From Publishers Weekly
Prowling from the crime-ridden south Florida killing fields to the steamy jungles of Malaysia, Hall's latest novel finds Thorn, the moody hero of several previous yarns (Mean High Tide, etc.), entangled in the crusades of childhood friend Allison Farleigh, founder of the Wildlife Protection League, a worldwide organization dedicated to saving exotic endangered animals. When Allison's eldest daughter is shot dead while accompanying her mother and younger sister on the annual orangutan census in the wilds of Borneo, Thorn gets embroiled in the case, which eventually pits him against a sociopathic pair of twins engaged in the brokering of rare animals to zoological collectors-and, lurking behind them, a rich and powerful collector whose designs bring the action to Brunei for a brutally satisfying denouement. Hall's fans may be surprised to find that Thorn plays second fiddle here to Allison, but they won't be disappointed with this charismatically courageous woman or her adventures. With its far-flung locales and unexpected heroine, this is Hall's most ambitious novel yet, a work of considerable moral depth distinguished by rich characterizations, live-wire prose and bolts of offbeat humor. Major ad/promo; audio rights to BDD Audio Cassette; author tour; British, translation, performance rights: Sobel Weber Associates Inc. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Hall's fifth action adventure novel featuring Thorn, one of the protagonists from Mean High Tide (Delacorte, 1994), begins on a compelling note, loses momentum in the middle, and ends on a resounding but cacophonous chord. The rich tropical setting, a hallmark of Hall's thrillers, enhances the characterization of Allison Farleigh. A tenacious animal rights activist, Allison takes her daughters to a jungle in Malaysia, where one of her daughters is murdered by a poacher. With the help of lover Thorn, Allison learns the identity of her daughter's assailant and destroys him in a raw, violent chain of events that recalls Jurassic Park. Background data on the mercenary capture of endangered animals enhances the theme. A good choice for larger collections.--Joyce Smothers, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Manalapan, N.J.Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Previous Hall novels, especially the marvelous Hard Aground (1993), have explored Florida's tangled, troubled history, revealing a fetid undergrowth of greed and exploitation. Those twin agents of evil are again present in this latest effort, but here the landscape is broader, extending from South Florida to the jungles of Borneo, where Allison Farleigh and her two daughters, Sean and Winslow, are helping with the annual orangutan census. Poachers interrupt their work, and Winslow is murdered, leaving Allison bent on revenge. The trail leads back to Florida and ultimately to her own family, as Allison uncovers a sweeping, multimillion-dollar scheme to profit from the killing and capture of endangered species. Also along for the chase is Thorn, the vagabond knight errant last encountered in Tropical Freeze (1989) and here playing a subordinate role as Allison's iconoclastic sidekick. Hall integrates a minicourse on the plight of orangutans into his crime story, vividly dramatizing the animals' human-caused travails in an effective subplot following the fate of one ape captured in Borneo and smuggled into Florida to be sold as a pet. Attempts to deliver messages on a variety of social and environmental issues have ruined many a crime novel, but Hall mixes his ingredients flawlessly, even throwing a couple of typically addled Miami psychos into the stew as the low-life poachers. Whether it's orangutans or South Florida sleaze that draws readers in, they're certain to leave satisfied. Bill Ott


From the Publisher
From James W. Hall, the highly acclaimed best-selling author of Hard Aground, Mean High Tide, and Bones Of Coral, comes a stunning and superbly rendered new thriller in which the most deadly animals in the jungle are the ones that kill for money. With one poacher's bullet, a young woman's life is tragically, brutally taken--and her mother's is shattered forever. Thus begins Gone Wild, James W. Hall's electrifying new novel, which penetrates the lush, sultry jungles of Africa and Malaysia to explore the mercenary slaughter of animals-and to expose the savagery and humanity in us all. Gone Wild brings back Thorn, the haunting, quixotic hero last seen in the best-seller Mean High Tide. And in a novel filled with the author's signatures exotic locales, vise-tightening suspense, steamy sexuality, hypnotic prose--Hall introduces a bold new element: one of the toughest, most complex female characters in modern fiction. Allison Farleigh's desperate struggle to save the endangered orangutans from poachers--and to uncover the truth about her daughter's murder--give the novel its passion and its fire. And the shocking international conspiracy she exposes in the process gives Gone Wild its relentless, heart-pounding tension. A mesmerizing journey into the heart of darkness, Gone Wild is one of those rare thrillers that not only makes you sweat--it makes you think.


