Kaua’i Storm is an intriguing, layered and suspenseful story that educates as much as it thrills. Tori Eldridge does a masterful job blending historical context and Hawaiian traditions into a traditional mystery that engages the reader’s brain from start to finish.
National Park Ranger Makalani Pahukula is back on Kaua’i after spending the last decade on the mainland. Back for her grandmother’s birthday celebration, she’s thrust into a search for two of her cousins who have gone missing. Fearing something nefarious is at play – a feeling that’s only heightened when hunters find a dead body in a forest reserve – she desperately investigates and searches the island she grew up on, bringing up difficult feelings of being disconnected from the land and the struggles of her family. Undeterred by those who resent her help and the increasingly dangerous weather conditions, she will stop at nothing to solve this mystery and hopefully return her cousins safely to her family. And in doing so, maybe she will be able to reconnect with her homeland and find a new level of love and peace with her family.
Kaua’i Storm expertly takes the reader on a journey through the Hawaiian culture and the critical importance of ‘ohana (family) and 'āina (the land). It’s part history lesson and part love letter to Hawaii that educates the reader and serves the story well, patiently setting the stage for what’s to come in the thrilling conclusion of this book and future installments of this series. By understanding the lives and struggles of Makalani’s family and others like it, it brings a deeper connection to the characters and elicits stronger emotions as conflict arises and the outcomes remain uncertain.
Interwoven in the family drama is a suspenseful thriller that showcases Makalani’s impressive skillset as a Ranger. Her strength, intelligence, resiliency and stubbornness are on full display as she attempts to track down her cousins and spare her family from a potentially heartbreaking situation. She’s a strong, but flawed and conflicted protagonist with a lot of potential. Someone whose journey is only beginning and will be fun to watch her development in the future.
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