Saving Paradise

Pono Hawkins #1

by Mike Bond

When a beautiful journalist drowns mysteriously off Waikiki, Hawaii, Special Forces veteran Pono Hawkins, now a well-known surfer and international correspondent for surfing magazines, soon gets embroiled in trying to find out why she died. What he quickly learns makes him a target for murder or life in prison as a cabal of powerful corporations, foreign killers and crooked politicians places the blame on him. Haunted by memories of Afghanistan, and determined to protect the Hawaii he loves from dirty politics tied to huge destructive energy developments, Pono turns to Special Forces buddies and his own covert skills to fight his deadly enemies, trying both save himself and find her killers. Alive with the sights, sounds and history of Hawaii, SAVING PARADISE is also a deepy rich portrait of what Pono calls the seamy side of paradise, and an exciting thriller of politics, lies and remorseless murder.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Suspense, Crime, Audiobook

302 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

MIKE BOND has been called the “master of the existential thriller” by the BBC and “one of the 21st century’s most exciting authors” by the Washington Times. He is a bestselling novelist, environmental activist, international energy expert, war and human rights correspondent and award-winning poet who has lived and worked in many remote and dangerous parts of the world. His critically acclaimed novels depict the innate hunger of the human heart for what is good, the intense joys of love, the terror and fury of battle, the sinister vagaries of international politics and multinational corporations, and the beauty of the vanishing natural world.

Reviews

["Avonna]

DNF

( I do not rate books I do not finish.)

[Elyse Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any author who writes a book --with its location being Hawaii --has a passion for the island! :)

My husband and I started our marriage off visiting Hawaii --36 years ago. I've since then read many books about the Hawaiian culture --[historical novels] --exquisite textured tales of darkness and lightness...."aloha experiences".

"Saving Paradise" is compellingly original. This is not just another book about about surfing, volcanoes, hula, beaches, and romance--- but a complex murder mystery thriller which uncovers scary hidden political facts -- environmental messages and ecological damage to Hawaii. This novel opened my eyes to some dangerous truths & lies, while at the same time was engaging-entertaining!

The surfing dachshund stole my heart!

[Susan Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another one I really wanted to like. I think it had really good potential, but was a bit drawn out. The story was a bit interesting, the location was very interesting, but the dialogue was a bit annoying. I never really found myself drawn into the characters either.

The story surrounds a murder and an ex-military man who is trying to figure out who murdered her. It is about big business and corrupt government. He is framed for a couple of murders and he is trying to clear his name. The setting is Hawaii,which i find interesting. The dialogue, although I sure is meant to be a Hawaiian dialect, I find broken and annoying to read. There is a lot of back and forth and going over the same things and that was bothersome as well. It felt like the wheels were turning but we weren’t going anywhere.

I think this had the potential to be really good, but with the broken dialogue and rehashing of everything it was way too long and drawn out. I like to feel connected to characters when I read and there was no connection at all to any of them. I found that disappointing. With that said, it wasn’t horrible, just not great.

[Joe Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would really like to give this review 3.5 stars; not 3. But we don't have that option. On the plus side, the book is very fast moving. The plot is complex and twisting and the killer is not revealed until the last several pages. On the negative, the plot can be overly complex and I got lost a couple of times. The book is set in Hawaii and island hops constantly. I think folks who know Hawaii will enjoy it more. It also plays out against the back drop of Wind Power; it raises some interesting questions about the economic viability of Wind Power. Overall 3.5 stars. The negative was the complexity.

[Sherry Fundin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tropical island location and murder, I can hardly wait for my journey to begin.

The opening page brought to mind the beauty and wonder of Oahu, Hawaii.

Surfing zero. Dead body one.

Sylvia, literally, bumped into Pono Hawkins, as he hit the surf. But she wasn’t breathing any more.

I love everything about the guy. He’s rough around the edges, loves critters…and the ladies…he served in Afghanistan and even did time in prison, but he is not the bad guy.

Love he’s got a surfing dachshund. Imagine heading off to the beach, two boards strapped to the top of the car, head hanging out of the window, the dog’s head not his, just two ‘guys’ going surfing.

I can visualize that now. Come on. Close your eyes, smell the salty air, hear the crash of the waves and see Mojo, riding the waves, with his tongue hanging out and his tail wagging a mile a minute. Mojo even liked to have a drink and a puff or two of Maui Wowie.

I loved the story about Prima, the cat, moving in and taking over.

The trouble began when he decided it was up to him to find Sylvia’s killer himself.

