With a dark take on modern Hawaiian culture, Chris McKinney creates a story that people of Hawai’i can relate to. Boi No Good gives readers a look into the Hawai’i that has been hidden from public eyes.

From the beginning of the story, Boi No Good takes you away from the comfortable Hawai’i stereotype of palm trees, gorgeous sunsets and lazy paradise to a world where poverty, drugs, neglect, and darkness reign.

The story begins with three children, Glory (6), Shayne (5) and Boi (4) who live in a junked city bus with their mother and grandmother. After the children are found and adopted, the story follows them throughout their lives.

Boi No Good is new and refreshing. It’s an honest book about the thoughts and behaviors of local people. The events in the story are so relatable and the details take the reader to those places and situations.

Boi No Good is the perfect example of life. There are twists and turns, and ups and downs that everyone who’s been raised in Hawaii can relate to.

The story is exciting, full of unexpected plot twists and surprising events. From an unplanned pregnancy to deaths to finding a long lost sibling, this book has just about everything.

Although unexpected twists fill the book and the chapters definitely leave you hanging, it slows down in the middle before it picks up again.

If you’ve got a lot of time on your hands, and want to read a book set in Hawai’i with characters who are local, not just some stereotypically happy island people, then this book is for you.

Chis McKinney is an associate professor at Honolulu Community College and Visiting Distinguished Writer at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. He has also authored Tattoo, Queen of Tears, Bolohead Row, and Mililani Mauka.

This, his fifth book, will be released by Mutual Publishing sometime this winter.