The Bone Hook

by Ian MacMillan

A hike in the mountains near Kailua leads to the chance discovery of the key to a long buried family secret that sets in motion a series of events involving young misfits, rich artifact collectors, drug dealers and successful suburbanites, all of whom engage in a race to solve a century-and-a-half old mystery. The story presents a wide variety of characters, from a shy young woman tormented by the ghost of a lost child, a young man overcome with guilt about the death of his mother, a tough local boy on his way up in the criminal world, a successful older couple for whom the limits of achievement become a problem, to a warped, lethal, former street person with his own unique sense of vengeance, to a coke-snorting antiques and art collector who places the works of humans above the human race itself. Their quest for the prize changes the lives of all of them, and creates a lean, fast-moving story that accelerates in pace and dramatic tension to the end.

The Bone Hook, Ian MacMillan's third novel with Mutual, is published posthumously. Ian passed away—too soon—in 2008.

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

IN ONE LINE: A convergence of different people, all struggling with their own demons of guilt and identity, find their lives tangled together on the mountainside of Windward Oahu in search of ancient Hawaiian artifacts and what that could mean to each of them.

FAVORITE QUOTE: "If it always has folca, an important'-" He looked again. "An important thing will not forget."

4 STARS BECAUSE: It is set in a place I call home, and it is really hard to find stories that take place in Windward Oahu (Kailua). And it's just frankly a good storyline. I suspect my familiarity with the place may fill in the gaps of writing and imagination, but MacMillan does a great job with putting this place into words. What I struggled with initially was how the narration switches constantly between characters - too many characters. A good edit probably would have kept the same approach and streamlined a bit more. But the novel was published posthumously which explains the somewhat clunky narrative. My favorite was the relationship between Terry and Em. Terry's obsession with Japanese mis-translations of English phrases was a hilarious and right on. I didn't expect the ending but it all wrapped up nicely, especially for an "artsy style" book.

READ IF YOU:
- Have ever been to or will travel to Windward Oahu, specifically Kailua, Lanikai, and the Olomana Trail
- Are looking for novels set in Hawaii that give a legit cultural feel over romanticized tourism
- "House of Many Gods" by Kiana Davenport (legit Hawaii), "A Cup of Light" by Nicole Mones (artifact hunting, has a similar reading feel).

[Laurie]

A calm thriller, about thriller themes left tantalizingly unfinished. Thriller themes are there--drug trafficking, pirate treasure and ancient hawaiian artifacts. But the chief focus of the novel is the boy whose great grandfather collected the treasure and the artifacts, and a girl who helps him look for them. They are strange, haunted people, the boy by his mother's death and the girl by the death of a baby. They also become haunted by the artifacts that the mother left behind. The other characters inlude a scheming real estate agent, a scheming antique collector, and some scheming body guards. A lot of things come into play, but the ending is satisfying although many of the thriller elements have not delivered their usual bloody payoff.