A Thin Dark Line

by Tami Hoag

Book Overview

Terror stalks the streets of Bayou Breaux, Louisiana. A suspected murderer is free on a technicality, and the cop accused of planting evidence against him is ordered off the case. But Detective Nick... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553571885
• Release Date: April 1998
• Publisher: Bantam
• Length: 592 Pages
• Weight: 0.67 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.9" x 1.4" x 4.2"

Customer Reviews

very happy

you can never go wrong with tammi hoag very good writer all of her books are great never a bad one always action excitement put you on edge

A really good read - but lock your windows and get your cat in first!

Other reviewers will give you the plot line, but needless to say it has a few twists and turns. It is gruesome in parts and I shuddered quite a lot when reading some of the details. I thought this was a very well written book. I liked the relationship between Annie Broussard and Nick Fourcade because it developed over time and both were troubled in their own way. I'd love to see more of them. Yes, I felt sorry for AJ, but sometimes that happens in life. The nice guy doesn't always get the girl. Hopefully he will have more luck in a future book. Mention was made of characters from earlier Hoag novels and I liked that continuity. There is quite a lot of violence and I think some of this was unnecessary to the plot. We knew it was terrible without having it underlined in blood continually. The language is also little over the top. Again, we can get the flavour without having it reiterated. I did live in Louisiana, although not in the same area and I believe some of the attitudes are more akin to the 1970s than today. This is a complex story and I must admit I did not expect the twist at the end. Well written, at 600 pages I didn't think it was too long. I think this is on a par with Dark Horse as Hoag's best work. Tami Hoag has grown up in her writing style. She could probably cut back on some of the violence and moderate the language. her skill at setting the scene and developing the characters means she doesn't need to spell everything out for us. Sometimes less is more.

Another Hoag winner

A Thin Dark Line returns to the French Triangle, the setting of two earlier books, Lucky's Lady and Cry Wolf. Those of you who have not already read Cry Wolf may want to read it before reading Thin Dark Line as the killer and the victims in Cry Wolf are revealed in Thin Dark Line.A few years after the Bayou Strangler's reign of terror is ended, Bayou Breaux again terrorized by a killer. After a prominent businesswoman's mutilated body is found, her accused stalker is investigated and arrested for the murder. Charges of corruption in the Sheriff's Office, tainted evidence, and a legal technicality set Marcus Renard free. Renard now focuses his obsession on Sheriff's Deputy Annie Broussard, the officer who found the body. Broussard feels an obligation to the murdered woman, and to the woman's child, to find and punish her killer. Deciding to use Renard's obsession to get close enough to him to prove his guilt, Annie is caught in a dangerous crossfire. Her only ally is Detective Nick Fourcade, a rogue cop with a reputation of corruption and violence. Annie can't be sure if Fourcade is helping her or using her, since it was his investigation, his evidence, and his mistake that allowed a brutal murderer go free. Fourcade's only hope of redeeming himself and his reputation is in the hands of the woman most likely to die next.

Tami Hoag is one of the best!

This was the first book I read by Tami Hoag. I got it for free from a friend of mine and I couldn't put it down. I'm 16 and I have to admit that I actually skipped school one day to finish it. Of course, when I got the book that came before it, a lot more of A Thin Dark Line made sense. I would recommend reading that first. I think the best part of this book is the language Hoag uses to tell the story. The characters sound a lot like the people I see every day instead of stilted characters of other novels. The book starts out with a poem that really got me into the book. The way it was laid out on the page and the words written grabbed me right then and there. Annie Broussard is a deputy in the Lousiana bayou, which is a profession dominated by men. Nick Fourcade is a detective that made a few mistakes. Together, they try to solve the murder of Pamela Bichon. The killer is on the loose, and is after them now. But the answer to the murder isn't all that Nick and Annie discover. I wouldn't want to spoil the entire book, so enjoy!

Darkness Prevails

This was the first Tami Hoag book I ever read, and what brought me to check out city, were three things: the Louisiana setting (no place like it); the packaging (red attracts me like a bull); and that enchanting storyline on the back cover. From page one, I was captivated by Annie's courage and wit. I love a determined female protaganist who fights for what she wants, and Nick--well, let's just say, we need more men like him.A murderer goes free based on a technicality, and a town is embroiled in a lynching type of mentality. Annie, is a straight-arrow deputy, whose loyalties are challenged when she is forced to arrest fellow officer, Nick, who is beating the acquitted murderer, Marcus to a pulp in a darkened alley. The story is awesome, especially when set against a Cajun background, and with that spicy, local flavor thrown into the mix, how could you go wrong?