Going Dark

July 1, 2013

Florida private investigator Daniel Thorn is worried when he learns that his recently discovered son, Flynn Moss, has innocently become involved with Earth Liberation Front (ELF), a radical environmental group responsible for arson and considered a top terrorist threat by the FBI. Hall's Edgar and Shamus statues guarantee readership.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2013
Thorn is a hermetic, fly-tying loner whose attempts to carve a separate peace for himself on Key Largo are only intermittently successful. Inevitably, he is drawn into somebody else's fight, or, in a kind of reverse serendipity, simply walks into a mess that needs fixing. And when Thorn gets to fixing something, he doesn't stop until the job's done. Ah, but collateral damage, there's the rub. Too often Thorn's knight-errantry puts those he loves in danger. This time it's a little different. The problem is Thorn's newly discovered son (Dead Last, 2011), who has joined forces with a band of ecoterrorists who have designs on Florida's largest nuclear-power plant. (The plan is supposed to be nonviolent, but a cell within the cell has other ideas.) Thorn's only hope of extricating his son is to join up with the terrorists, which raises the bar on possible collateral damage to a new high. Hall is one of those rare thriller writers who can build character as he ratchets tension, who can do no-holds-barred action scenes with panache and, in the midst of bedlam, never lose sight of nuance. All those skills are on display here, as Hall assembles a full-bodied supporting cast whose stories hold our interest as much as Thorn's attempt to save his son without helping to bring about a South Florida version of Chernobyl. A fine thriller on every level.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)