The danger mounts but he can’t figure where it’s coming from. Neither can I, but I do have a list of suspects. My head is spinning as I try to keep pace with him. I am confused with all the misinformation and setup going on.

Mojo…well, I sure didn’t see that coming. and I’m more pissed than ever.

Who to trust? Is everything a lie and everyone a liar? When he talks about vets, marijuana and the government, it makes me angry. We don’t take good enough care of the people who lay their lives on the line for us and we do own them a good life…no matter the cost.

The war talk made me angry but that’s for another day. We are here to solve the murders and expose corruption.

Big government, big business, greed and disregard for natural resources. Could it be the end of Paradise? How can you fight billions of dollars with nothing? How much is someones life worth? I get angry when corrupt government, big business and the greedy people involved think that money is worth more than someone’s life and our environment.

I liked the glimpse of Hawaiian history, the characters and the storyline. The story seemed a little rushed and fell a little flat, but Mike Bond did keep the mystery going and who doesn’t want to visit a tropical island and do a little surfing.

This isn’t my first Mike Bond read and it won’t be my last.

Hang loose.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of Saving Paradise by Mike Bond.

To see more visit fundinmental

[Kia (kiastillreadsandwrites) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I absolutely loved the beginning of this book, and I wanted more than anything to like the entire thing that much. But try as I might, I couldn't even finish it. I made it almost halfway through before I gave up. Life's too short to force your way through a book you just don't like. I don't like the writing style, and the story is so all over the place. There are too many different ideas competing with each other; none gets enough focus or attention. None of the characters are very likable or realistic. I find the premise a little too out there. His obsession with figuring out who killed a woman he never met borders on creepy (unless you consider a particular "souvenir" he takes from her apartment, because that makes him beyond creeptacular). I've seen some very positive reviews about this book, but it is definitely not the book for me.

[Pop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, it was very good. I think I really like this author. Can’t figure out if he is a liberal or conservative, maybe Libertarian like me. Regardless he believes in Right and Wrong. Although fiction, he makes a case here that most politicians are not for the People but what they can gain monetarily out of their political careers. Seems to me that is just the case, especially in this day in time. A very political piece of fiction that is probably right on. Pono, the main character is the real deal.

[Kathi Defranc · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice, suspenseful thriller set in Hawaii, with a plot timely that could happen today. A surfer, former Special Forces Pono, is out for an early morning surf and finds a body in the water. Cops are called and Pono learns the woman was an investigative journalist, working on a story about wind farms in Hawaii. Nice characters and beautiful descriptions of the Hawaii Islands., a good action thriller that kept me interested from start to finish.

[Book Him Danno · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1\2 star out of 5
While I love a good mystery this one was a little to environmental activist\political from time to time. It had the traditional red herrings with some characters that were forgettable.
Saving Paradise ending ties everything together in a nice little bow for the readers. It felt like the author had a word number limit causing everything to end.
The characters are likable enough but when the books ends and I walk away there is little memorable about the story to keep me wanting to read more.
Thank you to Netgalley for the advance Copy

[Tish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conspiracy thriller set in Hawaii! I really enjoyed the setting and hearing the point of view of a Hawaiian, but I found the plot to be a bit confusing. Also, the book was way too heavy on the political ranting. In spite of those things, it was enjoyable and exciting.

Note: Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a free copy of this book.

[Fred Forbes · Rating 3 out of 5]

A confusing tale with an over populated cast by an author I usually enjoy. Often winds in circles. The "hero" is just that, only a bit short of "super" for the things he is able to survive and overcome. The viewpoint is a bit too right wing for my taste but of course it is cast as the little people versus the big baddies. Convoluted though it is, it does make some valid points and some of the episodes do have a pretty clever resolution. Still, not a bad beach or travel tale.

