TOO DEEP TO CROSS

The search for a missing man exposes deep wounds and tragic secrets.

A deadly showdown at an Asian market ends with veteran Anchorage, Alaska homicide detective DeHavilland Beans’ first fatal shooting—of a police informant, no less. Luckily, an unexpected call from an old acquaintance offers the promise of redemption for the devastated detective, or at least an opportunity to clear his head and gain some perspective. Felicia Gunnerson, the younger sister of Beans’ childhood friend Conrad, is now a cop in Beans’ native Galena, hundreds of miles from Anchorage, and she has a particularly troubling case. The missing man she’s searching for is Lloyd Paul, whom Beans knew as a teenager and who, despite a significant age difference, carried a torch for Beans’ mother, Mari. The search for Lloyd becomes a portal to a larger story about the dark legacies of World War II and the impactful connections of family. Beans’ second case is a multi-layered story with roots in recent American history. Hakoda writes fully fleshed-out characters whose relationships fuel the narrative. The plot weaves Beans and Fee’s probe together with Mari’s life in the San Francisco Bay Area, scenes from Beans’ adolescence when he knew Lloyd, and flashbacks to an earlier generation, in the Second World War internment camps and their aftermath. Tackling so many plot threads is sometimes a bit of an overreach. Still, the connection is clear: Even as the past recedes, its lessons continue to shadow the present.

An ambitious contemporary crime novel with a historical backstory.