Silencer--A Novel

Starred review from November 23, 2009
Shamus-winner Hall's superlative 11th thriller to feature Thorn (after Hell's Bay
) finds his iconoclastic Key Largo, Fla., PI with a newly acquired fortune. Thorn is excited when his girlfriend, Rusty Stabler, presents a deal to protect 300 square miles of Florida from development and also put Earl Hammond's Coquina Ranch game-hunting operation out of business. Then Hammond is shot to death, Thorn is kidnapped—but Hall is just getting warmed up. While Thorn tries to figure a way out of the literal hole he's in, Rusty and Thorn's longtime friend Sugarman try to track him. Warped contract killers Jonah and Moses Faust, who deal in serial killer memorabilia, and Hammond's very different sons, ex-football star Browning and Miami cop Frisco, play large roles. Hall steadily ratchets the suspense while seamlessly combining elements of Florida's natural history with elements of the state's early development and overdevelopment.

SILENCER is something between a hard-boiled detective story and an eco-thriller. James Hall's crusty Key Largo detective, Thorn, is essentially the hero, but he's only one of many. The elderly owner of an exotic Florida hunting preserve has big plans for his land that involve Thorn. Several people would gladly kill to stop the deal. And they do. Ed Sala has a laid-back delivery that serves well for most of the characters. However, his portrayals of various ethnic characters, such as a black former football star and various Latinos, are less credible. But that's a minor concern as the high action propels the story like an airboat on the Everglades. This is the perfect beach book. M.S. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine