It's a terrific novel. I don't even like marlin fishing, but Mr. Hall made me interested in that subject. Great characters, funny and razor sharp dialog, wonderful descriptions of places. A moving portrait of a family that has lost its center and is disintegrating without any sense of value except self-preservation.

I read the Prologue and had an internal debate as to whether or not I would actually continue reading. While there is some good descriptions about techniques for deep-sea fishing, the rest of the chapter seemed unlikely and forced. I was completely turned off by the intimation of incestual love between two of the characters. Plus, the seemingly Doogie Houser nature of the proposed golden boy mentioned on the jacket cover blurb didn't work for me either. He managed to invent two fishing aides, enter into his family's lab and do wonders there, all at the age of 17. Whatever. Also, Hall's writing style is jarring and has me re-reading a few sentences to make sure I understand what he's getting at. I wanted to know what other people thought so I've looked up reviews on him and all seem favorable. This is the first site I've come to that has someone speaking out against him. I normally don't pan an author after only reading 5 pages of their book, but this one failed to grab me and instead turned me against it. However, I am almost perversely intrigued to see if Hall could possibly get any worse; almost like a rubber-necker at a 5 car pile up accident scene. You know it's gonna be bad but you look anyway.