The hero of Shaking off the Dust is Takeshi Shimodo. He is quiet, disciplined and not sure how to respond to Hannah when she comes knocking on his door with news his friend is a ghosts and wants his help. As you read, you learn what kind of man he is from his interactions with all of those around him. You will also learn of an event that has touched his life. Meeting Hannah makes him realize what has been missing for far to long. Hannah takes no prisoners in her dealings with everyone in her life. She has to keep finding the absurd and amusing in order to move through each day, which is one of the things that draws Takeshi to her as a friend. It doesn’t take long for him to discover he wants more that friendship from her. There is a certain amount of jealousy between Takeshi and Tom Mecurio as they both learn to care for Hannah. That envy becomes an issue and creates humorous moments in the story. Takeshi tries to keep a Zen like attitude about his relationship, but that changes as he finds other men are drawn to Hannah. You will enjoy seeing how that all plays out until the end. In the blurbs and excerpts, there is a focus on the romance between Takeshi and Hannah. It is the foundation on which the building suspense unfolds into what I hope is a thrilling ride to find the ones responsible for placing a bomb on board Toms’ plane in Madrid. Along the way is humor, drama and adventure. Start your New Year by “Shaking Off the Dust.”
