by John Shors, 2008
Same author of Beneath a Marble Sky, his first novel. Mom liked this book but I thought it was terrible writing. The story is good but the writing, especially dialogue, was lame. Takes place during WWII on a tropical island. Survivors of Benevolence, a hospital ship blown up by Japanese, swim to the island, find it deserted, and set up camp. There is a traitor among them, Roger, an evil man who is actually responsible for the Japanese blowing up Benevolence. In the end, he is killed by Akira, the Japanese patient who has a loving heart and who saved Isabelle and Annie, 2 sisters who are nurses. Annie falls in love with Akira. He falls in love with her. Isabelle is married to Joshua, the ship’s captain, and their time on the island is a renewal of their love. They had drifted apart while on Benevolence – consumed by their many responsibilities. Jake and Ratu are 2 other survivors – both extremely lovable characters. Jake is a black man, engineer, who joined the war effort to help fight for freedom. Ratu is a young boy from Fiji, looking for his father – who is somewhere in the South Pacific helping the Americans. Beautiful setting – tropical island. But really lame dialogue. His next novel is set in Vietnam -modern day, “In the Footsteps of Dragons.”