Kem Nunn

La mayoría de la gente que llega a Huntington Beach –la meca del surf en el sur de California– lo hace en busca de sus olas y sus fiestas interminables.

Pero lo que Ike Tucker quiere es encontrar a su hermana y a los tres hombres con los que la vieron por última vez. Su búsqueda se convertirá en un viaje de autodescubrimiento rodeado de surfistas bronceados, atractivas rubias, moteros, punks y camellos. Joven e ingenuo, Ike se irá adentrando peligrosamente en las entrañas de una ciudad amable que esconde un violento submundo del que no le será fácil escapar.… (mais)

Not a horrible novel by any stretch of the imagination, but not a great one either.

I'll be the first to reveal I know nothing about biker culture, surf culture, or drug culture, other than what I've read in books or seen on TV—in other words, likely highly stylized and sensationalized.

That being said, the author allowed easy access into all three of those worlds with a clean, sharp, well-observed writing style.

That being said, there's not a single likable character in this book, which is okay if the author can make them spellbinding enough to never want to look away. Nunn's characters are interesting, and they have depth, but my god, they do go on. If I had to get through one more of Hound's philosophical "brah" monologues, I may have set the book down.

But the thing that ruined it for me, to be quite honest, was the big event toward the end. You'll know it when you read it. It just struck me, after a very set-firmly-in-reality tone throughout, to take a turn into a fantastical Hollywood blockbuster sequence toward the end that really was unnecessary.

Overall, glad I read it, but I don't think I'll come back to Nunn's books anytime soon.… (mais)