Killing Maine: 2 (A Pono Hawkins Thriller) - Softcover

KIRKUS: "Another stellar ride from Bond; checking out Pono’s first adventure isn’t a prerequisite, but this will make readers want to."Surfer and Special Forces vet Pono Hawkins quits sunny Hawaii for Maine’s brutal winter to help former SF buddy Bucky Franklin beat a murder rap. The same Bucky who once sent Pono to military prison then married his girlfriend Lexie. But in Special Forces you never leave a buddy behind no matter what they’ve done. Especially if they once saved your life.An unknown sniper has shot environmental exec Ronnie Dalt, and the police say it was Bucky. So Pono finds himself hooked up with Bucky’s wife Lexie trying to find Bucky an alibi. And meets an old flame, the fierce and beautiful attorney Erica, and then the dead man’s wife Abigail, who has never met a man she couldn’t devour alive.Unknown killers stalk Pono as he tries to unravel Ronnie’s death. Nothing is certain, no one can be trusted, no place is safe. There’s a million square miles of wildlands out there to hide a man’s body. And with a rap sheet that includes two jail sentences, Pono is the number one target of every cop in the state.Sadly Maine turns out to be as politically corrupt as Hawaii, with huge energy corporations gobbling up the state’s beautiful mountains and purchasing its politicians at bargain prices. Once again Pono finds himself hunted, shot at, betrayed, stalked by knife-wielding assassins, and in love with three women.Second in the Pono Hawkins series after the critically-acclaimed, best-seller SAVING PARADISE, KILLING MAINE is an insider’s view of crooked Maine politics, the state’s magical and fast-disappearing natural beauty, and how a lone commando hunts down those who hunt him, and is based on the author’s own experiences in Maine, the Middle East and elsewhere.KIRKUS Review:In Bond’s latest thriller, Hawaiian surfer Pono Hawkins books a flight to Maine to help a fellow Special Forces vet duck a murder conviction.Pono doesn’t consider Bucky Franklin a friend. Years ago, Bucky left with Pono’s love, Lexie, and provided testimony in one of two cases that sent Pono to jail (although both convictions were overturned). But Bucky saved Pono’s life when they were in Special Forces, and he’s determined to help when Lexie tells him he’s been arrested for killing environmentalist Ronnie Dalt. It doesn’t look good for Bucky. The murder weapon was his, and his alibi is shaky. But Pono knows he’s on the right track when someone tries to shoot him. He starts a dangerous relationship with Dalt’s widow, Abigail, and gradually exposes a string of political unscrupulousness. Bond’s novel, the second to feature Pono, makes its protagonist credible as an amateur sleuth; Pono’s smart enough to enlist hacker pal Mitchell, whose skills draw more viable suspects than Pono can find on his own. And his beloved home is always on his mind as he suffers the Maine winter hoping to wrap everything up before an upcoming surfing festival, the Tahiti Tsunami. The story has an unusual villain, WindPower LLC, whose deafening, monstrous turbines are an incessant presence throughout the story. The political and financial muscle behind WindPower is abundantly clear from the beginning, immediately demonizing the company. The book, however, isn’t short on mysteries. Abigail, for one, inexplicably vanishes, a disappearance that the cops blame on Pono, as well as a couple of murders. Like in Pono’s previous story, the surfer’s fondness for women creates a triad of drama: Abigail; lawyer Erica, a lover from back when Pono was a mere 14; and Lexie (Pono won’t sleep with her while Bucky’s in jail, but it’s obvious that he’s trying his hardest not to). Pono’s relationship with his Pa is the strongest; the most heartfelt moments are Pono rushing back to Hawaii, regardless of cops wanting him to stay in Maine, when Pa’s diagnosed with cancer.Another stellar ride from Bond.

Called "master of the existential thriller" by BBC, "one of America's best thriller writers" by Culture Buzz, and "one of the 21st century's most exciting authors" by the Washington Times, Mike Bond is a best-selling novelist, war and human rights journalist, and environmental activist. He has covered guerrilla wars, death squads, and military dictatorships in Latin America and Africa, Islamic terrorism in the Middle East, and ivory poaching and other environmental battles in East Africa and Asia. His critically acclaimed novels take the reader into intense situations in the world's most perilous places, into wars, revolutions, dangerous love affairs and political and corporate conspiracies, making "readers sweat with [their] relentless pace." (Kirkus) and drawing them "into a land and a time I had not known but left me with my senses reeling." (NetGalley Reviews) His books have been named among the best of the year by reviewers and readers alike. He speaks multiple languages, has climbed and trekked over 50,000 miles on every continent from the Antarctic to Siberia, and is at home in some of the most primitive and dangerous places on the planet.