[Viviane Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pono Hawkins is a Special Forces veteran of Afghanistan who has seen too much war and too much mindless brutality. He’s a guy who seems programmed to correct wrongs when he sees them. That hasn’t always been a wise thing to do; in fact it also earned him some prison time both inside and outside the military. So he spends his days surfing and relishing every moment of this land, Hawaii, he loves so, so intensely! He also teaches other vets how to surf, a form of therapy that takes them into a healing space they desperately need after having served in Afghanistan and Iraq over the past decade and more. He makes some money because of his surfing dog, Mojo. That’s all about to come to a squeaking halt!
Pono hates the tourist areas of Honolulu as well as the way the “haoles” or white Americans and Europeans have raped the land of Hawaii, imprisoned its native people in back-breaking labor for little pay, and taken their land for the sake of profit or “big business.” That intense dislike quickly increases when Pono finds a dead woman on the edge of the surf not far from a well-known hotel. Now, because of his criminal record, he’s not exactly getting much information from the local police. Add to the mystery that a coroner’s report that initially said the victim died from drowning in a rather unique way, considering where she was found, has now been retracted. Anyone with a connection to the police is mum about this serious retraction of significant evidence. Pono can’t let go; he becomes fanatic about finding the real killer.
Wind-powered is supposed to be one of the natural resources that can lead to the creation of energy. It’s supposed to be one of the “green” energy forms that people can feel good about using. However, it turns out that it’s not so green and leaves behind enough side effects that are inhospitable to this already depleted earth to sink a ship It also costs a fortune to set up but not because the wind costs money to transform into energy; it turns out that politicians and business executors are in the loop for the profits and if it means the displacement of Hawaiian natives, not a great loss – so be it! The reader also gets a bit of an education about the pros and cons of this latest energy-producing fad! Add a gang to the creep list and some women about whom the reader will wind up mentally quibbling since they seem innocent yet know quite a bit about the murdered journalist, Sylvia Gordon.
Pono moves to the top of the hit list due to his continuous inquiries and his insistence on using the enemies’ employees as sources or connections. Just when it seems that there’s hardly anything left to plunder in Hawaii, a group of greedy entrepreneurs will stop short of nothing, including murder, to make sure their Wind-Powered Energy project succeeds. But they fail to understand the passionate love the native Hawaiians have for their land and the determination they have to make sure this energy nightmare never happens. Intense clashes will arise in different ways that turn into a real nail-biter thriller.
Mike Bond knows Hawaii and human nature just as well. So it’s the heavy-hitters against a Special Forces Vet – quite the challenge!
Saving Paradise is one heck of a crime novel/thriller and highly recommended! It’s a keeper!

[Peacejanz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received a review copy of this book from BookMovement.com. I read it. It was missing a few things; plot, character development, grammar, an editor, concise and tight writing, a purpose for reading. It did have a condescending attitude of the author, i.e., "as mentioned before," within the text of the novel. It did have repetition, it did have a great number of characters, some of whom were confusing for the author himself, e.g., there were two people named Lou. I think the author meant for them to be different people or maybe he was writing about the same person but just got mixed up with their last names. It did have a lot of action; running through the woods, swimming for miles underwater, always having a woman nearby or a war buddy nearby to assist the protagonist. The major character lusts after every female, he falls into bed with some of them, and it is not even romantic. I can not honestly encourage anyone else to invest any time in this book. I have to give this a one star rating in order to get the review accepted. It really earned a negative 1 for wasting time and wasted paper.

[Brandy Dorsch · Rating 3 out of 5]

was given a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
This was a fast pace thrill ride that I think a lot of my mystery junkie readers would love. There were a lot of twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. I had a hard time following it because there was a lot going on. The characters were interesting but I found that it was a little difficult to keep up with everyone.
I like Pono. I think he brought something to the table and I liked how he wanted to find the answers to the murder and all the corruption just because it was the right thing to do. I did think that all the talk about the environment was a little overdone. I felt like there were places in the book that it took priority over the murder. The descriptions of Hawaii are beautiful and detailed. I have never been but I feel like I wouldn’t be surprised if it looked just like it was described.

[Star · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pono Hawkins was out to catch some waves when he discovered the body of investigative journalist Sylvia Gordon. Now he’s decided not her death at face value and dig into her life. This brings on opposition from some powerful men with deep pockets. ‘Saving Paradise’ seems to come across like a “man’s man” mystery. Pono’s putting himself in unnecessary danger, picking up all the chicks, and making/listening to impassioned environmental speeches. I like Pono, he’s got style and could have (and perhaps should have) given up on the investigation in the beginning, but he’s like a terrier and just couldn’t let it go. Overall, ‘Saving Paradise’ is a good book, but it was one I had no trouble putting down from time to time.

[Dan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was asked to give this book a read and post a review. Frankly I couldn't even get into it. The writing was poor at best. There are so many grammar errors and disjointed sentences that it was a real pain to read. Thus, I didn't finish.

I'm not sure what others found so intriguing by the story. Personally, having worked with a police department (as a volunteer) for twelve years I learned enough about investigations to know that this book is unrealistic and would never have gone the way it did. That probably added to my angst about reading it.

If you have read other Mike Bond novels and liked them, then maybe you will like this. You might though read all the reviews on Amazon first before buying it. There are 35 five star reviews but 12 one star. Seems like a mixed bag.

