Diamond Head (A John Caine Novel)

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: 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: 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