Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC.
This was a pretty good thriller with action, suspense and a plot that kept me wanting to read on for more. I did enjoy the characters and the setting but was a little put off by Pono at times but it was the story itself that kept me going.

A tropical island location and murder, I can hardly wait for my journey to begin.

The opening page brought to mind the beauty and wonder of Oahu, Hawaii.

Surfing zero. Dead body one.

Sylvia, literally, bumped into Pono Hawkins, as he hit the surf. But she wasn’t breathing any more.

I love everything about the guy. He’s rough around the edges, loves critters…and the ladies…he served in Afghanistan and even did time in prison, but he is not the bad guy.

Love he’s got a surfing dachshund. Imagine heading off to the beach, two boards strapped to the top of the car, head hanging out of the window, the dog’s head not his, just two ‘guys’ going surfing.

I can visualize that now. Come on. Close your eyes, smell the salty air, hear the crash of the waves and see Mojo, riding the waves, with his tongue hanging out and his tail wagging a mile a minute. Mojo even liked to have a drink and a puff or two of Maui Wowie.

I loved the story about Prima, the cat, moving in and taking over.

The trouble began when he decided it was up to him to find Sylvia’s killer himself.

The danger mounts but he can’t figure where it’s coming from. Neither can I, but I do have a list of suspects. My head is spinning as I try to keep pace with him. I am confused with all the misinformation and setup going on.

Mojo…well, I sure didn’t see that coming. and I’m more pissed than ever.

Who to trust? Is everything a lie and everyone a liar? When he talks about vets, marijuana and the government, it makes me angry. We don’t take good enough care of the people who lay their lives on the line for us and we do own them a good life…no matter the cost.

The war talk made me angry but that’s for another day. We are here to solve the murders and expose corruption.

Big government, big business, greed and disregard for natural resources. Could it be the end of Paradise? How can you fight billions of dollars with nothing? How much is someones life worth? I get angry when corrupt government, big business and the greedy people involved think that money is worth more than someone’s life and our environment.

I liked the glimpse of Hawaiian history, the characters and the storyline. The story seemed a little rushed and fell a little flat, but Mike Bond did keep the mystery going and who doesn’t want to visit a tropical island and do a little surfing.

This isn’t my first Mike Bond read and it won’t be my last.

Hang loose.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of Saving Paradise by Mike Bond.

Set in beautiful Hawaii, Pono, local surfer and special forces vet has seen enough prison for a lifetime. While heading out to catch some waves his world was turned upside down when beautiful Sylvia, a big time local journalist body crashes against him. Every clue points toward Pono as being the murderer. Pono races against time and many dangers to find the truth and prove his innocence. I enjoyed the many characters and plot twists.

I did like Assassins, but this novel just doesn't work for me. I wish I had liked it better, but it did not seem to be a very good effort on the author's part.
Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel.

DNF. Main character and his motivation is just not believable. Also, too much preaching and not enough action and plot.

Murder and Corruption in Hawaii

Pono Hawkins, ex Special Forces, loves surfing. While resting on the beach, he sees the body of Sylvia Gordon, a beautiful reporter, floating on the waves. He pulls her in and immediately feels a strong attachment to the dead woman. Although, he prefers to distance himself from the police, he has a strong need to find the woman’s killer.

The police first call Sylvia’s death murder, but almost immediately change it to accident. Pono isn’t buying it. He knows she was murdered. The search for her killer involves him in government corruption and dishonest industry. Soon Pono finds himself the hunted rather than the hunter.

The best part of the book is the beautiful description of Hawaii. You can tell the author loves the island. The plot is intricate. Unfortunately, the mystery drags due to the insertion of the author’s political commentary on the corruption in Hawaii, and government in general.

Pono is almost a superhero with his feats of endurance, strength. I found it hard to get interested in him. The characters I enjoyed most were Mojo his surfing dog, and Puma, his cat. The other characters were pretty much stock police officers and tough ladies.

If you love Hawaii, you may enjoy this book. However, be prepared for the action to be derailed by lots of political commentary.

I received this book from Net Galley for this review.

