An earthy, narrative. Five interconnected stories, colorful and human and all leading to island of Mabuhay. All somehow connected with the Catholic Church. All people with various motives. A lonely insurance investigator. An outspoken priest. A gilted bruised lover, a despondent man caught by a woman who cannot see past dollar signs to the man she married. It’s a slice of life if the fruit was beginning to brown, but still sweet inside.

Somebody Else’s Troubles takes the reader on quite the journey. A troubled man disappears, a private investigator pursues him, the perfect family is not really perfect, a priest gets shipped off to a remote island, amateur archeologists are involved in a dig there. Add in an abused woman, troubles in the church, and a young man searching to understand his sexual identity and for someone to listen to him. This would all seem random and chaotic if the author had not handled it all so skillfully by revealing each person’s story and handling delicate and important topics with care. A very good read.