When a wheelchair-bound mental patient calls her former psychologist, Dr. Linc Steadman, to warn him of the strange goings-on at Dr. Owen Carter’s Makiki Center clinic, Steadman nearly dismisses her stories as the delusions of a hysteric. Still, there just might be something to her claims. So Steadman—with the help of beautiful journalist Sue Flower—investigates and finds a world of trouble. The charismatic Dr. Carter’s mantra of “Love, Equality, Justice” is all very well in theory, of course, but his techniques for realizing his peculiar design for communal living run to illicit drug use, cultish mind control, forced sex and even microchip implants.
When Steadman attempts to expose Carter’s evil deeds, the real fun (for the reader, anyhow) begins. Vivid almost to the point of hallucination, Wild’s novel draws heavily on both his own history as a native Hawaiian and his résumé as a clinical psychiatrist and military intelligence expert. Even at its most surreal (Carter’s zombielike disciples, the madcap chase scenes, a rescue/kidnapping, the ultradramatic final showdown between the two shrinks) the book has a specificity that convinces—much like that classic swinging ’60s shaggy-dog tale, The President’s Analyst, which is just absurd enough to be possible, if delightfully improbable.
Part travelogue, part thriller, part exotic romance.
Kirkus Reviews, Kirkus Discoveries
What others say about Escape from Paradise
“Walter Wild’s new novel takes us into a world we seldom see, and he delivers a fast paced thriller with perilous escapes, daring rescues, and a dramatic foot race across the mountains of Oahu. It’s a thriller driven by ideas, and those are the best kind, because when you turn the last page, you still have something to think about. I strongly suggest you read it.”
William Martin , New York Times bestselling author of the
Back Bay and The Lost Constitution
Back Bay and The Lost Constitution
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