James W. Hall: Hell's Bay (USA 2009) From the Publisher: Thorn is aboard a houseboat in Hell's Bay when he is confronted by Abigail's son and alluring granddaughter. Thorn soon learns that they are his long-lost relatives -- and that he is about to inherit a great fortune. He's also about to find out that being a member of the Bates family comes with a price... As he searches for clues about Abigail's murder, Thorn's houseboat becomes a precarious island of safety as he and the others find themselves hunted by an invisible enemy. For someone out there knows much more about the Bates family's dark past than Thorn does. Someone who has lived a lifetime in their shadow -- and has seen the damage their wealth and influence James W. Hall: Hell's Bay. A Novel. Minotaur Books, ISBN: 9780312944179 (March, 2009), 336 p., $7.99.
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James W. Hall: Hell's Bay (USA 2008) From the Publisher: Descended from pioneer stock, the Bateses are an aristocratic Floridian family with vast holdings in real estate and mining. When matriarch Abigail Bates is discovered drowned in the Peace River, a chain of events is set into motion, embroiling Thorn with a family he never knew he had and a fortune he doesn't necessarily want. Thorn is leading a fishing expedition into the isolated lakes and mangrove swamps of Hell's Bay when Abigail's son and beautiful granddaughter arrive, claiming Thorn as a long-lost relative and asking him to solve the woman's murder. Little do they know that the killer is already on their trail. Soon their houseboat becomes a precarious island of safety in a landscape of escalating violence. What does the killer want? And why is their predator so enraged, determined to kill them all no matter what the cost? As Marilyn Stasio said in The New York Times, "If violence can be poetic, Hall has the lyric voice for it." In this tour de force of fear and suspense, Hall shows how one family's dark past comes back to haunt its most remote member -- and may ultimately cost him his life. James W. Hall: Hell's Bay. A Novel. St. Martin's Minotaur, ISBN: 9780312359584 (February, 2008), 306 p., $24.95.
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