Max Lutzow was a member of a small group of nudists who believed in living as close to nature as possible on a small island by the name of Kabakon. It’s 1906, and the mostly German, the group survived on coconuts and bananas, and chose to worship the sun. When Max died of what was believed to be malaria, an autopsy was performed with shocking results. It appeared that Max died of unspecified injuries.

Retired British military police officer Will Prior was sent to the remote island of Kabakon where the nudists were living, to investigate the possible murder. While the group was willing to cooperate at first, it didn’t take long before Will became suspicious when they continued to insist the death was due to malaria.

The group also would not cooperate with Will’s investigation, seemingly because they didn’t understand how a proper one is conducted. They refused to allow Will to conduct separate interviews, collect evidence, or try to gather forensic information.

The nudist group decided to provide a late-night celebration for Max and his team, allegedly to wish them safe passage on their way back to Herbertshohe, but Max believed they had another reason for throwing the party. The German nudists especially wanted to make sure none of the British military police survive the night, including Will Prior.

The Sun is God is the fifteenth novel written by Adrian McKinty, best known for the Detective Sean Duffy novels based in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland in the 1980’s during the time of the Troubles.

While the story starts out rather slowly with plenty of detail to ground the reader as to time and place, the pace eventually picks up as it builds up steam to a flurry of a finish.

The author is known for his detailed, well-researched novels, and he certainly continued to deeply probe his topic to the enhancement of the plot and to further the understanding of why his characters behave as they do. Writing historical novels is a challenge and only works if the author is willing to put in the time to get it right, and McKinty does just that.

The Sun is God is a unique look at another era and the processes and methods it takes to investigate a murder that many believe didn’t happen. The ending is well worth the reading of the book and will cause at least some readers, the most engaged, to pause and think about all they learned throughout.

If you are interested in purchasing any of Adrian McKinty’s novels, they are available at Amazon.com.

A special thank you goes to Seventh Street Books for providing us a complimentary copy of this novel for our review.