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Pacific
Would you be willing to kidnap your child to save his life and set sail in search of a doctor that may hold the key to his survival when everyone else has given up? When it means you may lose everything regardless of the outcome? PACIFIC by Trevor J. Houser discovers what a desperate father is willing to do to save his son's life...even if it means braving deadly storms at home and on the run.
On a remote Puget Sound island, police chief Bell navigates his job and marriage in the wake of his son's near-death brain surgery. When his wife no longer wants to tempt the fates of experimental medicine he takes matters into his own hands. With the help of his spaced-out fisherman friend, Bell kidnaps his boy and sets sail for Guatemala in search of the mysterious Dr. Haas. On the way, they'll brave the seventh biggest storm, befriend two behemoth fly-fishing Nords, and try to outrun the ex-Navy captain hired by his wife to find them.
A 2022 Indie Book Awards Finalist, 2022 First Horizon Book Award Finalist, 2022 The Eric Hoffer Award Grand Prize Short List, and 2022 Honorable Mention for the Eric Hoffer Award in Fiction, PACIFIC is a powerful narrative that takes readers for an emotional ride.
On a remote Puget Sound island, police chief Bell navigates his job and marriage in the wake of his son's near-death brain surgery. When his wife no longer wants to tempt the fates of experimental medicine he takes matters into his own hands. With the help of his spaced-out fisherman friend, Bell kidnaps his boy and sets sail for Guatemala in search of the mysterious Dr. Haas. On the way, they'll brave the seventh biggest storm, befriend two behemoth fly-fishing Nords, and try to outrun the ex-Navy captain hired by his wife to find them.
A 2022 Indie Book Awards Finalist, 2022 First Horizon Book Award Finalist, 2022 The Eric Hoffer Award Grand Prize Short List, and 2022 Honorable Mention for the Eric Hoffer Award in Fiction, PACIFIC is a powerful narrative that takes readers for an emotional ride.
260 pages, Paperback
Published November 23, 2021
2 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 3, 2021
I'll admit that it took a few chapters for this book to grab me. The writing was almost stream of conscience plus the chapters were short - sometimes only a paragraph. However, once I really got into the book, it was fantastic.
Bell is the police chief on a small island in Puget Sound. He lives with his wife and young son. His son was diagnosed with a brain disease that has no cure. When he has brain surgery and almost dies, his wife decides that they will not try any experimental medicine. This decision is difficult for Bell to believe. When he finds out about a doctor who is working on this brain disease in the jungles of Guatemala, he makes a decision to kidnap his son and try to find the doctor. His friend, a drunk and druggie, has an old boat and agrees to take them to find the doctor. Along the way, they have issues with storms and the coast guard and a navy captain that was hired by his wife to find them. The entire trip is quite an adventure.
For me, the book showed what a parent will do to help their child. The book is full of tender moments between father and son. It's not all sad because Bell has a dark sense of humor that helps him survive the bleak diagnosis of his son. This book is about a father's love for his son that makes him willing to go to the ends of the earth to find a cure for him.
Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review.
Bell is the police chief on a small island in Puget Sound. He lives with his wife and young son. His son was diagnosed with a brain disease that has no cure. When he has brain surgery and almost dies, his wife decides that they will not try any experimental medicine. This decision is difficult for Bell to believe. When he finds out about a doctor who is working on this brain disease in the jungles of Guatemala, he makes a decision to kidnap his son and try to find the doctor. His friend, a drunk and druggie, has an old boat and agrees to take them to find the doctor. Along the way, they have issues with storms and the coast guard and a navy captain that was hired by his wife to find them. The entire trip is quite an adventure.
For me, the book showed what a parent will do to help their child. The book is full of tender moments between father and son. It's not all sad because Bell has a dark sense of humor that helps him survive the bleak diagnosis of his son. This book is about a father's love for his son that makes him willing to go to the ends of the earth to find a cure for him.
Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review.
March 21, 2022
This book asks what is your child’s life worth? The answer is everything.
I loved this book, and I want to know what happens next.
I cannot review this book without acknowledging that my daughter has/had this condition. I don’t know the author, but it’s very hard to put my feelings into words without getting sidetracked into my own narrative.
I saw others say this book was reminiscent of Hunter S Thompson’s style, who I have not read. I was reminded of Tom Robbins because there was an absurdist quality that was still grounded in reality. The choppy but lyrical prose mirrors the sterile horror and the poignancy of the VOGM experience. These descriptors should be contradictory, but they’re not.
VOGM children are in catastrophic, mortal danger from the condition AND the treatment. There is also so much alienation and loneliness. The author did an excellent job of portraying these things.
If you meet a family with a new diagnosis of VOGM, tell them to go the distance. Go to Guatemala or wherever the specialist is. Because their child’s chance of life is worth it over and over and over again.
I loved this book, and I want to know what happens next.
