Mindanao Pearl

Mindanao Pearl By Alan Caillou. David Calib’s father sends him after a thief named Smith that stole from his San Francisco company. Reports put Smith somewhere in the Pacific islands around Mindanao. David is to locate Smith and turn him over to the police in Manila; a simple task, though David isn’t used to roughing it. A few years in the Army, but he was more accustomed to the finer things in life. Things are not as easy, as his father let on. Arriving in Mindanao, he’s mistaken for Smith’s cohort, a man after pearls Smith stole from the Ordue brother on a plantation on the island of Pangalau. The brothers capture and torture him, but their sister, Andree, helps him escape. They head for the volcanic island where Smith is thought to be hiding out, with the brothers in hot pursuit. Gaston Ordue is a giant of a man with incredible strength, and has beaten men to death before, and Andree is afraid he will kill David if she doesn’t help him. There was a lot of similarity in this story and stories by Dan Cushman, but where Cushman is strong on dialog, Caillou is strong on description. Regardless, the story is a fun read.