[Jody · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could have given this book something less than one star, I would have. I was hoping the story would get better so I kept listening. It did not get better. In fact, it got worse. I felt I had to finish the book in order to give it an honest review. It was a Struggle (yes, with a capital S).

This book skipped around from character to character too quickly, with no substance built onto the characters or the relationships…like a stone skimming across water. Too much of Pono’s narrative was spent grandstanding about the politics and corruption of big corporations in bed with government officials. We know it happens. Let’s get on with the storyline. It never happened. I'm sorry I wasted precious time on this one.

[Jay Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bond is in peak form in this story as he shows off the islands of Hawaii, fills in the dark history of the islands, highlights the culture, and provides a tale that has more twists and turns than the Hana Highway. He is a lyrical author delivering rich prose, substantial characters, and an exciting story that thoroughly engrosses. The Government does not come off too well in this story as the new national religion of greed is at the heart of all the action. Few authors can create the detailed images as Bond does without getting in front of the story. His imagery enriches the story, but never gets in the way. You can't go wrong buying this book!

[Robyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Review based upon an advanced reading copy Kindle edition...

When I read other reviews and how other readers like this title, I cannot help but wonder if we read the same title. But there was pretty much nothing I liked about this book. In no particular order: there was no character development, no dramatic tension, lacking in believability, and little to recommend it as a publishable title. Because I was reading an ARC, I thought perhaps there were parts of the e-version missing because it read like an old-fashioned audio recording that skipped ahead randomly. Certainly, I respect other readers' opinions, but I just felt it was bad, very bad.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good book

This guy has Sense! I say we put him in charge. I like his writing style and his sentiments, world view and so on. The book is well crafted with twists and turns that have you pondering the outcome until the very end.

[Gill's likes reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that looks at politics and global issues that affect everyone and the planet, and the greed of individuals to gain wealth at any cost. There are already questions about the cost effectiveness of wind farms, and although this is fiction it doesn’t take much imagination to see that the world runs on profits and personal gain. What Bond does is to suggest the complex web of corporations, countries and individuals that make up the players.

A sedate start leads into a fast paced and exciting journey, with several great characters helping him find the killer of Sylvia Gordon a beautiful journalist. The hunt turns into something much more complex and dangerous as he looks for the truth about the proposed Big Wind project and the connection to her death.

I love the way Bond explains the complexities of the plot within the novel itself

You look for inconsistencies in the pattern. But was all inconsistencies. There was no pattern.

How on earth can anyone come up with something so complex and seemingly unconnected and still make the reader feel that they have a reasonable understanding of what is happening?

Pono Hawkins is the kind of guy a girl would like to know; strong, sensitive and a free spirit. He loves many women and they love him! The only character I was unsure of was Charity and whose side she was on, but this is something that Bond throws around: everybody has parts to them that are less likeable at times. I like how he does not paint characters as evil or bad, but allows the reader their own opinion based on their own morals of behaviour, so that the ‘good’ guys are not necessarily ‘moral’.

Bond describes some great incidental characters that made me smile;

..six feet two with a Hawaiian barrel chest, a clan tattoo down his arm and a smile so big a boat could sink in it.

I also love how in amongst the fast paced action he takes time to offer the peace that Pono experiences:

The naked eye can see ten thousand stars in a true night sky. Not in a city or suburban sky, but in the sky the way God made it - vast and black afire with stars and planets, asteroids and galaxies……now hidden from Oahu’s glowing melanoma.
….Even in my present predicament I was thankful for this star-spangled night, its vision of eternal life and space in which we’ll probably be the tiniest of unremembered extinctions. And considering the likelihood of my own approaching extinction I took a last glance at the heavens and turned back to the wheel.
…The swells were long and easy the ocean green and lovely, the fragrance of the universe and the feeling of being there in the existential flow, was with me.

These are such deep personal observations and feelings. Bond describes the awe of a place not merely by words but through how it makes the main character feel.

Reading this I am struck by the wisdom of his writing, Sylvia, like so many journalists was killed because she was trying to find the truth, (which is relevant today with the recent barbaric act of the beheading of the reporter James Foley by IS)
.
It was fast, thrilling and exciting and I eagerly devoured every words to reach the conclusion and I was not disappointed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To ask what makes this book different is the wrong is the question, most important is what makes this author different.

To me Mike Bond man writes with his soul. What makes a cracking good book for me is not just the plot, it can be the most exciting story in the world but if the words are not felt, then it doesn’t do it for me.