I cannot review this book without acknowledging that my daughter has/had this condition. I don’t know the author, but it’s very hard to put my feelings into words without getting sidetracked into my own narrative.
I saw others say this book was reminiscent of Hunter S Thompson’s style, who I have not read. I was reminded of Tom Robbins because there was an absurdist quality that was still grounded in reality. The choppy but lyrical prose mirrors the sterile horror and the poignancy of the VOGM experience. These descriptors should be contradictory, but they’re not.
VOGM children are in catastrophic, mortal danger from the condition AND the treatment. There is also so much alienation and loneliness. The author did an excellent job of portraying these things.
If you meet a family with a new diagnosis of VOGM, tell them to go the distance. Go to Guatemala or wherever the specialist is. Because their child’s chance of life is worth it over and over and over again.
October 4, 2022
My Rating: 4.25/5
When a young boy's life is being threatened by an illness that everyone else has given up on, an American dad goes to extraordinary lengths to put his faith in a "Wizard of Oz" type doctor from Guatemala, who he believes can help his young son.
This book was so uniquely written, and slightly eccentric, but still packed an emotional punch. I was such a fan.
My sweet bookstagram friend passed this book along and I am glad she did, as she personally knows the author (who has experienced something similar in his own personal life).
When a young boy's life is being threatened by an illness that everyone else has given up on, an American dad goes to extraordinary lengths to put his faith in a "Wizard of Oz" type doctor from Guatemala, who he believes can help his young son.
This book was so uniquely written, and slightly eccentric, but still packed an emotional punch. I was such a fan.
My sweet bookstagram friend passed this book along and I am glad she did, as she personally knows the author (who has experienced something similar in his own personal life).
November 12, 2023
This book was absolutely beautiful. The author uses profound takes on the mundane to make it magical. Don't think about it too hard and just let it take you along and reshape the way you see things.
March 21, 2022
Trevor Houser's novel Pacific captures readers' imagination and catapults them on a father's frenetic journey to save his son's life. The short sentences and choppy chapters Houser creates to tell this story emphasize the narrator's growing sense of desperation as he seeks a cure for his boy. The writing feels breathless, as though the protagonist is distracted, yet conscious of how little time he has to accomplish his single purpose. The style of the book is like a cross between gonzo journalism and magical realism: the narrator/protagonist, Tom, relays a series of episodes in which he is directly involved, yet there is a quality of unreality to many of the scenes. There is an almost fantastic aspect to some of Tom's experiences as he hurtles through the Pacific and jungles Guatemala with his son and addicted best friend as his wingman. As wild as this journey seems, Houser's storytelling make it believable, and he deftly portrays a father's love for his son to propel the action forward. In fact, Houser makes Tom's actions seem normal and reasonable and left me thinking: What's crazier? A child dying from a disease or a parent being told that there's nothing they can do? I won't spoil the ending, but you'll be left wanting more.
September 25, 2025
Well, I'd love a sequel. A reviewer or two said they thought they book was fine ending where it did, but I am not fine with that which is why I left out a star... Very frustrating to be hoping for the son to get healed the whole story, and not even see at the end whether he found the doctor! I want to know what his life is like after finding the doctor, if he does so... I did enjoy all of the crazy adventure that occurs, and I loved the ample space per page and large font so that the book could be flown through. I agree with enjoying the writing style as many others did too. I really was happy to win this book as I may not have come across it otherwise. The title and cover art makes it seem like the topic would have been very different, in my opinion.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 9, 2022
Trevor is a master storyteller and has captured the wild love a father feels for his son in Pacific in such a real, funny and heartwarming way. I loved getting lost in their adventures at sea. Their journey felt both reckless and romantic, full of interesting strangers and encounters along the way. I was thoroughly entertained, but it also helped me understand what it might feel like to be a parent who was determined to save his child.
I highly recommend this book. And am amazed at what Trevor has created!
I highly recommend this book. And am amazed at what Trevor has created!
August 12, 2021
Pacific is unforgettable story of extreme parenting that bursts off the page with such energy and passion that it's difficult to let go of -- literally -- until the very last page. It's brave, captivating, dark and funny; a testament to a father's love that is as beautiful as it is brutal. Buckle up and dive on it.
September 13, 2021
An interesting read, a great escape, and a little bit of Hunter S. Thompson!
January 10, 2022
Beautiful, funny, packed with weird observations and essential insights. Every sentence seems to shine. A great debut by a very talented writer.
March 11, 2025
Wow, what a ride! Trevor Houser's darkly funny novel has a propulsive energy that made me want to speed through it. But I forced myself to slow down because the writing is so poetic and beautiful. The two central characters -- a police chief desperate to save his young son's life and the drug-addled fisherman who helps him -- are deeply flawed but still endearing and relatable in a gonzo kind of way (think Hunter S. Thompson). I honestly could have kept reading this story, which is sure to spark debates, but it probably ends where it should, having delivered some profound observations on life and death. I loved it.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews