Diamond Head

Rating:
Summary: Shades of Travis McGee, cast over the Aloha state.
Review: Charles Knief's series featuring Hawaiian private investigator John Caine is often compared to John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series, and there are certainly some common points of reference. Both are knights errant with slightly tarnished armor, men of honor who live in a world in which honor is more frequently scorned than praised. Both live simple lives on boats in interesting environments. Both have seen more pain in their lives than they want to remember, yet are still always willing to help out a friend or someone in need.

Charles Knief did a good job writing his first mystery. He's created an interesting, likeable character to build his series upon. I particularly like the Hawaiian setting of "Diamond Head," finding it to be a nice change from the usual locales. The only area in which I found this book lacking was in some of the plotting, which dragged a bit at times, even though it's a short book. It's a good story, but it would have been better if it had been wound a little tighter.

The Travis McGee series has long been one of my favorites and will always hold a special place in my heart. MacDonald captured some magic when he created McGee and Meyer and the "Busted Flush." His death left a hole in the mystery genre that no one can fill. Charles Knief and his creation John Caine, although not able to erase that void, do a good job of reminding the reader what a good mystery -- and a good man -- are.

Rating:
Summary: Good start, loses it in the 3rd act
Review: I found the first two-thirds of Charles Knief's "Diamond Head" to be a fairly complelling private eye novel. His hero, former Navy SEAL John Caine, is a unique tough guy who can both out muscle and out think his adversaries. The novel is written with considerable wit and style and Knief provides plenty of local Hawaiian color to spice things up. If Caine is a bit too close in lifestyle and personality to John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee, we can forgive him for the tribute.

The problem with the novel starts as the climax approaches and it goes from being a gripping private detective story to reading like the script of a Steven Segal movie. The violence goes over the top and plausibility goes right out the window. Knief is hip enough to make Caine's love interest a modern tough woman, but unfortunately he falls into the old girl-taken-hostage-by-the-badguys routine.

Overall, not a bad first effort from Knief, but there is considerable room for improvement.

Rating:
Summary: I've Found Another HERO!
Review: I'm not familiar with John McDonald's Travis McGee, so hero John Caine is new to me and has reeled me in. I loved this book, learned a lot about Hawaii and became enamored with everything about "Diamond Head." I'm so glad I ordered all three of the John Caine books, including "Sand Dollars" and "Emerald Flash." I finished "Diamond Head" and could hardly wait to start the second book. I wasn't disappointed! So what if it's a little hard to believe how tough the aging ex-SEAL is; so what if he can accomplish more with less than any hero I can think of right now. I don't care--I LOVE IT. If I wanted reality all the time, I'd just turn on the news channel. When I read, I want to be entertained--and boy does Charles Knief entertain in his John Caine novels. The characters, even the crooks like Chawlie Choy, are lovable! Give me more, more more!

Rating:
Summary: I've Found Another HERO!
Review: I'm not familiar with John McDonald's Travis McGee, so hero John Caine is new to me and has reeled me in. I loved this book, learned a lot about Hawaii and became enamored with everything about "Diamond Head." I'm so glad I ordered all three of the John Caine books, including "Sand Dollars" and "Emerald Flash." I finished "Diamond Head" and could hardly wait to start the second book. I wasn't disappointed! So what if it's a little hard to believe how tough the aging ex-SEAL is; so what if he can accomplish more with less than any hero I can think of right now. I don't care--I LOVE IT. If I wanted reality all the time, I'd just turn on the news channel. When I read, I want to be entertained--and boy does Charles Knief entertain in his John Caine novels. The characters, even the crooks like Chawlie Choy, are lovable! Give me more, more more!

Rating:
Summary: Deep Blue Goodbye Revisited
Review: I've sorely missed Travis McGee and was excited to learn of Mr. Knief's protagonist, John Caine. I will read his other books because it is comforting to meet this pseudo/reincarnated Travis. Unfortunately, many of the situations are way too familiar. In the Deep Blue Goodbye, (John D. McDonald) Travis has his final battle on the water, in a storm, finds his girlfried with a bump on her head, grabs the gems, kills the bad guy,swims home,refuses to answer questions and later attends his girlfriend's funeral. Guess what? Ditto for Mr. Caine. If I gave too much away here for those of you who have not yet read the book, I'm sorry. It's still a good read but if you want the "real McCoy" read John D. McDonald's Travis McGee Series. Any of them!

