I just finished reading the book (I had a few ahead of his in my book reading line-up). Following in the footsteps of John D. McDonald who created the reluctant PI, Travis McGee of Fort Lauderdale; Hall created Thorn, an eccentric, swept into being a investigator by circumstances. Thorn lives in the Keys and fishing is his passion. His full name, never used, is Daniel Thorn.The mystery took the reader for a ride through Miami. He weaved the infamous Silver Sands Motel in Key Biscayne into the story along with Perricone's restaurant, the Miami River, Flagler and Spring Gardens among other places. I thought that one location sounded suspiciously like the Miami River Inn but it was not named that. Anyway, I enjoyed the read and I liked the character Thorn. Continuing characters are my favorite for mystery reading, if you like them you want to read more. One character I didn't like was April's mom - annoying. I was wrong about who the murderer was so I was surprised by the ending. I was hoping it was April's mom so she would go to jail and never be heard from again in Hall's books.
It made "Dead Last" better that I knew most of the places that Thorn was traveling through. Even some names were familiar. One character had the last name of Matheson. As I read, I wondered if Hall got his protagonist's name from Miami Architect Thorn Grafton. There were also lyrically written passages that could only describe Florida - for example:
"The sky was leaden and low and in the east the sunrise was muffled to a vague pink. The air smelled tense and electric from an incoming storm. Overhead in the lowering sky two parrots groused at each other as they made their morning rounds."Thanks again for the book Mr. Hall, you reminded me, I have to make an appointment with Dr. Rivlin (you have to read the book).
7 comments:
Oh ... I loved to read McDonald.... I have to read this book!
So glad you liked it, GOD. And praised the Miami-ness of it. Thorn may be a fish out of water in Miami, but I'm not. I love this place. I've posted links to your excellent blog on my FB page and Twitter. Hope it wins you a few new fans. JWH
Been following the saga of Thorn, he indeed is as faceted as Travis. Love the Florida setting he weaves into the books. He captures our strange vibe.
If you want some more home-grown literature, you've gotta read local Diana Abu-Jaber's new novel set in Miami, "Birds of Paradise". Many references you will recognize and it has glorious descriptions of what makes Miami so special. Oh, and did I mention one of the characters is a land-use lawyer?
I first read JWH in Naked Came the Manatee, a baker's dozen of South Florida authors (with the exception of Elmore Leonard) who were being published in the MH's Tropic Magazine on a weekly basis that was started by Dave Barry and culminated with Carl Hiaasen's final chapter. They all had to continue the story line from the previous author's chapter. It was turned into a book and I got it signed by all the authors. It's my prized possession.
After reading that book I started picking up and reading the individual authors' books (although I had already been into Hiaasen). JWH is my absolute favorite. Even when I pick up one of his books and I'm initially let down with because it doesn't contain our favorite, recurring protaganist, it's still a wonderful read. And GoD, you're absolutely right. Knowing the places that he's writing about puts you right in the middle of it and despite his excellent descriptive prose, it gives it all that much more familiarity. In my opinion JWH combines the perfect combination between narrative and storytelling. Keep 'em coming, please.
More on naked came the manatee:
Dave Barry starts it off with the first chapter (comically entitled "Booger"), then Les Standiford takes on the next one, followed by the 11 other mystery writers: Paul Levine, Edna Buchanan, James W. Hall, Carolina Hospital, Evelyn Mayerson, Tananarive Due, Brian Antoni, Vicki Hendricks, John Dufresne, Elmore Leonard, and Carl Hiaasen.
Thanks for posting my comment on JWH and Naked Came the Manatee, GoD. I had the good fortune to meet you recently after a committee meeting and was the person who told you that your blog is pretty much required reading in this place. As for Naked, it's absolutely histerical when you take into account the premice behind it and what those poor writers had to do each week with others' characters. Besides, where else would you end up with a phrase like "sloppy seacow sex" that Hiaasen was able to slip in there in the last chapter?
Post a Comment