Silversword (John Caine Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Charles Knief (Author)

Book Description

Series: John Caine Mysteries | Publication Date: June 22, 2001

In previous accounts, Charles Knief's hero, John Caine, seemed indestructible. But in this fourth adventure of the man whom the Boston Globe described as the heir apparent to Travis McGee, we find that even he can't take a gunshot in the back and escape with a few bruises. We meet him far from his beloved Hawaii protecting his friend Chawlie, the Honolulu gangster, at the funeral of a rival Triad leader in San Francisco. Just as the coffin is placed in the hearse, a not totally unexpected shooting breaks out.

Caine succeeds in keeping Chawlie intact and saving the life of Chawlie's number one son, and his reward is a long stay in a San Francisco hospital and the enmity of a female police detective with her own agenda. It isn't long before Caine learns that he is her prime suspect in a murder case.

Back home, convalescing in Waikiki, Caine finds that there are better ways to pass the time than watching daytime TV when his old friend Hawaiian Police chief Kimo presents him with a new case. Donna Wong, a young scientist, has made an important discovery under the waters of the Pacific--one that could turn the history of Hawaii upside down--but her faculty advisor is planning to steal it from her. Can Caine look into the man's background to find out if he's ever done this before?

"Of course," says Caine. "It's easy."

But nothing is easy for John Caine. The California detective arrives in Hawaii to take him back to the mainland for trial. Dodging her, he learns that his friend is threatened with charges of extortion, kidnapping, and murder. And the imminent eruption of a new volcano threatens the site of Ms. Wong's discovery. Despite his still weakened condition, Caine must run to the rescue, battered but still dangerous. And another bunch of bad guys learn an important lesson: Never count John Caine out.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

PI John Caine's fourth adventure opens promisingly with a wild street shootout at a Triad funeral in San Francisco, but the brakes are stomped when the Vietnam-era Navy SEAL catches a round in his back and the medics take over. Many chapters of rest and rumination follow. All Caine wants to do is get back to his sailboat, berthed in Pearl Harbor, and heal his wounds, but a female cop charges him with murder for the death of an innocent bystander at the melee. The body counts racked up in his previous exploits, plus the new incident, may have given Caine a reservation at the gray bar hotel. Against this fairly realistic handling of legal maneuvering and recovery (including the realization that he experienced life-altering post-traumatic stress disorder after Nam) hovers the shadowy question of who ordered the sniper to open fire. Knief (Diamond Head; Sand Dollars; Emerald Flash) also offers his weakened hero a superbly romantic case back in Hawaii: the discovery of the underwater tomb of the legendary King Kamehameha, filled with treasure from a wrecked Spanish galleon (which proves the islands were visited before Cook) all threatened by a newly erupting volcano. These plot lines never quite mesh but Knief keeps everything moving so that many readers may never notice though fans of the sensitive warrior sub-genre might experience a vague wish for a little less sensitive and a lot more warrior before reaching the last page.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Knief's latest John Caine novel begins with a bang, literally, as Caine is shot in a gunfight in San Francisco while protecting his old friend, crime boss Chawlie Choy. Caine flies back to Hawaii, the series' traditional setting, to recuperate, but soon enough he is taking a young student out on his boat to explore an underwater royal tomb she has discovered. Numerous violent altercations follow, involving both Chawlie and the hidden tomb. And if that weren't enough, Caine is extradited to San Francisco to face murder charges arising from the earlier shooting. Will Caine find the link between the violence in Hawaii and in San Francisco? How many times will he get shot in the course of one story? Discovering answers to those and other puzzles proves thoroughly captivating, both because the action keeps us reading and because Caine is a thoroughly captivating character in the classic hard-boiled mold. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (June 22, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312273029
• ISBN-13: 978-0312273026
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,652,699 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars EX-NAVY SEAL JOHN CAINE IS BACK FOR MORE ACTION!!!!, August 2, 2001