Saving Paradise, first book in the Poco Hawkins series, is an interesting book but I can't recommend it. I enjoyed reading this book due to the exotic locations across several of the Hawaiian islands as well as the colorful dialects of the local inhabitants and the author's tips about the real Hawaii. Unfortunately the protagonist, Sam "Pono" Hawkins just doesn't work and that causes innumerable problems with the plot. The reader is supposed to believe that Pono, with two strikes against him, would eagerly engage in multiple acts of burglary and assault all for a girl he's fallen for---even though she was dead when they first met? I just don't buy it. The author Mike Bond, needs to come up with a better reason for Pono to become involved with this case.

Pono Hawkins, a special forces veteran, is out surfing and discovers a dead female body. In his attempt to find who murdered her, he gets involved in political corruption concerning the building of Wind towers on two Hawaii islands that are a sham just to make the builders and their cohorts rich. It turns out the murdered woman was a reporter covering the corruption, and she was killed. There were a LOT of secondary characters that the reader had to keep up with, but overall the story was well written and the character development was good.

What an insightful and intriguing book this was. Even though we live in a free society, there always seems to be some corrupt and greedy politician who thinks he can use his office for monetary gain. This was the case that the Hawaiian citizens found themselves in. It all started when a journalist, Sylvia Gordon's body was found in the ocean off of the island of Oahu. The person who found her was an Ex- Special Forces convicted felon by the name of Pono. After the coroner examined her, it was found that she had fresh water in her lungs. It was apparent that this young woman was murdered instead of drowned. However, her murder was covered up by the higher in command and called a drowning, instead. Pono felt that he had to find out who had murdered this young woman and why, so he started asking questions to the people who knew her. Her friend, Angie, told Pono that Sylvia had been working on a special story, which involved the Governor, IEEC, Lanai Land Corporation, an outfit called Ecology Profits, and Wind Power. There were investment bankers involved, as well as people from Hong Kong who wanted to build casinos on the islands of Hawaii. Apparently, everyone involved In this sham would make billions of dollars in taxpayer ripoffs. All of these entities were trying to make the Hawaiian people think that they were environmentalists, and they they were looking out for the people. This was not the case. Sylvia got too close to all of what was really happening. Once it was noticed that Pono was investigating her murder, he became the target of hired assassins from different entities. Pono was even set up for multiple murders at the assassins hands. On the run with little help from anyone, Pono must find a way to escape death, as well as prove his innocence and uncover what really happened to Sylvia. Will he be able to continue to defy the assassins? Will he get assistance from anyone else? Will the people of Hawaii be able to take their state back and keep the money hungry political leeches and corrupt corporations out? Will he be able to expose them for what they are? Will he find out who killed Sylvia and why? I really liked the descriptions of the various parts of the Hawaiian Islands and the coveted heritage that the citizens hold so dear. The character development was done so that they were very realistic. The reader could capture the emotional roller coaster that takes place throughout the book. It certainly did shed some light on some of the things that are forced on citizens under the guise of policies that have been put in place to embolden environmental groups and to make them rich at the taxpayer's expense. Definitely an eye opener.

An excellent,suspenseful story set in Hawaii. The plot is timely, could happen today, as wind farms are trying tp be placed around Hawaii by corrupt government who lie to everyone to pad their wallets. Pono, a former Special Forces soldier, is out for an early morning surf when he finds a young womens' body in the water. He finds she is an investigative reporter doing a story about the projected wind farms. The characters are great, with beautiful descriptions of the Hawaii Islands. An exciting action thriller by an author I will continue to read.

I think I might be a little in love with Pono!! This was an excellent way to spend the day at the beach. I LOVED this book. Definitely one to add to my collection

The blurb for this one looked so promising, but sadly, it fell quite short for me. There are a number of grammatical errors, which is an annoyance, but if the story is good, I can get past that. Unfortunately, the only thing I found to like about this one was the author's description of various locations. On that part, I can say that I felt like the character truly loved Hawaii (the only reason for my 2-star rating). Other than that, what started as Pono's search for a girl's killer, turned into a convoluted mess of people, conversations, and lists - seriously, what was up with those lists? It also didn't take me long to question the conversations between characters. I've never been fortunate enough to visit Hawaii, so maybe some of it is written in that dialect, but I find it hard to believe that no one ever speaks in full sentences. It was actually quite irritating to read. On top of that, I felt like the author was using the book as a soapbox for his political views. Whether I agree or not, when I read fiction, I want to be entertained, and having someone's political views shoved down my throat is certainly not entertaining. I did persevere and make it to the end, and in that there is continuity - it's a convoluted mess too. A truly good book should make a reader feel things, and annoyance and irritation weren't what I was hoping for. With proper editing, some cleaning up of the storyline, and a lot less political soapbox, this could've been an interesting read, but I was left feeling like I had wasted several hours that I can never get back.

