Fire Prayer [Hardcover]

Deborah Turrell Atkinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 2007

Storm Kayamas old high school friend, Tanner Williams, wants a favor. Hes asked her to come to Molokai to make sure his ex-wife is taking good care of his adolescent son, a newly diagnosed diabetic. In the meantime, Storms law partner and lover, Ian Hamlin, is investigating the possibility that a Molokai kayaking companys negligence played a part in the disappearance of Brock Liu, the son of an Oahu shipping magnate. It looks like a great excuse for Storm and Hamlin to get away from Honolulu for the weekend.
But Storm soon finds that Tanner has bigger problems than he let on, including his bitter wife Jenny Williams, a history of mental illness, and ties to a local protest group linked to an unsolved ten-year-old homicide. A few hours after Storms visit to Jennys home, twelve-year-old Luke Williams finds his mother dead on their living room floor. Luke calls the police, then he disappears.
Storm believes Luke may have seen his mothers killer and is in grave danger from both the murderer and his fluctuating blood glucose levels. Her chase after Lukeand answersleads through the dense rainforests, pristine beaches, and untamed wilds of Molokai.Are Brock Lius disappearance and Jenny Williams death linked to the old homicide?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Atkinson's lush third Storm Kayama adventure (after 2005's The Green Room) finds the Hawaiian lawyer on the island of Moloka'i with her boyfriend, Ian Hamlin, hoping the trip will provide a much needed respite from their busy legal careers. At the request of high school pal Tanner Williams, Storm visits Tanner's ex-wife, Jenny, to check on their adolescent son, Luke, who's diabetic and having difficulties adjusting to his parents' recent divorce. When Jenny is killed and Tanner and Luke vanish, Storm begins asking questions, but the secretive inhabitants of Moloka'i are reluctant to divulge information to a stranger. Piecing together the complicated relationships of the reticent islanders soon turns deadly, as Storm and Ian realize they're caught in the middle of a clash between old-world sorcery and modern-day revenge. The Moloka'i scenery is as vivid and appealing as the heroine, and authentic language and folklore make this a first-rate tale of greed, lust and retribution. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In her third adventure, attorney Storm Kayama and her lover, Ian Hamlin, travel to unspoiled Molokai, in the Hawaiian Islands, where they meet up with the couple who raised her after her mother's death. Also on the agenda: Ian is hired by a rich shipping magnate to investigate the kayak company he holds responsible for his son's disappearance, and an old high-school classmate of Storm's, Tanner Williams, has asked her to check up on his son, Luke, a diabetic, to make sure he is receiving proper care from his ex-wife. Soon after Storm arrives, the ex-wife is murdered, and Luke, a witness, disappears. Desperate to find him before the killer does, or he dies from lack of insulin, Storm finds herself in a dangerous chase down a mountain. This fast-paced mystery combines vivid descriptions of the beautiful countryside, fascinating background on Hawaiian lore and legend, and an intriguing glimpse of the engaging Storm's past. Sue O'Brien
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 282 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press; 1 edition (August 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590584023
• ISBN-13: 978-1590584026
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,180,324 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Inspired by Tony Hillerman's work, Deborah Atkinson weaves the legends of Hawaii into fast-paced, high-tension suspense novels. Pleasing the Dead is the fourth in the series, which includes Primitive Secrets (2002), The Green Room, (Book Sense pick for October, 2005), Fire Prayer (2007, winner of a New Covey Cover Award).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ancient legends, modern problems, November 14, 2007

By 

Pat Browning "Author of ABSINTHEOF MALICE" (Yukon, OK USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fire Prayer (Hardcover)

The author bypasses Molokai's 19th century history as a leper colony to weave ancient legends through this third book of her Storm Kayama series.

Life's messy details play out against an exotic backdrop, and traditional mystery takes a back seat to the fallout from a soured marriage on one hand and parental failings on another.

Honolulu lawyer Storm comes to Molokai at the request of an old friend who wants to be sure his estranged wife is taking good care of their son. Storm's colleague and lover, Ian, is on Molokai at the request of a wealthy client who wants to sue a local tour operator for negligence in the disappearance of his son.

Storm stirs up a group of old friends who have kept the secret of a ranch fire and a death during a protest against development that occurred ten years earlier.

Suddenly there are two more suspicious deaths for Detective Niwa to contend with, and Storm's persistent probing leads to a nightmare for everyone, including herself.

I downloaded a map of the island to my computer desktop for reference as I went back through the book to revisit certain scenes.

Because Atkinson sets parts of her story in real locations, the map helped me to picture the isolation of Halawa Bay and the Kamakou Nature Preserve, as well as their proximity to the airport, Molokai Ranch Lodge and the town of Kaunakakai.

The map also provided a visual frame for the ongoing feud between locals who cherish their rural lifestyle and outsiders who want to buy up land and turn a profit.

Atkinson doesn't resort to a tourist's travelogue but writes about real, everyday life, and her love for the island shines through.

Pat Browning
Author of "Full Circle," a Penny Mackenzie Mystery

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fun Hawaiian whodunit, August 14, 2007

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fire Prayer (Hardcover)

In Honolulu, Tanner Williams hires his high school friend Storm Kayama to travel to Moloka`i to insure his diabetic twelve year old son Luke is receiving proper care from his ex-wife the kid's mother, the acrimonious Jenny. At the same time her law partner and lover, Ian Hamlin is also going to Moloka`i to investigate whether a local kayaking company was negligent in the disappearance of Brock Liu, the son of an Oahu shipping mogul.

Doing a background check on Jenny, Storm realizes Tanner has reason for concern. She visits Jenny accompanied by Tanner, but soon after she leaves, Luke Williams discovers his mother's corpse. He calls the cops, but vanishes. Storm worries that the killer believes Luke is an eyewitness to the homicide of his mom; and is coming for the kid on the lam who also lacks his diabetes medicine. She and Ian begin to theorize that Brock's disappearance and Jenny's murder tie back to an unsolved decade old homicide that both were involved in.

The Hawaiian locales steal the show from a fun whodunit. The two investigations are cleverly designed so that they ultimately tie together although most of the book focuses on Kayama being in the eye of the storm. Although Storm and Ian as lawyers doing field work as investigators seems a non-starter (where is Jack Lord when you need him), mystery readers will enjoy touring Hawaii as Deborah Turrell Atkinson provides plenty of fire power (for further tales of Hawaii see PRIMITIVE SECRETS and GREEN ROOM).

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fun, fast, edge of your seat read., November 15, 2007

By 

Kay Martinez "Kay" (Lubbock, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fire Prayer (Hardcover)

What an enjoyable read! Fire Prayer was the first book of Ms. Atkinson's three books I'd read but it will not be the last. I was captivated by the beautiful setting of Moloka'i and character of Storm Kayama. Storm's willingness to help out her old high school friend, Tanner Williams, soon gets her way in over her head and I was drawn into the day to day life the islanders live. I really cared about Luke, Tanner's son, I liked that he is smart, but not unrealistically smart.

Storm's Aunt Maile and Uncle Keone were such a joy to follow throughout the book and I loved Aunt Maile's cultural and historical knowledge of Hawaii. The secondary characters all were written in such a way that I could care about each one and what would happen to them as the story progressed. The medical issues were believable and handled in a way so as to not overpower the story or take me out of the action.

Best of all, I was unable to figure out too far in advance who was responsible for what, so I had to solve the mystery with Storm, not too far ahead of her! I really liked that.

I highly recommend Fire Prayer for a fun, fast, edge of your seat read. Ms. Atkinson manages to impart a great deal of knowledge on many subjects and makes it a lot of fun.