M.E. Morris breaks with his tradition of military thrillers (Biostrike, Stealth, The Alpha Bug) to craft an intricate and powerful tale of a war that s not quite over for one man even fifty years after the combatants have laid down their arms. When the Japanese prison camp guard who brutalized him falls into Donald Foster s clutches, the two old soldiers fight to the death, and they discover the truth about each other. This book will resonate gently with those who fought in any war, and offers insight for the peaceful children of warriors.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Having purchased his own island in Fiji, wealthy retired businessman Donald Foster extols the beauty of his private paradise. He has discovered that playing the role of the "ugly American" in Polynesia can be fun, if one has plenty of money to buy the respect of the natives. Impulsively, Foster decides to fire his loyal staff and "go native" himself. He plans to live alone in nature, with regular shipments to replenish his sumptuous larder. Almost immediately, though, he discovers that one of the recently departed servants, Japanese bartender Mirata Nakai, is actually the army sergeant who, in 1945, brutally tortured and permanently maimed Foster during his POW imprisonment in Okinawa. Predictably, the ex-Marine sets out to exact revenge by giving Nakai a dose of his own sadistic medicine. Foster won't kill Nakai because that would cut short the long-awaited thrill of torturing his archenemy, but Nakai escapes and commits seppuku (ritual suicide), thus demonstrating his moral and spiritual superiority over his American nemesis. Foster is arrested, but conveniently escapes punishment, as an error in deed recording has removed his island from legal authority. Although ripe with possibilities, this story is marred by Foster's obnoxious fatuity. He is a blatant racist, justifying the kidnapping and brutalizing of Nakai with a series of jingoistic rationales, half-baked bromides and sophomoric philosophy. He prides himself on having good taste and high morals, but he constantly mistakes wealth for sophistication, and vengeful cruelty for justice. Morris's transcriptions of native Fijian dialect is especially offensive, as is Foster's crackpot misogynist diatribe that concludes the novel.
Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Review
Down and dirty in paradise, the Sand Crabs is a thought-provoking look back. --Stephen Coontz, author
Unforgettable...a quiet story that will resonate in the reader s mind and heart long after the last page is turned. --Fran Baker, Delphi Books
We spent Sunday afternoon and evening in my den, Sandi and I, and took turns reading aloud...at times her voice or mine would catch and tears would blur our vision; such was the great emotion evoked by M.E. Morris newest novel, The Sand Crabs. --Pam Parrish, The Fiction Forest
Unforgettable...a quiet story that will resonate in the reader s mind and heart long after the last page is turned. --Fran Baker, Delphi Books
We spent Sunday afternoon and evening in my den, Sandi and I, and took turns reading aloud...at times her voice or mine would catch and tears would blur our vision; such was the great emotion evoked by M.E. Morris newest novel, The Sand Crabs. --Pam Parrish, The Fiction Forest
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Simple engaging story, with a strange, unrelated epilog,
By
This review is from: The Sand Crabs (Hardcover)
A simple story about a WWII vet who retires to a private island off of Fiji after a successful business career and unexpectedly runs into a Japanese WWII vet with whom he has unfinished business.
Reckoning ensues. Overall, a well told story of a guy thinking back on the events that shaped his life. And then strangely, after the story is complete the author tacks on a unrelated and somewhat misogynistic rant in the "epilog" (women don't belong in the workplace - they used to be on a pedestal, people these days have sex without getting married, America is going to hell in a handbasket, yadda yadda).
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Final Battle of World War II,
By
This review is from: The Sand Crabs (Hardcover)
Retired businessman Donald Foster settles into his island paradise, believing tranquility is his destiny. But then he recognizes an old enemy -- his Japanese torturer -- and the two of them consummate a tale of hatred and adversity that began half a century earlier. For these two old men, now warriors again, the last battle of World War II would be personal, and fought amid the sand crabs of Vaka Malua. This would make an excellent movie, with William Shatner and George Takei as the two combatants.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Conflict and Resolution in paradise -- The Sand Crabs,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Sand Crabs (Hardcover)
Life and circumstance force us all to face enemies. The hallmark of a life well lived is how we deal with those enemies. On the beach at Vaka Malua, a tiny island in the South Pacific, amid romantic sunsets, tropical flowers and the sounds of the rain forest, Donald Foster faces his oldest enemy and ends a life well lived. Through the eyes of Donald Foster we glimpse a peaceful Polynesian sunset as moving as any symphony which becomes the prologue and the epilogue to a story of love, grief, agony, rage, vengeance and ultimately forgiveness. Within the 192 pages of TheSand Crabs author M E Morris manages to address a subject with such depth that most authors would be hard pressed to contain it in a thousand pages. The Sand Crabs, by ME Morris is more than a novel. It's a lesson in life and a commentary on our century written by a craftsman.
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