Imagine sitting in a room on a winters night, a log fire is burning in the grate, the light of the flames flickering a warm glow, you and Mike Bond are sitting comfortably with a hot drink and he is telling you how it is. You are focussed on his voice with the crackling of the fire in the background. It is pure liquid gold and the words are deep and meaningful, what he is saying touches you deep inside and you experience the understanding in what he is telling you. That’s how I feel when I read his books.

Many thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book via NetGalley for an honest review

[Mina De Caro (Mina's Bookshelf) · Rating 4 out of 5]

"When tracking evil, follow the money." 4.5 stars for this gritty, frantic, conspiracy-theory thriller. Extended review available on MINA'S BOOKSHELF http://minadecaro.blogspot.com/2013/0...
"When tracking evil, follow the money."

As a former Special Forces soldier deployed in Afghanistan, Sam Hawkins (aka Pono) has witnessed death, loss, and horrendous tragedies aplenty. Convicted for the murder of Afghani civilians, Pono has served some jail time in a military prison, yet another dehumanizing experience. Now he is out on parole, surfing, writing, and teaching foster care kids how to ride the waves. There is probably no better place than Hawaii to keep the demons of those haunting memories at bay. Hawaii is home. Hawaii is paradise. Or is it? When Pono stumbles upon the lifeless body of a young and beautiful woman floating off the coast of Waikiki, he is stunned. For a man who has seen more war casualties than he would ever care to count, the drowning of Sylvia Gordon, investigative reporter for The Honolulu Post, strikes him as particularly heart-wrenching and odd. According to the initial police report, the journalist has been floating dead in the ocean for at least six hours (strangely without being devoured by the sharks) and her lungs are filled with fresh water (not ocean water). Nonetheless, the local police dismisses the case as accidental death.
Pono lives his life in the pono way, the righteous way ('pono' is the Hawaiian word for righteousness), loving and protecting others: emotionally drawn by the haunting memory of the reporter's lifeless body, he sets out to investigate the truth behind her death, and what he finds out is bone-chilling. Sylvia was on the trail of a billion-dollar, taxpayer-subsidized scam, and she was ready to blow the whistle to the press. Governor, electric company, investment bankers, foreign developers, industrial wind companies, all masquerading as environmentalists, are trying to impose an industrial-wind and high-voltage undersea cable project ('Big Wind') on Molokai and Lanai, the most beautiful islands in the Pacific Ocean. Two major problems: Big Wind would have a terrible environmental, human health and social impact, without even producing any significant reduction of emissions and fossil fuel use. Moreover, the people involved in this project won't stop in front of anybody or anything (by means of lobbying, blackmail, bribery, intimidation, homicide) in order to get their money-making-machine running. For Pono is Kabul all over again: big western corporation and politicians are no better than Afghani drug lords. They're even worse, actually.

"...we've been given a pearl and [we] are crushing it into concrete."

Pono is morally committed to save the paradise of his fathers, even if that means having to use his military training, a few not-so-legal tricks, and all the help he can get from fellow veterans and questionable characters. His frenzied quest for justice will take him through an intricate web of conspiracy and corruption, misleading clues, unpredictable twists, and a list of possible suspects so long it made my head spin and threw me off-balance. The aspect of SAVING PARADISE that intrigued me the most is the thematic poignancy. There is, in fact, a strong connection between the facts narrated in this crime-story and the author's personal history. In 2012, Mike Bond, international energy expert, environmentalist, war correspondent and human rights advocate, exposed a very inconvenient truth about the use of wind as a source of renewable energy. Bond's environmental message is strongly delivered following the narrative formula of a hard-boiled detective story: the raw prose, the gritty dialogues, the pulse-racing action, and the unhinged avenger trope will certainly appeal to all fans of 'conspiracy theory' thriller novels.

