Author: Robert McCaw

Publisher: Ocean View Publishing

ISBN: 9781608093687

It’s always a pleasure to read a well-written novel that’s both interesting and educational. This mystery/crime story is a police procedural that follows a detective’s pursuit of those guilty of building a school on top a volcanic fumarole that kills twelve children and two teachers when it explodes. It’s educational because the reader learns about Hawaii and its people, native Hawaiians in particular.

Harry Bosch isn’t mentioned in the many endorsements on the back cover (what happened to the author’s bio?), but Koa Kane, the detective, reminds me a lot of Michael Connelly’s famous cop. And yes, this is a police procedural, but there are some interesting legal thriller aspects as the author explores interactions between cops and attorneys as they seek justice.

I was a bit hesitant as I started to read this novel. It has an incredible hook in the volcanic explosion, but it had to grow on me. The story is complex, so there’s a lot to cover. This leads to a lot of telling, not showing, and sometimes the dialogue drags a bit or seems terminated all too soon. Don’t expect a lot of action here either. There are short bursts now and then, but the detective’s work as he matches wits with those in the conspiracy and peels away its layers to find the rotten core of the onion inside makes for mesmerizing reading. In other words, I soon got past my hesitation as I read along.

The peeks into native Hawaiian culture were equally intriguing to me. One often forgets, especially vacationers who only know Waikiki, that Hawaii was an independent republic until sugar cane and pineapple haoles overthrew the legitimate government (Chile and Iran are other examples of questionable overthrows), eventually leading to a new state. In other words, the US did to native Hawaiians what was done to Native Americans on the mainland. I once talked to a native Hawaiian tour guide there—alone and away from the other tourists so he felt comfortable chatting—and learned how much many native Hawaiians are still upset by this. But Hawaii is now an ethnic mix, and they’ve learned to live well together and make their state progress.

That said, multiple Hawaiian names and words are sprinkled throughout the text. There are many names for the same person too, which can be confusing, especially for Koa’s mother. Some of this comes from a lot of background material about Koa Kane’s family, of course, which is interesting in itself. Words and place names perhaps need to be listed in a glossary at the beginning of the book to help readers who don’t speak Hawaiian? (I just happen to know haole because that tour guide used it a lot!)

There’s a parallel story about Koa Kane’s brother. I found it interesting but a bit distracting. While it’s heartwarming in some respects, frustrating in others, and it humanizes the tough cop Koa, it will intrude on the main story for some readers. Koa’s acceptance of the CNN reporter’s Faustian proposal to help the brother seems like a stretch, but the result of that will be a feel-good moment for some. And a lesson that there are many possible reasons for mental illness, which we don’t nearly know enough about.

There are a few things that seemed a bit too predictable—where the architect’s hidey-hole is, and who the redhead rapist of a forty-year-old crime is, are examples. I always downplay these feelings a bit; I have the advantage (or is it a disadvantage?) that I’ve written similar books. But maybe an avid reader of books in the mystery, crime, and thriller categories would have the same problem, so fair warning. There’s always satisfaction in knowing you’re correct!

Most negatives mentioned here are nits I’ve picked that won’t diminish anyone’s reading pleasure. This is truly an excellent story. It can be read independently of the two previous novels, a skill many authors don’t have. I did so, and I’m the first one to complain if the author can’t make novels in a series independent. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, characters, and settings. At the end, I finished the rest of my Jameson and sighed. The problem with good books? They do end. You can’t help accompanying toward that end with Koa, a very interesting character, but you’ll also feel the same way when you finish: You’ll want more. Of course, avid readers often feel this way, which is why they move on to the next book. I now have the luxury that I can go back and read the first two!