The Sun Is God, Adrian McKinty
The Sun Is God, Adrian McKinty
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The Sun Is God

Author: Adrian McKinty

Narrator: Gerard Doyle

Unabridged: 7 hr 43 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/09/2014

Synopsis

Colonial New Guinea, 1906. A small group of mostly German nudists live an extreme back-to-nature existence on the remote island of Kabakon. Eating only coconuts and bananas, they purport to worship the sun. One of their members, Max Lutzow, has recently died, allegedly from malaria. But an autopsy on his body in the nearby capital of Herbertshöhe raises suspicions about foul play.Retired British military police officer Will Prior is recruited to investigate the circumstances of Lutzow's death. At first, the eccentric group seems friendly and willing to cooperate with the investigation. They all insist that Lutzow died of malaria. Despite lack of evidence for a murder, Prior is convinced the group is hiding something.Things come to a head during a late-night feast supposedly given as a send-off for the visitors before they return to Herbertshöhe. Prior fears the intent of the "celebration" is not to fete the visitors—but to make them the latest murder victims.

About Adrian McKinty

How does one graduate from prestigious Oxford University and end up with such a mixture of odd jobs. Such was the life of Irish born author, Adrian McKinty. He was born in Belfast, Ireland in 1968 as number four of five children. His father was a welder and boilermaker, but then became a merchant seaman. Adrian grew up reading crime novels and science fiction.

McKinty moved to New York City after receiving his Oxford degree, where he lived in Harlem. This is where the Oxford graduate took jobs as bartender, security guard, bookstore clerk, rugby coach, door to door salesman, and librarian for the Columbia University Medical School Library. After that, Adrian moved to Denver, Colorado where he was a high school English teacher. During this phase of his career, he began writing fiction with his first novel being, Dead I Well May Be. It received great recognition from peer review publishers. The next award winning novel was the sequel to his first entitled, The Dead Yard.

McKinty and his wife moved to Melbourne, Australia in 2008 with their children.

Reviews

Goodreads review by mark on June 02, 2015

"THE SUN IS GOD!" say the band of German naturalists and nudists who inhabit the tiny island of Kabakon in the South Pacific. "IT SHALL MAKE US IMMORTAL!" but not everyone will be immortal on this sweltering island... Death pays a visit not once, not twice, but thrice - and finally it is time for th......more

Goodreads review by Kathy on February 16, 2022

This was all new to me as I was in complete ignorance of the German community established in New Guinea along with the aftermath then leading to other world powers using the site (Germany then Japan). I always appreciate McKinty's writing. He did a great job with the main characters and the action i......more

Goodreads review by Alan on July 07, 2014

An odd one this. I bought it because Adrian McKinty wrote it. Having been out of touch for a few months, it snuck up on me, I didn’t know McKinty had another novel on the way. Miles away, both thematically and geographically, from what I expected for a McKinty book this story of a little known (unkn......more

Goodreads review by Maya on September 08, 2014

It is a fine day Kessler said. It had rained for eight hours solid during the night, mosquitoes were in swarm, the heat and humidity were almost unbearable. Will Prior - war-damaged Yorkshireman; a former military policeman on the run from the horrific events of the Boer War - has fled to German New......more

Quotes

“McKinty’s gift for storytelling is evident as he creates a society that lives entirely on coconuts and bananas and rejects procreation even as their numbers are dwindling. Set in 1906 and based on a true story, his fascinating tale is rich in detail, and there’s a most unexpected hero.” RT Book Reviews (4½ stars)

“The characters and setting are phantasmagorical. Prior is one of McKinty’s compelling, conflicted heroes: a sane man in an insane world. Gerard Doyle, whose narration of McKinty’s magnificent Troubles trilogy set the standard for Irish audiobook mysteries, does a good job with the German, Melanesian, and English people who populate McKinty’s departure from Ireland. Doyle’s performance is always clear and well-paced…A good ride in a memorable location.” AudioFile

“In the early twentieth century, British lieutenant Will Prior is so traumatized by an inadvertent massacre at a South African prison camp, an incident for which he is highly decorated, that he plots his way out of the army and travels to New Guinea. Here, his military police service behind him, he lives contentedly with his servant girl. Then, in 1906, he’s asked to investigate a curious death on the nearby island of Kabakon, populated by the Cocoivores, a small group of Western followers of August Engelhardt, who worships the sun by going naked and eating only coconuts…That the story of the Cocoivores is true makes it all the more fascinating and an intriguing frame for this entertaining and unusual historical mystery.” Booklist

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