Posted on: Sunday, January 2, 2005

A suspenseful thriller by Islander of many trades

By Wanda Adams
Advertiser Staff Writer

"RED SKY AT NIGHT" by Bill Bigelow; self-published, paper, $24

Bill Bigelow is a former Navy officer, a former newsman, a public-relations guy and a sometime actor here in Honolulu.

All these experiences play a role in his espionage thriller, "Red Sky at Night." With a plot involving plans for a stealth submarine, a spy ring and a reporter who can't let go of a story even when he wishes he could, "Red Sky" lends itself to comparisons to the genre that Tom Clancy all but invented.

Indeed, Bigelow's plot has that Clancy-esque world-at-stake drama, the requisite military acronyms and minute interest in military paraphernalia. It's a believable and suspenseful story, and one that moves along at a brisk pace, just as it ought. If you've been missing old-style Clancy (as opposed to the "Op Center" series), pick this one up.

"YAK BUTTER BLUES: A Tibetan Trek of Faith" by Brandon Wilson; Pilgrim's Press/Heliographica, paper, $16.98

I still don't understand what made travel writer Brandon Wilson and his wife, Cheryl, decide to trek semi-legally and not always adequately prepared 600-plus miles along an ancient pilgrim's trail across Tibet and into Nepal. If the introductory chapter is to be believed, they did it because everyone told them they couldn't.

If the trip began as an arguably irresponsible lark, it ends as a true pilgrimage, one that plumbs the heart of troubled Tibet and teaches impatient and stubborn Westerners to slow down and appreciate this amazing planet.