THE BIG FINISH

Florida fly-tier/soldier of fortune Thorn, who’s already tangled with his newly discovered son’s attachment to eco-terrorists (Going Dark, 2013), gets another chance to rescue him—from some people even worse.

Just as you’d expect from Thorn’s grown son, Flynn Moss continues to go his own way, and his way this time takes him and his mates from the Earth Liberation Front to little Pine Haven, North Carolina, home to Webb Dobbins’ hog farming operation. Unfortunately, ELF’s attempt to get undercover footage of Dobbins’ revolting, lovingly described, strictly legal hog-raising methods backfires spectacularly, drawing the wrath of Dobbins and his enforcer, Winston County Sheriff Burkhart. When a scrawled postcard arrives from Flynn asking Thorn for help, he grabs his buddy Sugarman and saddles up, fearing the worst. But their trip is complicated by two unsought companions. First Tina Gathercole, Sugarman’s latest twist, asks to hitch a ride as far as Jacksonville. Then, FBI agent Madeline Cruz, smelling marijuana in Sugar’s car, demands to search it and then insists on joining the party, sending Tina running right into the arms of X-88, an ex-con with such a sensitive nose he doesn’t need a bloodhound to do his tracking, and his equally murderous companion Pixie. Smelling the first of a long series of rats, Thorn struggles to figure out who’s on first, and throughout the early going, Hall keeps you guessing as he hides the ball. Eventually, everybody’s forced to declare their true allegiances, and the action gets more straightforward. Thorn miraculously rises above his physical limitations to hammer the bad guys, and the townsfolk who had closed ranks against him miraculously back his play. Convenient. 

The John D. MacDonald of The Green Ripper meets the Upton Sinclair of The Jungle. Better get your fill of ham and bacon before you start this one.