FIVE DECEMBERS by James Kestrel

It’s Thanksgiving in 1941 in Honolulu, and we readers know what’s coming.  Joe McGrady, a police detective investigating a double homicide, heads to Hong Kong to track down the suspect.  However, he doesn’t know what he looks like or what his real name is.   Joe’s queries land him in jail on false charges, and he lingers there until the Japanese take over.  This is my much abbreviated version of the first half of the novel but doesn’t begin to cover all the details, including Joe’s many encounters during the 5-day trip from Honolulu to Hong Kong.  Joe is not a superhero, but he is someone we would all want in our corner.  He’s perceptive, thorough, and, at times, very lucky.  I could definitely go for more Joe McGrady novels, but this novel is also gripping because of the WWII timeframe and locales in the Pacific Rim that come under fire.  I appreciated that several women have significant roles in this novel—the girl he leaves behind, a sketch artist, a helpful prostitute, and the daughter of a Japanese government official.  The original manuscript for this novel was much longer than the final published version, and the cuts occasionally affect the continuity of the plot.  For example, at one point McGrady’s wrists are tied behind his back, and a few pages later, he places them in front of him on a table.  I reread the intervening pages about five times and never discovered when, how, or where his hands were freed.  I drew my own conclusion and moved on, but I think the gaps in the plot should have been patched up a little better and reduced the confusion that I encountered from time to time.  In any case, this is an action-packed thriller that checks every box and satisfies on every level.