The Tattoo

“A stunning family saga narrated from within the walls of Halawa Prison.” —The New York Times

“A book about ‘the sins of the fathers’ . . . A gritty, troubling book.” —The Honolulu Advertiser

“The other Hawai’i, the one tourists never get to see.” —Ian MacMillan

Ken Hideyoshi is the new guy in Halawa Correctional Institute. He’s tough looking, a hard case, observes his cellmate Cal—the mute tattoo artist of the prison, a wife murderer. SYN, a gang symbol, is tattooed on his hand, and he has a Japanese emblem inscribed on his left shoulder. He asks Cal for a tattoo on his back, in kanji script, of Musashi’s Book of the Void.

While he is being worked on, he tells… Keep Reading