By 

Wayne C. Rogers (Las Vegas, Nevada United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Silversword (John Caine Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I became a die-hard fan of Charles Knief last year when I read the first three John Caine books (SAND DOLLARS, EMERALD FLASH & DIAMOND HEAD) back to back. Now, with his newest novel, SILVER SWORD, Mr. Knief continues his winning streak with another skillfully written thriller that has John Caine facing his greatest fear. Acting as a bodyguard for his friend, Chawlie Choy, while on a visit to San Francisco to negotiate a truce with a rival Tong organization, Caine is seriously wounded during a shootout that leaves an innocent bystander dead. The San Francisco Police Department, as well as the local judicial system, thinks that Caine should be held responsible for the killing, even though hes innocent of any wrongdoing. Out of gratitude for saving his life, Chawlie hires the best lawyer that money can buy to represent his friend, and Caine is allowed to return temporarily to Hawaii, knowing that he may eventually be charged with first-degree murder. As he begins to recuperate from his gunshot wound and contemplate the possibility of spending several years in prison, Caine is asked by his old friend, Lieutenant Kimo Kahanamoku of the Honolulu Police Department, to help protect a young graduate student who has discovered the tomb of an ancient Hawaii king, as well as a ton of Spanish treasure. There are those whod like to get their hands on both the treasure and the remains of King Kamehameha, and are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve this goal. Needless to say, John Caine will have his hands full, especially when Chawlie warns him about a contract that has been taken out on his life by the San Francisco Chinese Tongs in retaliation for the part he played in protecting his friend during the gun battle. SILVER SWORD is almost twice as long as any of the three previous novels. Because of this, Mr. Knief is able to explore with more depth the close friendships that Caine has with both Kimo and Chawlie. Weve able to see the strong bond that joins these three men together, and the respect that begrudgingly develops between Kimo and Chawlie Choy. Of course, as Caine considers the prospect of jail and what it will mean to be locked away from the things he holds most precious, the reader grows to understand this man with more clarity, catching brief glimpses of his fears, his needs, and his desire to make the most out of life while he still has time. Though suspenseful and multi-faceted, SILVER SWORD isnt as fast-paced as the other Caine novels. There arent any big action sequences that allow our hero to strut his stuff. Due to the gunshot wound in his side, Caine is more passive here and has to let others take the lead. Still, there are moments of intense action when he must fight for his life and kill those that would harm him and his closest friends. SILVER SWORD is an excellent addition to the series and will have the reader hoping that Charles Knief continues to write about John Caine for many years to come.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This haole's work is never pau., July 2, 2001

By 

Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Silversword (John Caine Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Packing a knife, a gun, and a reputation for having killed eight people "in self defense," John Caine is certainly not a cerebral, Columbo-style private investigator. With a lust for action and sometimes a lust for lust, he is macho in the extreme, fiercely loyal to his friends, no matter which side of the police desk they may occupy and no matter how dangerous their friendship may be to his health. Though he is shot, stabbed, hit with martial arts sticks, sucker-punched, kicked, knocked unconscious, hospitalized for surgery, and thrown in jail for murder, just for starters, he's like an Energizer ape who just keeps going.

Escape reading at its best, this is an old-fashioned murder mystery which makes no apologies for its machismo as Caine constantly comes to the rescue of damsels and others in distress, getting beaten and nearly killed on a regular basis. The Hawaiian setting is a welcome change from the usual urban wasteland of P. I. stories, the action never falters, and the plot, while intriguing, is not so complicated that you have trouble keeping all the characters straight.

Local color is heightened by a police chief who is a descendant of famed surfer Duke Kahanamoku, by an archaeologist who has found the tomb of King Kamehameha I, on the Big Island's Kona coast, and by the goddess Pele, who brings the dormant shield volcano of Hualalai, long overdue for eruption, suddenly to life, threatening Kailua-Kona. Lovers of Hawaii will find this fun to read, as long as they don't get hung up on some proofreading problems--a few typos, misspellings, and several annoying references to Moana Kea and Moana Loa, instead of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another grandslam by Chuck Knief, May 19, 2001

By 

James A. Husing - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Silversword (John Caine Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I have been waiting anxiously for this fourth episode of the exploits of P.I. John Caine. I received an advanced copy and read it in one sitting. I wasn't disappointed. This one starts out in Chinatown in San Francisco and after a gangland shooting the action moves to Honolulu, Hawaii. Caine is recovering from a gunshot wound and the plot has several twists and turns. I won't give away anymore of the plot other than to say this is a must read. A new Honolulu Police Detective described as a "rugged looking haole detective" is introduced in Chapter 39 by the name of Jim Husing. The author is a friend of mine and this is my 15 minutes of fame. I hope I am not killed off in future. Hope you are reading this Chuck.

As always, Chuck's vivid descriptions of the Hawaiian locations are right on the money. Having been to many of the locations described I felt that I was once again in Hawaii while reading page after page. Chuck has been to all of the locations described and that is why the descriptions are picture perfect. As in the three previous Caine novels, this one has lots of beautiful girls, beautiful scenery, Hawaiian legends and history, and fast paced action.

This book is a must for Caine/Knief fans. Don't delay in getting it. You won't be disappointed.

Jim Husing That rugged-looking haole detective