Customer Reviews

Fire Prayer

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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

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

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.

Deborah Turrell Atkinson's third Storm Kayama novel is her best mystery yet, an exploration of secrets and culture in the Hawaiian Islands. Storm's trip to Moloka'i unlocks the past of a small close-knit community, and also the secrets of her own past. Although she's on vacation, her boyfriend, another lawyer, is there to work. It's the first of many conflicts to arise on this trip.

As Storm identifies with a young boy who is troubled, she reveals secrets of her own. When she was twelve, her bipolar mother committed suicide. Now, she's searching for a runaway boy, exposed to violence, and coping with a parent with a bipolar disorder, as well as his own health issues.

This complicated story deals with unresolved issues that haunt the island as development and island interests collided. Those issues now collide on a beautiful island, turning it into a place of terror for Storm, and a young boy.

Atkinson has a gift of exposing island life, in all of its beauty and problems, to those of us who may never have experienced it. Her Hawaii, and Storm Kayama's, is a place of mystery, and beauty. She shares it even more in this latest book.

With Fire Prayer, readers are again treated to the rich cultural history of the Hawaiian Islands while following Attorney Storm Kayama in her latest mystery. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of mysteries set in exotic locales. Most of them offer an interesting setting for the book. What sets Atkinson's Storm Kayama mysteries apart is that the Hawaiian setting is not just a back drop for the story, but rather part of each of the books. Atkinson's knowledge of the Hawaiian culture, both historical and modern day including the myths and legends of the Hawaiian people make these books fascinating reads.

Fire Prayer takes place on the island of Moloka'i. By placing Fire Prayer on the island of Moloka'i, Atkinson is able to give readers a sense of the difference between the various Hawaiian Islands. Moloka'i is smaller, less traveled and therefore less influenced by the outside culture. The more relaxed pace of the island is evident throughout the book.

While Storm's law partner and boyfriend, Ian Hamlin, is investigating a possible negligence case connected to the disappearance of a prominent family's son, Storm is busy trying to help an old friend from high school, Tanner Williams. Unfortunately, Tanner's ex-wife is found dead and his son has disappeared. Soon Storm realizes that the wife's death and son's disappearance may be linked by an old murder to the case that brought Ian and Storm to Moloka'i in the first place.

Atkinson uses not only the cultural mores but the ancient myths of the Hawaiian people to move the story forward. Two of the reoccurring characters in the series are Storm's Aunt Maile and Uncle Keone who live in the more culturally traditional ways of the Hawaiian people. When Storm visits with her aunt and uncle, the reader gets an insider's glimpse of the Hawaiian traditions as well as insight into why some events within the book playout as they do. Atkinson's books, if written in a different setting, would be very different. The characters would not think and act in the same way as they do when bound to the Hawaiian culture. Each chapter heading is a Hawaiian saying written first in the Hawaiian language and then translated. If a reader was to just read these headings he would have a fair idea where the story was going as each offers a hint as to what is to come.

Fire Prayer follows Primitive Secrets and The Green Room.

It's a happy coincidence that allows Honolulu attorney Storm Kayama to accompany her boyfriend to the island of Moloka'i, where Ian Hamlin is filing a negligence claim on behalf of a prominent businessman whose his son disappeared while kayaking. As Hamlin investigates the somewhat shady Ecotour guides, Storm responds to a plea by her high school friend Tanner Williams to check in on his twelve year-old son, whom Tanner fears is being neglected by his ex-wife. After getting little information from the insular community, Storm grows more concerned for the diabetic boy, a concern that grows to alarm when the mother is murdered and the boy vanishes.

While all of Deborah Turrell Atkinson's Storm Kayama mysteries are enjoyable and explore the culture and beauty of Hawai'i, Fire Prayer proves to be the most elegantly written and carefully crafted of the series. The narratives change frequently and even timelines are toyed with by Atkinson, yet these never results in confusion and instead engage the reader with a swiftly moving plot and fascinating characters. Storm herself has grown considerably since her first appearance in Primitive Secrets, and the reader is able to see how her relationships with her family and Hamlin continually evolve. Atkinson's greatest talent is recreating the atmosphere and culture of local Hawaiians without making them a cliché or creating stereotypes. A local resident of Honolulu, Atkinson treats the islands and its people with respect yet never alienates those not familiar with Hawaii. Descriptions of the food, smells, and sights of Moloka'i are made with a practiced ease that will have the reader hungry for a visit to the isles. For readers unable to take a vacation in paradise, though, Fire Prayer proves to be a sufficient substitute as its whisks them away to an exciting place of intrigue, beauty, and aloha.

As a long-time resident of Hawaii--and a mystery author myself--my palm-frond hat is off Deborah Turrell Atkinson for creating an elegantly rendered mystery. Her grasp of Hawaiian culture and intriguing dashes of mysticism combine to make Fire Prayer an exciting read for any fan of the genre. Her characters are rich and well-defined, and the landscape so lush you can feel the tropical breeze on your skin. Read this book and be transported. With gas prices as they are, this may be the most affordable, enjoyable vacation you've taken all year.

Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (3/07)


When Tanner Williams asked high school friend and Honolulu attorney, Storm Kayama, to talk to his ex-wife Jenny, Storm and her partner and lover, Ian Hamlin, saw it as an opportunity to mix business with pleasure on the relaxing, slow isle of Moloka'i. Tanner's son is a diabetic. He wants Storm to make sure his son is being properly cared for. His fears are that, "She would poison Luke. Contaminate him with the venom of her bitterness and desperation."

Tanner suffers from manic mood swings. They can be controlled with medications but he hates the side effects and frequently refuses to take them. The medications make his mind work slower and his hands tremble.

Ian Hamlin has been asked to look into the disappearance of Brock Liu, only son of Devon Liu, an extremely wealthy man. Brock was twenty-six years old and an executive at Wiki Packing Shipping, when he went missing.

Jenny Williams is found dead by her twelve-year-old son. Luke calls 911 and then disappears. Storm suspects there are connecting threads between Luke's disappearance, Jenny's death and the missing Brock. The killer hunts Luke and Storm. They are in grave danger.

What could be better than the beautiful setting of Honolulu, an exciting plot and great characters? "Fire Prayer" by Deborah Turrell Atkinson has it all. Ms. Atkinson is an extremely talented author. The plot is an exciting adventure taking the reader through the rain forest and across the unspoiled beaches of Moloka'i. The characters have great depth. The heroine, Storm, is well developed. She's strong with great intelligence. This is the first book I've read my Deborah Turrell but it won't be the last. Mystery fans need to add this one to their must read list.

Received book free of charge.