Thorn
Created by James W. Hall

THORN isn't really a P.I., although he does occasionally take money to "look into" things. He's more of an "avenger," dark and brooding division. He makes his home in Key Largo, Florida, living off a meager income generated by the sale of hand-tied fishing lures, and the fish he catches in the coastal shallows, and trying to come to terms with his violent past. Fortunately for rewaders, he doesn't always succeed.

It turns out that Thorn's parents were killed by a drunk driver when he was a baby. As a teenager, Thorn found and murdered that drunk driver.Hey, that's just the way he rolls...

Imagine a darker, more cynical, almost noirish Carl Hiaasen, armed with a sword instead of a pen, a tougher, meaner Travis McGee or Jack Reacher with roots.

Edgar and Shamus winner James W. Hall was born in Kentucky in 1947 and graduated from Florida Presbyterian College in 1969 with a B.A. in literature, and a deep love of Florida. He went on to earn an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University and a Ph.D. from the University of Utah, then did everything in his power to return to Florida. He eventually found a job in Miami at Florida International University -- after working as a landscaper) and now teaches literature and creative writing. His long-promised, long-awaited study of what makes a bestseller, entitled Hit Lit: Cracking the Code of the Twentieth Century's Biggest Bestsellers is finally due out in 2012.

STRAIGHT FROM THE AUTHOR'S MOUTH

• "...I based Thorn on equal parts Travis McGee, Robert Parker's Spenser, Henry David Thoreau, Elmore Leonard's usual strong silent hero, and my next door neighbor in Key Largo. I wanted someone who was funny and three dimensional and tough. I wanted him to have a past and to be something of a brooder."
  -- James W. Hall

UNDER OATH

• "No one has written more lyrically of the Gulf Stream since Ernest Hemingway.”
  -- James Lee Burke
  
  
• “No writer working today…more clearly evokes the shadows and loss that hide within the human heart.”
  -- Robert Crais

NOVELS

• Under Cover of Daylight (1988)
• Tropical Freeze (1989)
• Mean High Tide (1994)
• Gone Wild (1995)
• Buzz Cut (1996)
• Red Sky at Night (1997)
• Blackwater Sound (2002)..Buy this book
• Off the Chart (2003)...Buy this book
• Magic City (2007)...Buy this book...Kindle it!
• Hell's Bay (2008)...Buy this book...Kindle it!
• Silencer (2010). Buy this book.. Kindle it!
• Dead Last (2011).. Buy this book.. Kindle it!
• Going Dark (2013). Buy this book
• The Big Finish (2014). Buy this book..Buy the audio...Kindle it!

RELATED LINKS

• Hardboiled: James W. Hall
  An interview with the man himself, conducted by our old pal, Paul Bergin.
  
  
• The Children of Travis McGee
  The literary descendants of our man Trav.

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Thanks to Bluefox808 for the word to the wise.