when girlfriend Rusty presents a deal to protect 300 square miles of Florida from development and conserve Earl Hammond's Coquina Ranch. Then Hammond is shot to death and Thorn is kidnapped. As Thorn tries to figure a way out, Rusty and Sugarman try to track him. Killers Jonah and Moses Faust and Hammond's sons, Jock Browning and cop Frisco play large roles.
March 31, 2012
Thorn has inherited an estate worth millions from his grandmother. His girlfriend arranges a deal with the state of Flordia where he will sell some land to the state for preservation purposes and then use the money to buy more pristine land from Earl Hammond and donate to the state preservation effort. Hammond is shot and killed just before the transfer and Thorn is kidnapped. One of Hammond's grandsons his responsible for the killing and the other tries to find the truth and keep the land from being spoiled.
March 6, 2010
Thorn has inherited a gazillion dollars and wants to "do good" with it. He has a plan which will entail turning over a large parcel of land to the state of Florida to never be developed. But there are other less charitable people out there who stand to lose. They kidnap Thorn and put him in a hole without water or food. His girlfriend and his best friend start looking for him, but with few clues. Good mystery, kept me involved.
May 31, 2010
Another highly anticipated Thorn book, a suspenseful thriller with on the edge of your seat moments almost the entire book. Thorn encounters deep seated evil and greed when he pledges his help, through the company he really doesn't want to own, to preserve some of Florida's most pristine inland acreage.
James W Hall is a master at creating settings, character development, and portraying history and action in rather spare prose considering the depth of detail the reader can infer.
James W Hall is a master at creating settings, character development, and portraying history and action in rather spare prose considering the depth of detail the reader can infer.
July 4, 2011
adult fiction; suspense/thriller. This was in the "mystery" section at my library, but it's more of a suspense novel (the perpetrators are actually revealed quite early on in the plot development, and the motives aren't so very difficult to guess thereafter). Features strong, smart female characters (that aren't wanna-be Lizbeth Salanders) and a likeable male cast as well.
September 24, 2011
It was wonderful to lose myself in another book about Thorn. The descriptions of wild Florida are enticing and bring back the rattling sound of dry palmetto leaves in the piney woods. The intrigues of political discussion around an old Florida campfire were quite interesting to this former Floridian.
November 7, 2011
I picked up this book after meeting James Hall at the Festival of Reading. I had never read any of his others but really enjoyed this one. Really enjoyed the cast of characters & a story full of greed, betrayal, and justice in the end. I rarely give a synopsis of the story in my comments because I don't want to ruin it for you.
January 24, 2012
A plan to turn a huge ranch into a nature preserve causes murder and mayhem in south central Florida. Thorn, Rusty and Sugarman are all caught up in the battle. Hall is terrific at describing the natural, ploitical and social environments of his home state, and a darn good story teller at the same time.
March 9, 2015
Even though the stakes were high as ever, the setting as vividly portrayed, and the environmental championing front and center, Silencer seemed a little light to me. Whether this is faint criticism or damning praise I'm not sure. It was a thrilling, enjoyable read; with all the trademarks of a Thorn book.
June 29, 2016
Picked it up in the library based on the back-cover blurbs, surprised how intelligent the writing was, shocked to learn it was "Thorn #11" since Thorn seemed like the least believable, most cliched character. Bored by the 'mystery', okay with the thriller. I'll read more, but can't recommend them till I see how they evolved.
January 22, 2017
Forgettable story of a tug-of-war over a Florida ranch intended to be preserved but coveted by greedy heirs and a too good to be true hero who fights for the right in confrontations with sleazy hit men (who are sort of sympathetic types bungling around but not favored by this sort of predictable series) and unredeemable bad guys. Two dimensional, gorgeous women show up for sex appeal.
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