Tucker is at the top of his career and nothing seems to be going badly for him even when he risks everything, however things change suddenly and he is faced with an opportunity after much suffering for redemption where he must set aside his selfishness for the benefit of others. Tucker gets intoxicated on narcotics along with a prostitute while he is flying a private jet for cosmetic's franchise owner Mary Jean Dobbins. He does not realize that the plane is low on fuel and crash lands on an airport terminal in Seattle. He survives but his penis is severely damaged and his best friend and colleague Jake tells him that he is going to be fired and probably going to be prosecuted. Luckily for him, he gets a steady gig flying a private plane for the missionary Sebastian Curtis on the island of Alualu. He befriends a man named Kimi who is his navigator and the two are introduced to a tribe's man known as Sarapul who is also a cannibal, upon arrival to the Island.
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The tribe chief, Malink makes sure that the two are taken to the Curtis's of which Sebastian treats Tucker medically. Tucker soon makes his first flight with a cooler and Beth Curtis to Japan and back and asks no questions as the money is good anyway. However, he soon discovers that the Curtis's are just taking advantage of the situation and the Island people's beliefs. Long ago when Malink was a boy, a World War 2 bomber pilot by the name of Vincent Bennidetti landed on the Island and because all of his family was killed by the Japanese, Vincent took the boy under his wing for the time he was there. He left and said that he would soon return, however, he was shot down soon afterwards and ever since Malink and the people have regarded him as a God. On the other hand, it seems the Curtis's are taking volunteers in the name of Vincent and taking their kidneys for sale to Japanese clients.
Tings get weird when after Tucker has this knowledge he starts to hear voices and see the spirit of Vincent. Vincent arranges for Tucker to help get the Islanders out and after much struggle he is unsuccessful and Kimi dies while trying to get out but Tucker manages to carry along a girl named Sepie. He tries his old contacts like Mary Jean Dobbins and he is surprised when she is delighted about his redemption story. She helps arrange to get the natives off the Island and with a little intervention from Vincent, they are successful. The Japanese business men leave the Curtis's stranded on the Island and they are left to deal with Sarapul, the cannibal. In the end Tucker ends up in the Cayman Islands with Sepie and they are happy.
Best part of story, including ending:
I like this story because it is a redemption tale of a man that only cared about himself and later on learned that there was actually goodness within him by saving a whole tribe of people.
Best scene in story:
I like the beginning of the book where Chuck is hanging upside down from a tree with a native watching him. The native pinches his cheek and says 'yum'. It is at this point, that Tuck starts to think back on the sequence of bad decisions that led him to this point in time.
Opinion about the main character:
I like that Tucker was able to put aside his greed for the money that Sebastian and Beth were offering to defend the rights and lives of the Islander's.
