Jonathan Arnold reviewed Mean high tide by Hall, James W.
Review of 'Mean high tide' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Mean High Tide is the 3rd book in James Hall's Thorn series. Thorn is a bit of a Florida beach bum who gets involved with odd mysteries and is forced into action, usually quite violent.
In Mean High Tide, Thorn is just enjoying life with Darcy Richards, an old high school chum who has suddenly become so much more (see book 2, [b:Tropical Freeze|370180|Tropical Freeze (Thorn, #2)|James W. Hall|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388359936s/370180.jpg|360154]). But then, as is wont to happen in these, some bad things come down and he is forced to seek revenge. This time, the case surrounds the race to create the first red tilapia and a crazy father / daughter duo involved in deep dark ways with it. Of course, death surrounds these two and Thorn is drawn into their vortex of violence.
It was an okay book, but the problems I had with book 2 surface with this one …
Mean High Tide is the 3rd book in James Hall's Thorn series. Thorn is a bit of a Florida beach bum who gets involved with odd mysteries and is forced into action, usually quite violent.
In Mean High Tide, Thorn is just enjoying life with Darcy Richards, an old high school chum who has suddenly become so much more (see book 2, [b:Tropical Freeze|370180|Tropical Freeze (Thorn, #2)|James W. Hall|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388359936s/370180.jpg|360154]). But then, as is wont to happen in these, some bad things come down and he is forced to seek revenge. This time, the case surrounds the race to create the first red tilapia and a crazy father / daughter duo involved in deep dark ways with it. Of course, death surrounds these two and Thorn is drawn into their vortex of violence.
It was an okay book, but the problems I had with book 2 surface with this one too. I'm just not crazy about my detective novels told in the third person. One of the benefits of telling the story from multiple points of view is that the reader can never be too comfortable with the fate of any character (see [a:George R.R. Martin|346732|George R.R. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1351944410p2/346732.jpg]).
But that tension is lost when it is a series, because you know darned well that nothing is going to happen to Thorn, not when you see there are 14 more books in the series! So the shifting point of view feels a little gratuitous and when part of that is from the point of view of some real wackos like the father daughter pair of Winchesters, it tends to devolve into pop psychology of the lamest kind. Sylvie has mother issues, Harden has control / anger issues, and it all feels strained.
And the ending just seemed to drag on and on and on. The amount of damage the characters can sustain yet still pull off herculean feats of strength and daring is far too unbelievable.
Ah well. This is my fourth Thorn and I may be done with him. I suppose I should add book five ([b:Buzz Cut|370177|Buzz Cut (Thorn, #5)|James W. Hall|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403193959s/370177.jpg|360151]) to my To Read but I won't be in any hurry to read it, I guess.