Aloha, Mr. Lucky

Rating:
Summary: Adventure in Hawaii
Review: Aloha, Mr. Lucky opens in Waikiki. Star Holley is running a personals ad scam and doing his best to stay one jump ahead of a loan shark out for blood. When one of the women Star meets turns up dead on the beach, he is drawn into a life-threatening but increasingly spiritual adventure that takes him and his companions to a remote valley on the Big Island of Hawaii. Clever plot which brings together a colorful cast of initially unrelated characters. Funny, quirky, informative, fast-moving. Read it!

Rating:
Summary: Adventure in Hawaii
Review: Aloha, Mr. Lucky opens in Waikiki. Star Holley is running a personals ad scam and doing his best to stay one jump ahead of a loan shark out for blood. When one of the women Star meets turns up dead on the beach, he is drawn into a life-threatening but increasingly spiritual adventure that takes him and his companions to a remote valley on the Big Island of Hawaii. Clever plot which brings together a colorful cast of initially unrelated characters. Funny, quirky, informative, fast-moving. Read it!

Rating:
Summary: This will do until Hiaasen's next one
Review: Corson Hirschfield has done for developers in Hawaii what Carl Hiaasen did in Florida. Score one for the environment and for readers who enjoy a novel with this theme.Quirky characters, interesting plots and situations and a good sense of humor weave a story with high entertainment value. I thought the author put more Hawaiian lore into the book than was necessary for the story and at times, I confess I found myself doing the "Tom Clancy thing", i.e. scanning past lengthy displays of the authors knowledge about something which does little or nothing to advance the plot. It is an enjoyable read, however, and I suspect that those that characters who survived the book alive shall be seen again in a subsequent novel. I shall look forward to it.

Rating:
Summary: It's NOT literary, although a fair read
Review: Corson is brilliant at times, coming up with similes and situations that remind me a little of Hunter S. Thompson. But he's so intent on lecturing about his "extensive" knowledge of Hawaiian history, wildlife, and legends through the mouths of various characters that he loses points on characterization because they all sound alike! The plot was interesting but, for some reason, I already knew what was going to happen in almost every chapter, except for the Kohe part. The romance between Caddy and Starr was just left dangling at the end and I got the feeling that Corson himself was getting bored or under pressure from his publisher to finish up and start another book.

Rating:
Summary: It's NOT literary, although a fair read
Review: Corson is brilliant at times, coming up with similes and situations that remind me a little of Hunter S. Thompson. But he's so intent on lecturing about his "extensive" knowledge of Hawaiian history, wildlife, and legends through the mouths of various characters that he loses points on characterization because they all sound alike! The plot was interesting but, for some reason, I already knew what was going to happen in almost every chapter, except for the Kohe part. The romance between Caddy and Starr was just left dangling at the end and I got the feeling that Corson himself was getting bored or under pressure from his publisher to finish up and start another book.

Rating:
Summary: leave 'em laughing
Review: I found myself laughing out loud many times as I read this delightful book. It was not only funny and well written, it carried a punch. The build up was wonderful - a real page turner - and the ending was great. I'll be waiting with anticipation for the next novel Hirschfeld puts out. This one was a slam dunk.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: I found myself laughing out loud many times as I read this delightful book. It was not only funny and well written, it carried a punch. The build up was wonderful - a real page turner - and the ending was great. I'll be waiting with anticipation for the next novel Hirschfeld puts out. This one was a slam dunk.

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Summary: Great mystery and adventure in Hawaii!
Review: I read this book on a trip to Hawaii so I particularly enjoyed the detailed stories of Hawaiian myth. In additon, Hirschfeld creates unique characters, introduced one by one, whose lives come together in a bizarre adventure of good guy, bad guy, and treasures sought. I laughed a lot, held my breath, and learned a few things from this wonderful debut novel. Who knew I could find two of my favorite things (comedy and suspense) in one book!

Rating:
Summary: Three for the price of one
Review: It's a comic thriller set in Hawaii. The hero trying to work a scam for a magazine story gets involved in solving a murder, saving a wilderness from ruthless developers, being stalked by hit men, discovering an archeological site, discovering an extinct bird, unmasking a fake evangelist etc etc. It's all too much. The first hundred pages are told from multiple points of view and are crammed with farcical adventures that have nothing to do with the main plot. At the drop of a hat people start telling each other ancient Hawaiian legends and explaining ornithology, linguistics and geology (quite interesting and well explained). They are also liable to tell themselves things too. For example ""Two years" he mumbled "I've schemed and planned..."" and then the bad guy goes on mumbling (presumably out loud) for a complete paragraph.
Parts of it were very funny; parts of it were very informative; parts of it were exciting and dramatic. Some of the scenery descriptions were wonderful. Maybe I shouldn't grumble. The author is over generous and has crammed the contents of two or three books into one. Anybody planning a trip to Hawaii should enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: Funky mystery
Review: It's a funky multicharacter thriller set in Hawaii. It took a little while to get into it. Once the story got started, it was an enjoyable read.