Book Review
On the run from injustice

"RUN TO THE SUN," a novel of suspense by Robert Dave. Lost Coast, paper, $16.95.

Robert Dave is a Honolulu clinical and forensic psychologist.

So is Michael Santorini, the protagonist of Dave’s first novel, "Run to the Sun."

Dave, who is divorced and remarried and lives in a blended family with five children, thinks Sole Custody and Schedule-A visitation — the often applied standard of naming mothers as custodial parents and allowing fathers only every other weekend and a few hours on a weeknight — is abusive to children and alienates fathers from family life, tempting them to withdraw in frustration.

So does Santorini.

These commonalities form the background of this story of a good man falsely accused, one whose only choice, made in a split second of tragic time, is to become a fugitive from justice. Now there’s a phrase that, in the context of this sort of novel, is an oxymoron, because in the Good Fugitive school of fiction, justice is the last thing the hero is likely to find, unless he’s able to solve the case himself.

Which is exactly what Santorini sets out to do after he realizes he’s about to be accused of murdering his ex-wife after she kidnaps their children because the custody battle isn’t going her way.

Luckily, as he dives underground, he’s able to call on an exceptionally well-equipped group of friends, as well as his multitalented lover Kerena. Of course, friends who can access secure information, detect wire taps, work the Internet and call in favors from other equally well-placed friends are a standard adjunct of the Good Fugitive novel.

To Dave’s credit, neither what he calls "the message part of the book" nor the use of predictable elements hurts the novel’s essentially entertaining nature.

"The message part," during the custody battle, never seems forced. Dave, conscious that in a small town like Honolulu, this book will likely generate some buzz in the divorce law community with whom he works, points out the irony that the villain here is not so much the court as an unscrupulous member of his own profession: a social worker consultant who uses questionable testing devices to try to prove Santorini an unfit parent.

He fully expects to hear that some colleagues are offended by his characterization of the system and what he considers to be its failings, and felt it necessary to point out in an interview that none of the people in the book are based on real-life Island folk. (And that, especially, includes his former wife, with whom he has a cordial relationship, and with whom he has shared the parenting of their children.)

But he stands by his viewpoint — so much so that he’s donating a portion of the proceeds from the book to The Children’s Rights Council, a nonprofit organization engaged in educating about and lobbying for the custody-related needs of children of divorce and of unmarried parents.

Dave takes enough liberties with the expected conventions of the suspense novel to keep things interesting. This is always the challenge for the genre writer: to satisfy genre-specific buyers while adding in a twist here and a tuck there to keep that jaded reader’s attention.

Robert Dave book signings 2 p.m. March 17, Barnes & Noble, Kahala Mall 12:30 p.m. March 22, Bestsellers-Bishop Street Noon April 14, Borders-Ward Centre 4 p.m. April 14, Borders-Waikele Information: www.runtothesun.net

The primary means of pulling this off is characterization, although unusual plot elements help. Dave certainly has the latter; I won’t spoil it for you by revealing too much, other than saying you’ll come away from this novel knowing more than you ever expected to about a certain indigenous South American culture.

Characterization is not, so far, this first-time novelist’s strong point: Some of the dialogue is a bit clunky and overwrought, and some motivation is unclear. Why does the ex, Mona, loathe her husband so much that she’s willing to go to great risk and expense to fight him?

More importantly, the inner turmoil you expect of a normal everyday guy who suddenly finds himself on the run and at the risk of his life and freedom seems lost in blithe buddy talk with his friends, and sublimated by romantic interludes with Kerena. His children disappear for nine-tenths of the book and yet we see him functioning at peak performance.

Anybody who has ever been around a depressed and angry man will find this a bit hard to believe. Granted, the Good Fugitive has to be able to function effectively in order to redeem himself, but there ought to be more evidence of the strain than you see here (think Harrison Ford in the remake of the classic tale of this kind, "The Fugitive").

These quibbles aside, the plot kept me reading, I rather enjoyed the camaraderie of Santorini’s team even when it struck a slightly false note, and — a key for most readers — I came to like Santorini himself; men of principle are so rare.

If you’re a fan of this sort of quality escapist fiction, and enjoy novels at least partially set on your home turf, this one is worth picking up.

[back to top]