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cherylanntownsend's review
5.0
The island of Oh is magical in so many ways. The whimsical telling of its inhabitants and doings, being one, but more so, in its natural essence. I’m thrilled to be visiting there again in my 2nd Siciarz book.
Told in the voice of “Captain” Dagmore Bowles, a deceased resident who likes to keep an eye on Oh life. Such as when an anonymous lonely heart takes out an ad for a wife, rendering the town abuzz as they stop into the bakery shop to catch the latest gossip with their pastries. Then there is a cryptic message painted on the side of a resident’s home and a crumpled women’s bike is found in the middle of a road with no rider to go with it. How are they connected? And clues emerge like cicadas under the calypso sun, taking a village and some hefty mojo to mold them into an acceptable answer.
Two time frames, the life of Dagmore and his afterlife. Current being his viewing of Oh’s doings and that of his son, Branson. But there is so much more astir! What if missing Rena Baker? He seeking beau, Madison? The abandoned, mangled bicycle? The inept police and misleading reporter? What’s to be made of it all? Can our previous savior, Raoul tie it all into a solution, as he has often before? Can happily ever after be restored to Oh and its denizens? I’ll just have to read on to see.
A trial, complicated in its absurdity, takes place. Raoul searches for his own answers. Love stories crash against the island’s shores and secrets bubble up through the sand. It’s a twister and here and there, you don’t know what to think. But it’s all good. Shame-faced justifications and modest kudos finalize a jovial read and all is finally jake on Oh again.
Reading Siciarz’s beautiful play with words is every bit as enjoyable as I’m sure visiting the island of Oh would be. I can almost hear the handpans and maracas, smell the coconut lotion, feel the sand, taste the breeze.
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