I liked the first Thorn book (Under Cover of Daylight), despite its idiosyncracies, that I immediately grabbed the second book in the series, Tropical Freeze. Very similar to the first, especially in its way of telling the "mystery" from all points of view, including both the villians and the heroe, so there really isn't any mystery, just wondering how Thorn will figure it out and what he'll do about it.Tropical Freeze focuses on the brother and sister team of Gaeton, ex-FBI agent, and Darcy Richards. Darcy is the weather forecaster for a local TV station and her neighbor has an unhealthy obssession for her. Gaeton is now working for a shady operator, Bernie Cousins, and wants to see what his high school chum Thorn can find out about him. Thorn delves into the darker side of Cousins' "rent-a-cop" business, as well as getting involved in Darcy's life and problems. Once again, things come to an explosive finale.A book with a truly cynical view of human nature, Hall does a great job of inhabinting the various characters, both good, evil and neutral. Each has their own voice and he does a good job with Thorn keeping it all tied together.It is still a little weird, getting the story told, contemporaneously, from all the various viewpoints. But it does let Hall explore the dark, and in this book, truly crazy, side of things. While I appreciate Thorn's creativity in using whatever is at hand to solve the problem, sometimes it goes overboard. Much like I wonder when killers have overly complicated schemes, Thorn's schemes sometimes seem to overwraugt for what they are trying to accomplish and prone to collapse if everything doesn't go precisely according to plan.So this one get marked down a notch from the first one. I would say 3.5 stars, as it was still fun to read. And I will continue to follow along in the series. Next up is Bones of Coral.
I really don't like giving books a low rating, but there are times that I can't avoid it. "Tropical Freeze" didn't do much for me.Typical was what I kept thinking as I read it. Though it had something of a 1980's/Miami Vice feeling to it (not surprising since it was written during that time period and is set in Southern Florida) it wasn't really anything special. I've read better. Took me several months to get through since it just didn't keep my interest. I know there are many who like James W. Hall, but "Tropical Freeze" didn't click with me.
