Five Decembers

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Five Decembers" feels like it could have been written during the golden age of noir… hugely satisfying. I am grateful to Hard Case Crime and author James Kestrel for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for my honest review. I think, if you can get past the first scene, you’d find this one interesting to think about in so many ways. I completed such a journey some years ago and the author captures superbly the wonder I had felt at the wild mix of scenes that passed before my eyes and the intoxicating buzz of being caught up amongst so many people. I wonder whether they were important to the plot, or that maybe they should've cut even more out of the final draft.

To quote Nolan's review in the WSJ: "Lyrical, violent, intelligent, breathtaking: this is an unforgettable book. In private, the admiral recommends that McGrady proceed with “operational discretion,” an option that requires him to operate clandestinely rather than announcing his investigative interests to foreign authorities. Part of his investigation takes him away from Honolulu and the girlfriend he has fallen in love with.James Krestel recreates the Honolulu, Hong Kong and certainly Japan during World War 2 in a subtle way making this not only a crime story but also a historical novel with a lot of details which you would not necessarily expect in crime writing. On a more somber note–yes, I knew, in a vague way, about the brothels in Chinatown and the set up with the military. I enjoyed the dialogue and their interactions, and the general avoidance of the anticipated stereotypes, TV lingo, and the other pitfalls of writing that would drop a reader out of the moment. Not just any murder, but one our protagonist realizes changed the entire course of history while he was marooned, including his life and the lives of those nearest to him: the girlfriend who gave him up for dead, and the daughter of the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, whose father springs McGrady from a prison camp for his help finding the men who murdered his niece, hiding him in Tokyo until the conclusion of the war.

Kestrel drops a few well-placed ominous hints that foreshadow that the whole world is about to go sideways even as Joe is hoping to get the case wrapped up in time to spend a romantic Christmas with Molly. Spanning the entirety of World War II, Five Decembers is a beautiful, masterful, powerful novel that will live in your memory forever. He spends his time learning Japanese from Takahashi’s daughter, Sachi (among other things – yes, they develop ‘feelings’ for each other – insert eye roll here).

I’ve used this saying many times before, but FIVE DECEMBERS is truly the definition of a page-turner. Five Decembers by James Kestrel certainly doesn't disappoint, it's part hard-hitting crime thriller,part war story, part love story , a tale of obsession, retribution and most importantly a fantastic read. It makes the whole thing one of those books where you’re tensed up the entire time, and just wish that you could warn everyone in it what’s coming.

Full disclosure—I am a huge fan of the Hard Case Crime line of books—I’ve read all of them from day one. The novel is truly well paced and skillfully plotted, with twists and turns that have you constantly hold your breath. At the station, McGrady learns that there was a brutal murder on a dairy farm on the other side of Oahu. Kestrel does a marvellous job of maintaining suspense and keeping the story ticking over at a good pace. But this contains really only two scenes I can think of with distaste and this is a very looong novel.

Start with this badly-overdue refresh of the hard-boiled detective story and add in a sensitive reading of locales and a non-Neaderthal attitude towards women.

Wildly ambitious and deeply haunting, Five Decembers drops you in the middle of a dark noir dream full of heat, loss and memory. In short, this is a book that preserves everything I love about 1940s pulp fiction and replaces everything I don't love with a contemporary sensibility.Formerly a bar owner, a criminal defense investigator, and an English teacher, James Kestrel is now an attorney practicing throughout the Pacific.