Review
WL Rating
Everyone’s favorite surfing detective, Kai Cooke, is back on another case in Chip Hughes’ latest book, Kula. Like the other books in the Surfing Detective series (Murder on Moloka’i and Wipeout!), Kula is an easy reading, fun way to pass time on a summer beach day. In Kula, detective Cooke is living with the pathetic combination of a dearth of business and a stack of bills, which unfortunately forces him to lower his already abysmal standards and take a case to find a lost surfing dog (yep, a surfing dog). Pride in shambles, Cooke begins the work and, as you’d expect, quickly finds out that this case is much more than he anticipated. Not surprisingly, Hughes manages to weave in a bit of surfing and debauchery for good measure. Yes, this is detective writing 101, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good time. Besides, Hughes doesn’t to pretend to be delivering the great American novel. Nope, this is just fun-reading detective pulp that will help you pleasantly pass an afternoon or two on the beach. By the way, while it starts off a bit slow, be patient as the story picks up after about fifty pages. Fun stuff. (April 2011)
Kula - Chip Hughes
