Book review – The Sun is God by Adrian McKinty: Back to 1906 for murder amongst the Cocovores

I’m a big fan of Adrian McKinty’s and used to his novels set in Northern Ireland, so it was a bit of a surprise to find this book set in the colonial days of 1906. There’s no Sean Duffy here. Instead, our protagonist is Will Prior, a former military policeman hiding away on an isolated South Pacific Island to escape from the guilt of his bloody past in South Africa. Prior has gone to seed, but the local German representative Hauptman Kesssler needs help, because someone on a neighbouring island has died in suspicious circumstances. The neighbouring island is even more isolated than the one where Prior lives and is in habited by a reclusive cult of Cocovores – people who believe that a diet of coconuts accompanied by sun worship will lead to eternal life.
 

Prior and Kessler are joined by a “lady traveller”, Bessy Pullen-Burry for their journey to the island. As Prior’s investigation progresses, he becomes more and more convinced that the suspicious death was murder and realises he and Kessler are both in danger. However leaving the island is not particularly easy as the food generously supplied by the islanders each day is accompanied by the latest wonder drug heroin, making Prioir and his companions somewhat sluggish. To show how divorced they have become from the social rules they are all used to, even the starched spinster Bessy Pullen-Burry goes native, shedding her clothes and getting quite close to one of the Cocovores.
 

This is a relatively short, but well plotted novel. It’s rich in details of a colonial world that vanished long ago, although McKinty has brought it back to life most convincingly. The story shows what can happen when you lose control of your environment and how isolation can lead to a blurring of the boundary between what is acceptable and unacceptable, as well as how gullible people can be. As an aside, I did wonder whether Prior’s name was a pun of some kind playing on his past and the guilt he feels for it. I’m also sure that’s not the only hidden message in the book.
 

So, even if historical crime and fiction isn’t your thing, The Sun is God works really well as a slightly quirky but nevertheless captivating and entertaining novel. 

Romancrimeblogger