Review
WL Rating
John Decure’s debut novel combines two unlikely topics: surfing and family law. The book’s main character, J. Shepard, is an attorney with the Los Angeles juvenile dependency court who is stuck in the depressing business of dealing with highly dysfunctional, abusive family situations. He also surfs. The court assigns him a case of an adoption gone bad, which turns into a very public battle between rich and poor. While the book lacks the literary depth of Kem Nunn’s work, and reads more like a good airport thriller, it manages to keep your interest. I know that the author is both an attorney and a surfer, but I didn’t feel like the two genres mixed well enough, i.e. you could cut the surfing parts and the story’s structure and tempo wouldn’t really suffer. On the other hand, getting rid of the surfing theme means you would lose the Miki Dora-like character Jackie Pace, who provides a fair amount of comic relief to what would otherwise be a dark topic. Overall, Reef Dance is easy reading and worth picking up if you are a fan of legal thrillers. (October 2009)
Reef Dance - John Decure
