This is a well written book that is part "who done it" and part "who should lay claim to a Hawaiian paradise"? Sounds like a volatile blend, and the former propels you swiftly though the novel while the later leaves you thinking about the long struggle between native Hawaiians and those who exploit them and the land. Woven into the mix is the fact that there is little in the way of law enforcement in many isolated stretches of the islands, that the locals don't trust outsiders, and that protecting tourism means that a lot of truths get buried along the way.
The book is populated with quite a few very likable characters and is a pleasure to read, if a bit of a nail biter at times.
The book opens at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Grady life in rural Maine has frozen. As carpenter and former EMT, his job opportunities have evaporated and he is basically homeless.
So, when his brother sends him a Craigslist ad for a live-in caretaker on a billionaire’s swanky Hawaiian island property, Grady applies — and lands it with one casual interview and nary a background check. Warning bells are going off for him, but he accepts--from his arrival onward things are slightly off, and if not for the supportive people he meets and his lack of financial resources, he would have high tailed it out of there. As it happens he stays and all his skills are required to get through. This is a thriller with a lot of subtext.
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