Red Sky at Night

By James W. Hall

Book Overview

It was truly a crime against innocents.  Eleven dolphins, part of an experiment in healing, are found slaughtered in their saltwater tanks.  When Thorn investigates, he triggers a vicious attack that leaves him paralyzed from the waist down, plagued by unrelenting pain.  Now Thorn, a Florida renegade who has lived a life of fierce freedom, is starting over in a wheelchair, bitter enough to drive his lover away, desperate enough to seek miracles on the fringes of medical science--where his childhood friend, now a doctor, is doing cutting-edge research in a quest for the ultimate painkiller. Bean Wilson was once destined for greatness.  Then came the war in Vietnam, a debilitating injury, and a simmering rage.  Now Bean is running a pain-relief clinic in Key West, assisted by a beautiful six-foot-tall island girl named Pepper Tremaine, who chews hot chilies like gum and carries a scalpel in her blouse.  Under the guise of a respectable research facility, Bean and Pepper are using human beings as lab rats, then feeding the bodies of their failures to the shark-churned sea.  Within hours of entering the clinic, Thorn can sense the danger.  But when he begins to make the bizarre connection between eleven dead dolphins and Bean's clinic, the stakes are raised.  Because Dr. Bean Wilson, a man who knows exactly how an amputated limb can scream with real, unbearable agony, may be on the brink of the most dangerous discovery of all: a cure for human pain.  And in a climax that explodes with the kind of secrets that can turn friends into enemies and lovers into strangers, Red Sky At Night races toward a harrowing showdown between Thorn, imprisoned in a wheelchair, and a mad, ruthless doctor who will stop at nothing to cure his own twisted pain. A full-throttle thriller of unparalleled suspense, Red Sky At Night is also a powerful human drama.  For here are the hurts that afflict the body, mind, and spirit.  And here is the wounded love between old friends and rivals: the twisted love between the beautiful, rough-hewn Pepper Tremaine and the doctor she worships, and, ultimately, the love risked between Thorn, caught in his bitterness and his rage, and a good woman willing to stay with him to the end.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385316380
• ISBN13: 9780385316385
• Release Date: June 1997
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.0" x 1.3" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

THRILLING...

This book is one of the most exciting I've ever read. As an aficionado of mystery (Ruth Rendell is another of my favorites), I give this book a five star rating. In terms of twists and turns it's right up there with Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris and Mercy by David L. Lindsay. It also has a deeply Floridian atmosphere and a few moments of black humor, a la the late lamented John D. McDonald. Don't make any immediate plans if you get ahold of this book; you won't want to put it down. A word of warning to the faint of heart: this is a medical thriller and has a few very dark moments. But the ending crackles and is MOST satisfying. Kudos to James W. Hall; keep them coming!

No Wimps allowed in Reality, Florida.

"Red Sky At Night" will take you all the way down before letting you have another breath of air. This story is hard to understand if your life has been easy and candy-coated, but should resonate with all those (painful) real world experiences. Consistent and evenly paced, "Red Sky at Night" goes way beyond what others portray. Just be carefull!

A Pleasure To Read

Hall's writing style made this book a pleasure to read. Add to that, a terrific plot and characters who seem real enough to jump off the page, and you have a winner. I can hardly wait to catch up with Thorn in the next book.

Hall's crystalline prose sparkles again

Each year, I treat myself to Hall's most recent novel, the only fiction author I'm not willing to wait for the paperback to come out. They are a special treat after what can be depressing days at work. Again, Hall has painted a remarkably clear and alive vision of the Florida keys. The very three-dimensional characters come alive on the page. I've always preferred Hall's villains to his heros, though in this book he makes the heros more interesting. Hmm. The quirkiest character, Pepper, is wonderful, but none of the characters here achieve the literary legend status of the villainous lovers Dougie and Elvira in what I consider Hall's best book, "Bones of Coral." OK, I'm ready for his next book!

Charter member of the big '3' keeps pace!!!!

Not to be one-upped by Randy White or Carl Hiaasen James Hall has created another cast of less than typical characters for this latest Thorn escapade. He has allowed Thorns love interest to survive two novels and has once again taken all of us south Florida mystery fans to the places we've been and the intigue we wished we had been part of.Perhaps one day we'll see Thorn,Doc Ford and Skink take on the bad guys!!!!