Cover of Five Decembers

Five Decembers

by James Kestrel

My Rating:
Published
2022
Read
2025-12-19
0
Publisher
National Geographic Books

Genres

FictionMystery

Description

Winner of the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Novel “War, imprisonment, torture, romance…The novel has an almost operatic symmetry, and Kestrel turns a beautiful phrase.” New York Times Five Decembers is a gripping thriller, a staggering portrait of war, and a heartbreaking love story, as unforgettable as All the Light We Cannot See. NOMINATED FOR BEST NOVEL IN THE 2022 EDGAR AWARDS NOMINATED FOR BEST THRILLER IN THE 2022 BARRY AWARDS "Read this book for its palpitating story, its perfect emotional and physical detailing and, most of all, for its unforgettable conjuring of a steamy quicksilver world that will be new to almost every reader." Pico Iyer December 1941. America teeters on the brink of war, and in Honolulu, Hawaii, police detective Joe McGrady is assigned to investigate a homicide that will change his life forever. Because the trail of murder he uncovers will lead him across the Pacific, far from home and the woman he loves; and though the U.S. doesn't know it yet, a Japanese fleet is already steaming toward Pearl Harbor. This extraordinary novel is so much more than just a gripping crime story—it's a story of survival against all odds, of love and loss and the human cost of war. Spanning the entirety of World War II, FIVE DECEMBERS is a beautiful, masterful, powerful novel that will live in your memory forever.

My Review

This book reads like a hard-boiled detective novel that was written 80 years ago, not in 2022. Kestrel nails the style of Hammet and Chandler with this excellent story set against the backdrop of WWII. The book starts quickly and keeps up that pace - I am a man who prioritizes his sleep and I stayed up late reading. Every character could have sat down for a shot of whiskey with Sam Spade of Philip Marlowe.