If you follow me either here on the blog or on instagram (@speakingof_books), you will know that Mysteries and Detective series are my bread and butter. I love them. I love getting to know the characters and following their careers. I mean Law & Order SUV is my favorite show, so of course I love a good crime series.

I’ll be honest and say I thought this was going to be a 3 star read while reading the first part of the book. I wasn’t super into it, mainly because there were a lot of Hawaiian references that I just did not understand. That learning curve really took away from the story for me at first and made the pacing quite slow. However, as we go through the story and I became more familiar with the Hawaiian culture, I started to really appreciate the added references. The first half of the book was almost information overload with all the names of gods and places. I even stopped and did a little research on some of those referenced to try and get a better grasp on the history. I’ve been to Hawaii twice but their culture is so rich in myths and lore that as an outside it’s hard to truly understand the range and impact it has had on the Island.

The history of the Islands comes in perfect into the plot of the story. While there are two separate cases going on throughout the story, they nice into each other seamlessly. The antiquity black-market , the added astrology specifically related to the Alice Observatory, and of course an endless supply of suspects really brought this book together for me.

Character wise, Koa Kane, our detective is a bit clique at first, Which I generally don’t mind since the plot lines are more important to me in a crime book than unique characters. But Koa Kane has a ton of growth throughout this story and we really get a feel for his honor and loyalty to the Hawaiian culture.

This was not my favorite series I have read recently, but I would most certainly pick up the second book.

AMAZON | GOODREADS | ★★★★

I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on Death of a Messenger. Huge thank you to Oceanview for my eARC for my honest opinion. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof_books.