Off the Grid

Off the Grid is the first Robert McCaw novel review in the blog, and it’s the author’s second thriller with the protagonist, Chief Detective Koa Kane whose beat is Hawaii, the big island. Kane has risen from poverty on the island where his father had labored in the sugar cane fields, only to be killed when he was pushed into a giant grinding machine. Kane escaped by joining the military, and then he retired to the local police force where he worked his way up to chief detective. But, all was not well in paradise. Kane discovered a body that had been tortured before being cast into the active lava field where the expectation was that his body would be burned to a cinder and never discovered. It was the second homicide on the same day, the first of a woman, a reclusive and unsuccessful artist. It turns out the two murdered people were linked. They were mysterious fugitives, but suddenly, Koa’s investigation was hampered by the CIA, the DIA, the Chinese, and his own police chief. As Koa went about his business as a detective, he reveled in his love for Nalani, a beautiful and gracious native Hawaiian who was working as a ranger and naturalist at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and Koa revealed his own dark secrets.

This book checks all the boxes – a great venue in Hawaii’s back country which is artistically described, a strong protagonist in Koa Kane, a troubling crime that begs to be uncovered, obstacles to solving the case, bad police supervisors, and a love story. The plot is well told and the character development is excellent. This one gets my strong recommendation.