HOKULOA ROAD

With his youthful voice and careful pacing, narrator Kaleo Griffith portrays Grady Kendall, the underachieving protagonist of this thriller. The locale is an unidentified Hawaiian island, and Griffith, a native of Hawaii, adds to the audiobook's authenticity with his pronunciation of local geography and Indigenous terminology. Also adding to the verisimilitude are author Hand's descriptions of Hawaii during the Covid era with its dwindling tourists, meth addicts, and exploitation of natural wonders. Grady, who begins the story naïve and bewildered, soon embarks on a missing person search that unveils the darker side of this tropical idyll. Expect more than a mystery; the audiobook dips into fantasy and often races like a thriller. R.W.S. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2022]