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For the last fifteen years, Floridian author James W. Hall has delighted readers with crime novels that share the Sunshine State as the story's background. He has introduced unforgettable characters such as Thorn, the beachcomber and crime scene photographer Alexandra Collins whom we last saw in Body Language. Now the author combines these two characters to join forces against one of Florida's most powerful families and its most dysfunctional one. As the story begins, Thorn is on his boat being dumped by his latest girlfriend. Shortly thereafter, a plane falls out of the sky forcing Thorn right into action. He grabs the boat's skiff and begins the search for survivors of this catastrophe. He notices that nearby there is a boat with two members of the influential Braswell family ñ Morgan and Johnny. They are just standing there doing nothing, which is suspicious in itself. Thorn decides to do an investigation after the incident but after some research he felt that they were not worth the trouble. He will later see how wrong he was. Lawton Collins is Alexandra's father. He is retired from the police force and his mind is slowly slipping away due to Alzheimer's disease. Due to a slew of unfortunate incidents, Lawton's best friend is murdered while he watched. It seemed that he had some damaging information on his former in-laws and he went to the press to bring it out in the open. Johnny Braswell does not take kind to his grandfather's actions and murders him in his boat. When he tries to approach Lawton, Lawton is ready for him and manages to escape. Through luck, Collins manages to bump into Thorn and tells him about a weapon that can shut off planes while in flight. The beachcomber reluctantly agrees to help and in the process Alexandra gets involved too. The story's action is fast-paced and there is never a dull moment. The author puts in his own brand of sardonic humor in a story straight out of a blockbuster action movie. The Braswells are characters within themselves from Johnny, the knife wielding, wannabe gangster, to Morgan, the family's femme fatale who has no compunctions of seducing her older brother Andy for his secrets. He died from a freak marlin accident in a prologue straight out of Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. If you have read any of the works from the Florida authors who participated in the serial novel project, Naked Came the Manatee, then you are in for a treat. The best comic mysteries today come out from Florida and James W. Hall is no exception. Blackwater Sound is a good action adventure novel that has plenty of laughs for everyone.
Reviewed by Angel L. Soto, November 2002
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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