Storm Kayama’s old high school friend, Tanner Williams, needs her help. He’s asked her to come to Moloka’i to make sure his ex-wife is taking good care of his adolescent son, a newly diagnosed diabetic. Ian Hamlin, Storm’s law partner and lover, is investigating a Moloka’i kayaking company’s negligence in the disappearance of Brock Liu, the son of an O’ahu shipping magnate. It looks like a great excuse for Storm and Hamlin to get away for the weekend.
But Storm soon finds that Tanner has bigger problems than he let on. For one, his ex has ties to a local protest group and an unsolved homicide. A few hours after Storm’s visit to her home, twelve-year-old Luke Williams finds his mother dead on their living room floor. Luke calls the police, then disappears into the vast Moloka‘i forest.
Storm believes Luke may have seen his mother’s killer and is in grave danger from both the murderer and his brittle diabetes. She and discover that Brock Liu’s disappearance is also linked to the infamous protest group. As Storm searches, the killer becomes more desperate, stalking Storm and the through the dense rainforests, pristine beaches, and untamed wilds of Moloka’i.
In her third Storm Kayama novel, Deborah Atkinson uses Hawaiian legends and the islands’ cultural diversity to spin a story from an islander’s perspective. The result is a mystery super-charged with authentic characters, tension, and spine-tingling action.