“A seemingly random shooting at her aunt’s coffee farm has left Lani Tagama blind. Now she must learn to navigate in a world of darkness. With the help of an embittered ex-cop, Ben, and a half-trained guide dog, Fisher, Lani discovers she can regain a shadow of her former independence.

“But strange and dangerous secrets lurk behind the beauty of this seaside paradise. Suspicion grows that this was not a random shooting, but an attempted murder, one with its roots in a hippie commune burned over thirty years ago. Lani realizes she is a target and that she must find the shooter before he strikes again.”

In this book, Colleen Coble crafts another tight suspense plot filled with twists and turns and rich characters. She transports readers back to Hawaii, the setting for her Aloha Reef series. While this book stands completely on its own, if you read and enjoyed the Aloha Reef series, you will enjoy the reappearance of characters from that series.

Lani is faced with something I think most of us fear – she wakes up one morning unable to see anything. In the midnight sea of darkness, she must learn to cope and strive for some independence. Ben reluctantly agrees to help her learn how to use a guide dog and adjust to her new world. However, he’s heard too much about her to be drawn in by her beauty.

When Ben’s suddenly finds himself taking care of his niece, everything spirals out of control. A killer is out there who believes Lani can identify him and that Ben’s niece has something that belongs to him.

The characters struggle with real questions about how their faith can sustain the circumstances of life. And they are brave enough to ask the questions many of us would love to scream to the heavens. As they wrestle with the mystery and their doubts, they also develop a relationship that could extend beyond friendship if they could let go of their pasts.
The book is rich with layers of characters and plots. And Coble does a fantastic job bringing all the layers together into a cohesive and compelling book. And if you’re looking for a book to transport you to the beaches of Hawaii on a cold afternoon, this book is the one for you. Coble again creates a vivid setting and a story that could only be set in Hawaii.

I highly recommend this book.