I read the whole book. Didn't love it, but didn't hate it. It could have been a great book but it was lacking in a lot of areas. Sorry !

understand that the writer was trying to set the tone of the narrative but His writing style was not for me. There were so many grammatical errors and misspellings that I couldn't enjoy the story. I didn't really care for any of the characters as the main character seems to distrust everyone. I couldn't understand Pono's obsession with solving the mystery of a woman's death just because she was beautiful. The writers left wing political commentary overrode any interest I had in the story line. I gave two stars because I love Hawaii but I didn't care for this one bit.

3 1\2 star out of 5
While I love a good mystery this one was a little to environmental activist\political from time to time. It had the traditional red herrings with some characters that were forgettable.
Saving Paradise ending ties everything together in a nice little bow for the readers. It felt like the author had a word number limit causing everything to end.
The characters are likable enough but when the books ends and I walk away there is little memorable about the story to keep me wanting to read more.
Thank you to Netgalley for the advance Copy

An interesting read with a great story line and believable characters.

Anyone who loves a good man vs. big government or an evil kabal will love this book. It is a good book and after some initial discomfort with the writing style, I read it straight through. I began to really like the protaganist and his cat and dog, and the story was interesting.

I did find the political rhetoric tiresome, though. Remember, in a country that is divided pretty close to 50/50, any extreme politization will lose you half of the potential readership.

The book is well worth reading and will give the reader some pretty interesting history of how Hawaii was brought into the US statehood (kinda against their will) and how lepers were treated (badly). The descriptions of Hawaii were amazing. It will also give you some insight into the politics of the Green movement.

Anyone who has enjoyed a good Michael Crichton, or James Rollins, or Steve Berry book will enjoy this read.

Fast paced story of the corruption that can manifest when money is involved. Also interesting mix of political, military, blue collar and indigenous of Hawaiian viewpoints interwoven with a murder mystery. If you live or have vacationed in Hawaii several times you probably can appreciate the book better.

Love the opening scenes, love the surfing dog and the story of the homeless cat in the storm, and how quickly the cat gained the upper hand. Hate what happened after that.

Many lines are insightful, pithy, and witty. Then they get repeated. They get old. We are hammered, again and again, with the theme of that Joni Mitchell song (pave paradise, put up a parking lot). Mike Bond just keeps pontificating against the establishment--big business, politicians, greedy corporations destroying nature, evil white Europeans annexing Hawaii and destroying a paradise and subjugating a people.

Do native Hawaiians leave out prepositions, the way Asians tend to? E.g., "Let me explain you," versus explain *to* you. Reminds me of my Vietnamese friend: "Friday we go store?"

I like the military flashbacks but not the hero's harem - I've read too many of these middle-aged male protagonists who get girls falling into bed with him minutes after they meet. In real life, is this a thing? EVERY sexy young woman he meets seems to throw herself at him. He scores. The women find out about each other, get jealous, but he keeps coming out ahead.

At 30% in, I started skimming, and skipped ahead to the ending.

The journalist. That memorable opening chapter, when her dead body floats over to our hero, and he obsessively seeks to find her killer. It doesn't appear that justice was served. Maybe I skipped one page too many. But I didn't care enough to go back and read the entire novel. Just... not enough time ... and way too many other novels competing for my attention.

This was a story of present day Hawaii, corruption, murder and the PTSD of the protagonist and many of his friends. It was complexly plotted to the point of being convoluted, yet it was also interesting. Much of it, especially in matters of physical endurance, were difficult for me to accept, but still feasible. Thanks to Net Galley and Mandevilla Press for an ARC for an honest review.