[Vickie Sarmina · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an insightful and intriguing book this was. Even though we live in a free society, there always seems to be some corrupt and greedy politician who thinks he can use his office for monetary gain. This was the case that the Hawaiian citizens found themselves in. It all started when a journalist, Sylvia Gordon's body was found in the ocean off of the island of Oahu. The person who found her was an Ex- Special Forces convicted felon by the name of Pono. After the coroner examined her, it was found that she had fresh water in her lungs. It was apparent that this young woman was murdered instead of drowned. However, her murder was covered up by the higher in command and called a drowning, instead. Pono felt that he had to find out who had murdered this young woman and why, so he started asking questions to the people who knew her. Her friend, Angie, told Pono that Sylvia had been working on a special story, which involved the Governor, IEEC, Lanai Land Corporation, an outfit called Ecology Profits, and Wind Power. There were investment bankers involved, as well as people from Hong Kong who wanted to build casinos on the islands of Hawaii. Apparently, everyone involved In this sham would make billions of dollars in taxpayer ripoffs. All of these entities were trying to make the Hawaiian people think that they were environmentalists, and they they were looking out for the people. This was not the case. Sylvia got too close to all of what was really happening. Once it was noticed that Pono was investigating her murder, he became the target of hired assassins from different entities. Pono was even set up for multiple murders at the assassins hands. On the run with little help from anyone, Pono must find a way to escape death, as well as prove his innocence and uncover what really happened to Sylvia. Will he be able to continue to defy the assassins? Will he get assistance from anyone else? Will the people of Hawaii be able to take their state back and keep the money hungry political leeches and corrupt corporations out? Will he be able to expose them for what they are? Will he find out who killed Sylvia and why? I really liked the descriptions of the various parts of the Hawaiian Islands and the coveted heritage that the citizens hold so dear. The character development was done so that they were very realistic. The reader could capture the emotional roller coaster that takes place throughout the book. It certainly did shed some light on some of the things that are forced on citizens under the guise of policies that have been put in place to embolden environmental groups and to make them rich at the taxpayer's expense. Definitely an eye opener.

[Author Groupie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mike Bond's fictional work, Saving Paradise certainly holds true to its title. Bond's deep-seeded love affair with Hawaii is prevalent throughout:

To tourists Hawaii is an air-conditioned tanning booth with shopping, booze, bikinis, and lots of smiling low-paid help. The real Hawaii is something else- the greatest mariners the world has ever known, brave warriors and wise healers, a deep-hearted family connection reaching hundreds of people and across whole islands, love of the ancestors, a magical way of life. (6)

Having been to the Big Island once myself, I long to return and see it as Pono, the ex- U.S. Army Special Forces protagonist in Saving Paradise, views it:

It was another magnificent dawn on Oahu, the sea soft and rumpled and the sun blazing up from the horizon, an offshore breeze scattering plumeria fragrance across the frothy waves Flying fish darting over the crests, dolphins chasing them, a mother whale and calf spouting as they rolled northwards. A morning when you already know the waves will be good and it will be a day to remember. (1)

Pono, a self-described hapa haole, part white and part Hawaiian, has done time in not only Afghanistan, but also the Inside as he refers to prison. Attempting to now live the life of a writer and teacher of surfing, he becomes embroiled in a homicide investigation. A likeable character with definitive views regarding politics, "The wrong politicians commit is pretending that they're not. And while a whore actually gives you something for your money, a politicial just takes your money and screws you in a different way" (10), the reader ends up rooting for his escape from one predicament after another.

From an English teacher's perspective, though, I had no choice but to highlight grammatical errors such as "1930's" (73) and "'farms'." (47). No apostrophe needed in the first example, and the period should be inside the quotations for the second example. In addition, the protagonist's switch from a Hawaiian dialect in dialogue to standard English in thought caused confusion when considering these differing sentence structures were originating from the same man. Yet, perhaps this was intentional on Bond's part considering Pono was of mixed heritage.

If a meeting on the beach in Hawaii is not in the cards for your book club, Tangueray martinis in honor of Pono and half-pound burgers similar to those served at Wipe Out, a downtown bar which Pono frequents, would serve as an adequate substitute.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 1.5 of 5

SAVING PARADISE
1.5
I'm getting just a little bit smarter.... I saw that an ARC book that I have in my queue is the second book in a series, so I thought I'd go and rent/borrow the first book in the series so that I wouldn't be taken by surprise when I get to my ARC.

Pono Hawkins is a former Special Forces member and now is a renowned surfer and surfing reporter. When a journalist drowns nearby under suspicious circumstances, Pono gets involved, but what he begins to learn puts him into a conspiratorial web with long-reaching threads and makes him a target for killers that wouldn't hesitate to take him out. Pono reaches out to his Special Forces comrades to protect himself and find the journalists killers.

While there is plenty of action and of course a setting that is 'paradise' I was unfortunately quite turned off to this book very early due to either very poor editing and/or tremendously bad grammar. I did not start highlighting the instances right away (it's sad, but I've come to expect some typos in books, especially those that are self-published or published by very small presses) but it got to be so much that I couldn't help but start taking notes (and I couldn't keep up with them). And remember...this book is NOT the ARC, but the published edition. Some random highlights from my copy:

"So I explain Benny what happened."

"I explained him."

"I can take you there you want."

"Next I called Kim and explained her about the Koreans..."

"You explain me everything, you live."

"'Where you from,' I asks in bad Arabic."

Can somebody "explain me" what's going on? I was trying to give the author the benefit of the doubt and assume that this was some poor dialect that some of the characters were speaking, but it was just random enough to make it not seem character-specific.

Aside from the grammar, I found the political commentary running through the story to be just a little too heavy-handed. The character development was ... well, there really wasn't any character development. This is a case where telling the reader that a character was a former Special Forces soldier is all the character development that's given to us. We're supposed to know what that means and run with it.

I was really disappointed and now am NOT looking forward to the ARC that follows.

Looking for a good book? This isn't it.

[Kathy Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

SAVING PARADISE is a twisty mystery with a cast of thousands and a large school of red herrings. Afghan war veteran, convict on parole, turned surfer dude Pono Hawkins stumbles onto the corpse of journalist Sylvia Gordon when he is out surfing early one morning. Pono served a couple of tours in Afghanistan as a member of the Special Forces and isn't unfamiliar with dead bodies. However, something touches him about Sylvia's and he is determined to find out what happened to her.

Little does Pono know that his investigation will uncover corruption from the Governor's Office to Hawaii's Electric Utility to Hong Kong businessmen who want to build casinos and subdivisions to land companies that control large parts of Hawaii. Circling all through this is a company called Wind Power that wants to build huge wind farms on Molokai and lay underground cables through coral reefs and habitats of endangered species.

Pono has a huge number of suspects who stand to make or lose billions of dollars in the whole wind farm scam. And many of them would very much like Pono to be the next one to die. We follow Pono as he runs through the beautiful Hawaiian Islands trying to investigate while eluding the groups who would like him dead.

I, personally, lost track of all the characters in this story. All of them had, potentially, motives that would make them part of the scam. I also didn't really connect with Pono until near the end of the book. I felt closer to his surfing dachshund than I did to him even though the dog was killed in the first third of the book.

The environmental message was clear and repeated frequently by almost every person Pono talked to. Wind power was a scam that would cost billions for little reward and would do immense ecological damage to Hawaii. No one wanted it except the corrupt politicians and businessmen who would rake in immense profits at the government's and taxpayer's expense. At times, the message seemed to overpower the mystery.

Fans of Bond's work will enjoy this frenetic, twisty tale. This one requires close reading to keep track of all the suspects, love interests, and assistants. Note taking might even help.

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I make it a rule to read books (usually murder mysteries) set in Hawai'i when I am in Hawai'i. "Saving Paradise" is an action novel about Pono Hawkins, a self-described hapa haole, who discovers a beautiful journalist drowned off Waikiki. Before many pages, he is involved in a search for her killers, tangled in a web of political and economic corruption, evading criminals intent on killing him and the police intent on arresting him, and trying to maintain sexual relationships with three women at the same time. The protagonist in this novel is just too many things: world champion surfer, international surfing correspondent, Special Forces veteran who served in Afghanistan, felon who did hard time, sexual athlete. This is perhaps reflective of the author, who is also too many things. The blurb says "Mike Bond is a best-selling novelist, war and human rights journalist, and environmental activist. He has covered guerrilla wars, death squads, and military dictatorships in Latin America and Africa, Islamic terrorism in the Middle East, and ivory poaching and other environmental battles in East Africa and Asia." The resulting character is Mike Bond's take on James Bond: tough, smarter than everybody else, irresistible to women. I found all of this infantile and exhausting. The book is also about wind power. Although there are many pages devoted to polemic about wind power towers, this sentence sums them up well: "... they're a total scam. Wind projects don't lower greenhouse emissions or fossil fuel use, they have terrible environmental, human health, and social impacts, they destroy property values, they don't produce much power, most of them are owned by Big Oil, and most of the jobs go to the Chinese and other foreign companies." The reviews touted in the packaging of this book are remarkably positive until one notes that most all of them are from unrecognizable sources in obscure places: the Tacoma News Tribune, British Armed Forces Broadcasting, African Publishers Network, the Spokane Chronicle (which has since gone out of business). I regret that I cannot give it as good a review as did those esteemed influencers of literary opinion.