Rating:
Summary: At last! A new hero.
Review: It seems that many thriller readers are looking for a new hero to replace Travis McGee. I never read the McGee novels, but I have been looking for a new series hero and I think I've found the right one. It isn't Lee Child's Jack Reacher, although Reacher is pretty good. It certainly isn't Michael Stone's Streeter, a failed effort at noir/pulp fiction. It is Charles Knief's John Caine. Now, this book does have a couple of flaws but, hey! This ain't higher criticism here. Based on the reviews I've seen, we are all looking for a series character we wouldn't mind having a beer (Chardonnay for Caine, thank you very much) with, someone whose deeds are noble if messy, someone to entertain and maybe feed our fantasies.

John Caine is such a man and Diamond Head is such a book. The writing is good, the characters are fun and believeable and the plot is reasonable. Caine is a loner, not particularly by choice. He has suffered one great loss and will suffer another one before this one is over. The way he deals with other people who come into his life is of greater interest that his feats of derring-do and adds a human dimension that is so lacking in other hero types. I thought the ending was quite good. Not all happy, but no loose ends - except maybe Caine himself. An action hero has to have conflict, generally with the authorities. The laundry list of charges that were almost brought against him seemed a silly way of making the conflict, but at least someone had read the law of piracy and no charges were brought. Piracy! There was real action on the seas, lots of fun, some suspense, bits of nonsense, some sadness. In short, enough to make you wish you were running with Caine than riding the Metro. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Big Fun- Overall Score: (A+)
Review: Outstanding in every way!
This is a fast roller coaster ride, full of mystery, adventure, sex, and BIG thrills. The encounter with the sharks was the scariest scene in a book that I have read, period! The author knows Hawaii, and understands the REAL Hawaii that most of you never see, warts and all. Yes, some of the things in the book push the envelope of the possible, even for a top former Navy SEAL, but then that's what thrilling adventure books do.
OVERALL SCORE: (A+)
READABILITY: (A), PLOT: (B+), CHARATERS: (A+), DIALOGUE: (B-), SETTING: (A+), ACTION/COMBAT: (A+), ANTAGONISTS: (B+), ROMANCE: (B), SEX: (Very Adult Content), AGE LEVEL: (NC17)

Rating:
Summary: Just Call Him Clueless
Review: This is the first Knief book I have read. I really liked the character, John Caine. An ex-navy seal and about as tough as they come. The book as a fairly good story line and the dirty videos that are mentioned would make a good mystery story. I was turned off by the unbleiveable part about John being dumped in shark infested waters and swimming 10 miles to shore and lived to tell about it. Then later in the book there is a fantastic storm and these two small sail boats continue to hold up and get them close enough to fight and then leave. I don't think so. May read another one but will try to find one used, don't think I want to pay the price of another new one if it is as unbelieveable.

Rating:
Summary: Subtlety is not part of this equation.
Review: Very much in the tradition of the old-fashioned mystery (which includes John D. MacDonald and his Travis McGee series), Diamond Head is the first of the John Caine mysteries, all set in parts of Hawaii that the tourists do not see, and featuring a repeating cast of characters. Caine is a former Navy SEAL, now living on a sailboat outside Pearl Harbor and working as a private investigator, a haole (outsider) in the multicultural milieu of Hawaii. Macho in the extreme, he is the consummate hero, willing to perform superhuman deeds to protect someone's honor, fulfill an obligation, and right the wrongs of the world. (No one ever said he had to be realistic.)

When his old commanding officer tells him that the daughter of a respected admiral has been found murdered, Caine finds himself investigating the island's big business of pornography and the disappearances of the young women who are its stars. Knief's dialogue is terse and unadorned as Caine begins his fast-paced investigation into the Hawaiian counterculture, using all his resources, some of them illegal, and his considerable martial arts expertise to get answers. The bad guys are really bad, and Caine is larger than life, a huge hero of almost epic proportions. Being handcuffed, thrown overboard by crooks, shot, and attacked by sharks ten miles from shore, barely slows Caine down in his pursuit of justice. Knief is not trying to blaze new trails in detective fiction here, and that is part of the novel's nostalgic appeal. His hero is from the old tradition in which men were men, crooks were evil personified, and justice could be found at the end of a fist. Mary Whipple