Hokuloa Road cover art

Hokuloa Road

A Novel

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Hokuloa Road

By: Elizabeth Hand
Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
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About this listen

A young man is drawn into the dark side of paradise in this haunting and "perfectly crafted" mystery (Grady Hendrix), about the eerie secrets of one Hawai’ian islandand the lengths some will go to keep them.

On a whim, Grady Kendall applies to work as a live-in caretaker for a luxury property in Hawaiʻi, as far from his small-town Maine life as he can imagine. Within days he's flying out to an estate on remote Hokuloa Road, where he quickly uncovers a dark side to the island’s idyllic reputation: it has long been a place where people vanish without a trace.

When a young woman from his flight becomes the next to disappear, Grady is determined—and soon desperate—to figure out what's happened to Jessie, and to all those staring out of the island’s “missing" posters. But working with Raina, Jessie’s fiercely protective best friend, to uncover the truth is anything but easy, and with an inexplicable and sinister presence stalking his every step, Grady can only hope he'll find the answer before it's too late.

Perfect for fans of Peter Heller and The White Lotus, and from award-winning writer Elizabeth Hand, a master of crime fiction known for her magnetic characters, seductive prose, and fearless excavations into the darkest corners of our world, comes a chilling and illuminating new novel about a place unlike any other—and the deadly cost of keeping it so.

"Set in a Hawaii so vividly imagined I'm still shaking sand out of my shoes."—Grady Hendrix

“Twisty and dark . . . easily one of the best thrillers I've read.” —Rachel Hawkins

“This is the perfect book for your summer beach bag—an evocative mystery set in a tropical island paradise . . . I was completely enthralled!” —Jason Rekulak


Amateur Sleuths Mystery Psychological Supernatural Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Paranormal Detective

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Critic reviews

“Elizabeth Hand has been one of my favorite authors since Wylding Hall, so when I opened Hokuloa Road I knew I'd get her signature mix of deeply evocative prose, sinister surroundings, and fascinating characters. I was right, but even as a long time Hand Fan, I was completely blown away by this book. Hokuloa Road is twisty and dark, easily one of the best thrillers I've read, but it's so much more than that, too. It's thoughtful and pensive, smart and scary, and exhilarating as you realize that you're in the hands of a master storyteller. After reading this book, I promise, Elizabeth Hand is going to become one of your favorite authors, too.”—Rachel Hawkins, New York Times bestselling author of Reckless Girls and The Wife Upstairs
"Set in a Hawaii so vividly imagined I'm still shaking sand out of my shoes, Elizabeth Hand's perfectly crafted ghost story is exactly the comfort-destroying read you need on a long, lonely night."—Grady Hendrix, New York Times bestselling author of The Final Girl Support Group
“This is the perfect book for your summer beach bag—an evocative mystery set in a tropical island paradise. The locals warn that Hokuloa Road is dangerous, but I was completely enthralled by its scenery and secrets!”
Jason Rekulak, author of Hidden Pictures
Praise for The Book of Lamps and Banners
“Cass Neary is a remarkable heroine. As with Sherlock Holmes, her power lies in the act of seeing what ordinary people cannot, only where Holmes brings clues to light, Neary is content to linger in the dark. Her eye catches the liminal spaces between clarity and shadow so well I found myself rereading passages for the beauty of her way of seeing.”—New York Times Book Review, on The Book of Lamps and Banners
"The ancient manuscript at the center of The Book of Lamps and Banners is as kaleidoscopic, dark, and mysterious as Hand's amateur sleuth. This novel is a jaw-punch, written with a snarling grace."—Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Cabin atthe End of the World, on The Book of Lamps and Banners
"It's hard to imagine a more perfect novel than The Book of Lamps and Banners . . . Elizabeth Hand has delivered a startling book that is dirty, wise, aching, and almost magical. Hand expertly marries muscular prose to sophisticated detail, resulting in an enviably smart, fearless novel that conjures demons, evokes an immediate sense of place, and summons the surreal."—Ivy Pochoda, author of These Women, on The Book of Lamps and Banners
“A hair-raising, mind-bending trip… Exquisitely suspenseful, and the paranoia suffusing the story is very much of our present moment.”—BookPage (starred review), on The Book of Lamps and Banners
All stars
Most relevant
An unexpectedly enjoyable part of this hugely enjoyable supernatural mystery is its setting during the covid lockdown, something that will, I suspect, culturally appear across various artworks from that particular time in a way a forest fire can be detected in tree rings. The loneliness and desolation of lockdown, the practical difficulties and imposition of quarantine are all seamlessly part of life in this book as a young carpenter travels to a remote Hawiaiian island to work as caretaker for a billionaire. Mask etiquette is followed, spacing and eating outdoors, while the island's entire tourist industry has shut down, Text messages and chats rather movingly keep scattered family and friends in touch. It probably helps that Hand has written science fiction fantasy and horror to acquire the sorts of skills to write a pandemic-as-everyday-background novel, though maybe any writer could do it this well if they're good enough, and Hand is that good. Other timely themes are preserving the last shreds of an already-damaged natural environment and the strange, almost alien designs of the incredibly rich. It's a riveting thriller, with wonderful wrting about the flora and fauna and sights of Hawaii and some deeply lovable characters, as well as a chilly atmosphere of fear and slowly mounting worldly and otherworldly suspense. Narration is superb

Excellent

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