[Liz Terek · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the state of Hawaii is mention, most people have images of sandy beaches & beautiful water. Underneath all that beauty, however, there lurks a dark side to Hawaii. Pono Hawkins knows that side of Hawaii better than most.
On what began as an average day at the beach, Pono finds himself, literally, bumping into a corpse. Floating in the water, she hits his surfboard. Just like that, his drama begins. Finding himself inexplicably drawn to this unknown beauty, he assigns himself to the case. His personality, a mix of PTSD & bad choices, leads him on a course for justice.
But, as is often the case, those who die of unnatural causes, are usually dead for a reason. As he taps into the gritty underbelly of his native land, he’ll face corruption, greed, & of course, death. Seasoned by life & never shy, Pono is up to the challenge. But, can he stay alive long enough to find answers?
Pono is an angry character. He’s angry at life & angry at what Hawaii has become. It’s never easy to take on power-hungry conglomerates. But, his anger fuels him in a way that may be destructive to a lesser man.
Hawaii, itself, is a character in the novel. Most readers will agree that she hasn’t been treated properly especially through decades where ecology was not a priority. In a non-fiction note, this novel & it’s author, Mike Bond, were instrumental in stopping what could have been a disastrous endeavor in Hawaii. Big Wind & the Inter-State Cable was a project set to go & destroy a humpback whale sanctuary. ‘Saving Paradise’ the novel became ‘Saving Paradise’ the necessity.
It’s always nice to know the behind-the-scenes of a novel & this one has a happy ending for the wildlife in the sanctuary. As far as the novel, it is a gritty read. Sensitive readers should be aware of some course language & a few racial slurs. However, it is a read with deep roots, full of history & culture. All told, it’s a good, 4 star read.
I received a print copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dead journalist washes up in the surf and surf dude Pono (as his friends call him) tries to find out who she is and why she was killed. Hawaii seems like a paradise but we quickly learn about meths labs, police turn-abouts, and corruption.

Yes, we're told Money magazine calls Hawaii the most politically corrupt state in the US. The residents pay the highest electricity bills of any. Now, to me the obvious answer is to put a solar panel on my roof and a metal water tank beside it. But we learn that a plan to plant giant windmills on islands, interconnector cables slicing through reefs and whale nurseries, and suck in vast amounts of environmental grants is afoot. Power companies can profit this way and a third of the grant money is earmarked as official pocket-money for the investors. By contrast if everyone installs their own solar panel the power firms see their profits fall, so huge amounts of money are being pumped into preventing this from happening. There is good material here for those who want to be informed.

There is a lot of activity and Pono skips from one woman to another without a second thought. He lost my sympathy there. He also does regularly repeated bouts of diving through windows or across walls and running away through scrub, thorns and broken land. Pono is a surfer who has a decent heart; he served in Afghanistan and wanted to be a marine biologist before enlisting. As his character only unfolds gradually I had to wonder if the author kept thinking of new background for his protagonist.

Downsides; the fact that this man never wanted to go to the police no matter how many times his friends got killed or people tried to kill him, is unreal. His excuse is that they would give him a urine test and he would go back to jail. Well... stop taking the drugs then.

Major downside; don't get too attached to any animals. I thought what happens to be unnecessary; and likely to put readers off who might otherwise have continued to read the book and learnt a lot about the environment, power supplies and corruption.

[John Purvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Saving Paradise” was published in 2013 and was written by Mike Bond (http://mikebondbooks.com). Mr. Bond has published five books.

I obtained this novel for free in advance through https://www.netgalley.com for review. I would rate this novel as ‘R’ as there is Mature Language, Mature Situations and Violence. The novel is written in the first person and is set around Hawaii. The primary character is Sam ‘Pono’ Hawkins, a former Special Forces soldier and now a surfer and occasional writer.

Pono is surfing when he finds the body of Sylvia Gordon. When her death is ruled an accident, he sets out to find out the truth as to how she died. Owing to his criminal record, his efforts are not well received by the police. Pono quickly finds that Sylvia was a journalist who was investigating a proposed wind farm and power cable project.

But she had also recently done a piece on drugs. Certainly there were many who might have been responsible for Sylvia’s ‘accident’. As Pono digs into Sylvia’s death, he runs into big business, powerful politicians and the Yakuza, and at least one of these wants him to have a fatal ‘accident’ as well.

A nice, colorful picture of Hawaii is painted as Pono travels across the islands. I spend a little over eight hours with the book, and it was enjoyable, though I did find some negative aspects. The Pono character is very much anti establishment, anti big pushiness and anti government - sentiments which he repeatedly voiced. I felt that much of the dialog was not very sophisticated. The plot was well developed and there were never any dull spots in the book. Pono was a complex character, and I had a hard time getting to ‘like’ him. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at http://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.