Five Decembers

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McGrady is the first on the scene and shortly after discovering a young man cut open, confronts a man trying to destroy the crime scene and shoots it out with him. This extraordinary novel is so much more than just a gripping crime story—it's a story of survival against all odds, of love and loss and the human cost of war. McGrady, a rookie detective, is the only one in the department who doesn’t know to make himself scarce before the long Thanksgiving holiday. A third of my way through this book I had no idea where it was all taking me, but I did know that I’d found a character, in Joe, who was imbued with enough grit and virtue to carry me with him, wherever that turned out to be. A plethora of reviews, most of which expound on the collective argument about just how good this book is.

Thanks to the recent Wall Street Journal review by Tom Nolan, I learned this author is writing under a pseudonym, when I find out who he (maybe she) is - I'm going to devour the other works.

Closing in on a suspect in Hong Kong, McGrady is caught in the city on December 7, 1941, when Japan attacks mainland China and takes over. Everything is covered in a patina, distanced as if in a period movie, or as if to say some deeds are a thing of the past. Kestrel does a marvellous job of maintaining suspense and keeping the story ticking over at a good pace. Some characters were so pointless (Sachi, for example) and they came and went so fast, that some plot-threads that were tide to them were left unresolved, as the author just didn't know what to do with them. This stellar Wartime Noir from James Kestrel packs an emotional punch that left me reeling, it is powerful, profound and moving, whilst defying genre classification.

It has that kind of noir style, though it's much more gruesome than any midcentury book would dare to be and much more willing to talk straight at things than around them, especially when it comes to things like prostitution or drugs, the kinds of things that are usually only obliquely referenced or hinted at. The story carries on till December 1945 and ends then after 5 winters with a show down between McGrady and the prime suspect. This edition of Five Decembers is part of the Hard Case Crime (2004-) series of reprints, new commissions and posthumous publications of the pulp and noir crime genre founded by authors Charles Ardai and Max Phillips.Yes, you've read tales with an ex-military man turned tough detective before, but not one like Honolulu Detective Joe McGrady. December 1941: America teeters on the brink of war, and in Honolulu, Hawaii, police detective Joe McGrady is assigned to investigate a homicide that will change his life forever. While relying on actual world events as a catalyst can make the story feel more real, those not familiar with the period may not fully appreciate the magnitude of the circumstances. The descriptions of Japan and the aftermath of the bombing is nothing short of brilliant and at the same time horrifying.

I read it as incessantly as I could over the work week and then did a good devouring over the weekend.

The only murder suspect boarded a plane headed to Hong Kong on a fake passport and has apparently tortured and gutted a Marine on Wake Island, a military outpost and refueling spot for flights to East Asia. Joe McGrady is a detective asked to investigate his first murder case, a gruesome killing of a young man. He’d stayed alive for all these days, and he didn’t have a thing to show for it…He had a handful of promises he didn’t know how to keep, and that was it. The novel’s title, Five Decembers, is a clever reference that the story will move from crime thriller to war epic after the Japanese launch their offensive across Asia.