Five Decembers

Product Information

The trappings of a professional hit make more sense when the victim is identified as the nephew of the commander of the Pacific fleet stationed in Hawaii. McGrady is forced to partner up with fellow detective Fred Ball, who makes a habit of violence in extracting confessions. Ball’s brutality aside, the two men make a good team and soon discover that the killer has flown away from the island and across the Pacific to Hong Kong. With the combined weight of the police and the Navy behind him—and with the benefit of his experience having been stationed in China with the Army—McGrady is sent on his own to apprehend the suspect. This book reminds me a little of LA Confidential by Elroy. It’s epic and spans five years during world war two. It’s got romance, violence, and most of all good ol’ story telling. This is not one to miss. A Honolulu cop’s search for an unusually brutal killer is upended by the arrival of World War II, which puts his investigation on hold and adds an epic dimension to his quest. Five Decembers is a masterpiece. You'll stay up all night with this one. It’s unique and it’s terrific." –

The Confidence Men: How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History by Margalit Fox (Random House Publishing Group – Random House) Kidnap on the California Comet: Adventures on Trains #2 by M.G. Leonard & Sam Sedgman (Macmillan Children’s Publishing – Feiwel & Friends) What a wonderful book Five Decembers is! One of the best hardboiled mysteries I’ve read in years, and an epic war story and love story to boot.”– James Reasoner

James Kestrel

FIVE DECEMBERS is an extraordinary mystery that begins in late November 1941. The historical context of the date and location cannot be ignored. Dr. Hannibal Lecter first appears in Thomas Harris’ deeply disturbing Red Dragon (1981), but everyone’s favorite cannibalistic psychiatrist has a more prominent role in The Silence of the Lambs, sharing center stage with FBI trainee Clarice Starling. The FBI wants Clarice to interview the imprisoned Lecter and get his insight into another serial killer, Buffalo Bill, who abducts, kills, and skins his female victims. In the process of these interviews, Clarice forms a strange bond with Lecter, who parses out information about Bill only if Clarice shares details about her own troubled childhood. These may well be the most morally-transgressive therapy sessions in popular fiction. 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. There are unexpected twists to the murder story as McGrady closes in on the killer and his accomplices. What a wonderful book Five Decembers is! One of the best hardboiled mysteries I've read in years, and an epic war story and love story to boot.”

April 29, 2022 Update Winner of the Best Novel Award at yesterday's 2022 Edgar Awards by the Mystery Writers of America. This was a rare case where my own favourite was the winner 😊!The plot is amazing and I found myself really enjoying getting to know the characters and following along on their journey and with the investigation. When I reached the end, I was disappointed it was over. Aggie Morton Mystery Queen: The Dead Man in the Garden by Marthe Jocelyn (Penguin Random House Canada – Tundra Books) There are all the elements of noir that make Five Decembersa delicious read, but it goes so much further than that. The opening segment is a classic murder mystery and as a reader I was happy with just this. However, Kestrel’s ambition for the book was far larger and McGrady goes on a journey that spans years and continents. Adomestic story becomes international. During the lead up to and outbreak of World War Two, thismeans a gruesome murder in Honolulu might just be factor in the futureof millions. Everything about this book is terrific… If I were to recommend just one 2021 title for you to read, it would be this one. It’s that good.”– Deadly Pleasures

The female characters are not portrayed realistically. They are not even stereotypes. Instead they are a male “dream” of the ideal woman. Even the prostitutes have a male dream-like quality. I couldn’t relate to them at all. Five Decembers is a masterpiece. You’ll stay up all night with this one. It’s unique and it’s terrific.”

Success!

I absolutely loved this book and I truly cannot wait for the world to read it this fall when it hits bookstores. James Kestrel’s FIVE DECEMBERS is an emotionally-charged crime novel shaped by the tragic years of a world at war, a story that is relentlessly hopeful in the face of unrequited devotion and doomed love. 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. So many things make this a great read, but it is Harris’ views into the psyches of Bill, Lecter, and Clarice, and the way Harris influences our reactions to them, that make this a classic. Lecter is frightening, but his intelligence and courtly behavior towards Clarice render him almost admirable, especially when compared with the horrors perpetrated by Buffalo Bill. When Lecter attempts to escape imprisonment, you are both terrified and, at the same time, rooting for him to succeed. Five Decembers’ is a police procedural, a war story, a cultural history, a thriller, a romance, a tourist’s guide to Honolulu. It’s everything. It’s too much. But so what? This book is awesome. So’s the writing. Kestrel’s lean prose and cinematic eye makes an impossible story seem probable, even likely.”– Expressed The book is written in third person from one point of view. The historical time period, the setting takes on its own character with equal importance to the main character. Loved the details. The descriptions of Japan and the aftermath of the bombing is nothing short of brilliant and at the same time horrifying.