From the Inside Flap
From James W. Hall, the highly acclaimed best-selling author of Hard Aground, Mean High Tide, and Bones Of Coral, comes a stunning and superbly rendered new thriller in which the most deadly animals in the jungle are the ones that kill for money. With one poacher's bullet, a young woman's life is tragically, brutally taken--and her mother's is shattered forever.  Thus begins Gone Wild, James W. Hall's electrifying new novel, which penetrates the lush, sultry jungles of Africa and Malaysia to explore the mercenary slaughter of animals-and to expose the savagery and humanity in us all. Gone Wild brings back Thorn, the haunting, quixotic hero last seen in the best-seller Mean High Tide.  And in a novel filled with the author's signatures exotic locales, vise-tightening suspense, steamy sexuality, hypnotic prose--Hall introduces a bold new element: one of the toughest, most complex female characters in modern fiction.  Allison Farleigh's desperate struggle to save the endangered orangutans from poachers--and to uncover the truth about her daughter's murder--give the novel its passion and its fire.  And the shocking international conspiracy she exposes in the process gives Gone Wild its relentless, heart-pounding tension. A mesmerizing journey into the heart of darkness, Gone Wild is one of those rare thrillers that not only makes you sweat--it makes you think.


From the Hardcover edition.

ANNOTATION

With one poacher's bullet, a young woman's life is tragically taken and her mother's is shattered forever. Thus begins Gone Wild, Hall's electrifying new novel, which penetrates the lush, sultry jungles of Africa and Malaysia to explore the mercenary slaughter of animals--and to expose the savagery and humanity in us all.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Allison Farleigh has taken her two grown daughters, Sean and Winslow, thirteen time zones from Florida to a lush, swampy jungle in Borneo - a place that is as far from home as it is possible to go. They are there as volunteers, working on the annual orangutan census that determines how much the great apes move closer each year to extinction. But the poachers following Allison's trail are interested in more than the illegal exportation of rare animals. They intend to commit a crime that will tear this beautiful woman's world apart. With one poacher's bullet, Allison is plunged into a nightmare of rage and grief. The killers? A pair of diabolical twins named Rayon and Orlon, who demonstrate why James Ellroy calls Hall's psychopaths "so well drawn and amusing they make you giddy." From Malaysia to Miami, Allison is stalked by the killer duo - and pursued by her own belief that she is responsible for her daughter's death. Desperate to bring Winslow's killers to justice, Allison finally reaches out to the only person she knows can help - Thorn.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Prowling from the crime-ridden south Florida killing fields to the steamy jungles of Malaysia, Hall's latest novel finds Thorn, the moody hero of several previous yarns (Mean High Tide, etc.), entangled in the crusades of childhood friend Allison Farleigh, founder of the Wildlife Protection League, a worldwide organization dedicated to saving exotic endangered animals. When Allison's eldest daughter is shot dead while accompanying her mother and younger sister on the annual orangutan census in the wilds of Borneo, Thorn gets embroiled in the case, which eventually pits him against a sociopathic pair of twins engaged in the brokering of rare animals to zoological collectors-and, lurking behind them, a rich and powerful collector whose designs bring the action to Brunei for a brutally satisfying denouement. Hall's fans may be surprised to find that Thorn plays second fiddle here to Allison, but they won't be disappointed with this charismatically courageous woman or her adventures. With its far-flung locales and unexpected heroine, this is Hall's most ambitious novel yet, a work of considerable moral depth distinguished by rich characterizations, live-wire prose and bolts of offbeat humor. Major ad/promo; audio rights to BDD Audio Cassette; author tour; British, translation, performance rights: Sobel Weber Associates Inc. (Mar.)

Library Journal

Hall's fifth action adventure novel featuring Thorn, one of the protagonists from Mean High Tide (Delacorte, 1994), begins on a compelling note, loses momentum in the middle, and ends on a resounding but cacophonous chord. The rich tropical setting, a hallmark of Hall's thrillers, enhances the characterization of Allison Farleigh. A tenacious animal rights activist, Allison takes her daughters to a jungle in Malaysia, where one of her daughters is murdered by a poacher. With the help of lover Thorn, Allison learns the identity of her daughter's assailant and destroys him in a raw, violent chain of events that recalls Jurassic Park. Background data on the mercenary capture of endangered animals enhances the theme. A good choice for larger collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 12/94.]-Joyce Smothers, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Manalapan, N.J.

BookList - Bill Ott