Shark Cove

Reading Shark Cove was like slipping into a brand new pair of comfy slippers. There was plenty of comfort with the familiarity of favorite characters, while the new characters blended in seamlessly in the 15th addition to the Paradise Crime Mystery series by Toby Neal. Neal is excellent at portraying colorful multi-generational characters all within the landscape of the Hawaiian islands. You can often catch the scent of plumeria wafting on the trade wind breeze and visualize the variety of colors of tropical blossoms as her descriptions are that expressive. In Shark Cove, Lei Texiera is working cases of young teen girls gone missing on Maui. As Lei and partner Pono get working the latest broad daylight abduction, Lei is surprised to be introduced to new Maui Detective Harriet 'Harry' Clark, someone Lei had adventures with many years ago. Harry's young daughters, Malia and Kylie, Lei warns Harry, are in the age bracket of the abducted girls. When Malia's best friend, Camille, disappears without letting her know that she is going anywhere, Malia sets out to discover where Camille has gone. Not believing Camille's mother or fathers explanations, Malia starts snooping around and getting in some trouble herself. With the adults listening to Malia's concerns, and the police working on the connections with existing and known criminals, the many elements come together in a satisfying conclusion. Skillfully depicting the mentality and language of a teens behavior, while also fusing the actions of the adults and police procedure, Shark Cove is a fast paced addition to the Paradise Crime Mystery series.

RIVETING! Award winning bestseller author Toby Neal is back with Shark Cove (Paradise Crime Mysteries Book #15) and this may prove to be her best book yet! Neal takes readers on a bit of a “back to the future” tour with this plot. If you have read this series from the beginning, you will know how Sergeant Lei Texeira got her first training in personal defense and why she is such a fierce warrior. Sixteen years ago Lei met Harriet Vierra and Malia, the infant daughter that she adopted. They met because of a deadly encounter in Mexico. Harry is now a detective and working with Lei at the Maui Police Department. Malia, is a teen sleuth, whose best friend Camille has gone missing. Other young women across the islands are disappearing without a trace. Lei, Harry and the FBI are pulling out all stops to find the missing girls. Malia decides to take matters into her own hands and conduct her own investigation. Neal does not disappoint as she keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish! This plot is as fresh as if it was torn from this morning’s newsfeed. The characters are realistic and Neal always has a way of making her villains particularly heinous. Just when you think you may have solved the whole mystery, Neal drops another bombshell on you to keep you reading another chapter or two! I particularly liked that Malia was relentless in her quest to find her friend Camille. She had that “gut feeling” all great police investigators get while working a case. The future of the Maui Police Department looks bright with young women like Malia looking ahead at a career in law enforcement. I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by the author/publisher. The opinions expressed here are completely my own and without influence. 5 people found this helpful

Shark Cove continues best-selling author Toby Neal’s Paradise Crime series, and I am so happy to see a new volume in one of my favorite Neal series. Neal’s writing has always been engaging, descriptive, and engrossing, and she seems to improve with each book. Shark Cove is no exception. The story takes us back to the start of the series, when Lei Texeira experienced a horrific series of events with a friend in Mexico that led to Lei becoming interested in law enforcement. In this book, Lei reconnects with that friend, Harriet Vierra, and investigates a series of missing girls on Maui. This is a timely and compelling story that could be ripped from the headlines of any newspaper. As with all Neal’s books, the story is complex, well-researched and technically sound, and completely engrossing. I read my advanced copy in just two days. The characters in the Paradise Crime series are some of my favorites and I was so happy to be immersed in their world again. Some of the hallmarks of Neal’s writing are her ability to create characters with whom most of us can relate and with whom we feel connections. Having read every book in this series, I feel I know these characters as if they were real and were friends. Neal delves into their motivations, their desires, their needs, and her characters are fully developed in a way that takes her writing to a level not often seen in crime novels. Another aspect of Neal’s writing that I love is her ability to create a world that feels real, describing places, cultures, food, in such detail that the reader becomes immersed and a part of that world. We hear the sounds, see the sights, smell the scent of the islands, so her books become experiences that stay with us long after we finish the last page. Neal has lived on the Hawaiian islands and she takes us there with her characters on their journeys.