On the Scene with attorney and novelist Vernon Woo

Vernon Woo grew up in Honolulu’s Chinatown, graduated from Punahou School and went from there to the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He then attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 1969. The law has been his profession — in private practice and in two terms as a judge per diem in Honolulu Family Court. In private practice he specializes in real estate law.

Woo became a published novelist in 2018 with the release of his first novel, “The Paradise Pursuit,” an engaging tale of high-end developers, super-rich investors, international criminal organizations and the outsiders’ local representatives, all scheming to extract every penny possible from the redevelopment of Kakaako. The sequel, “The Paradise Dispute,” reached bookshelves this month. Both books are published by Island Heritage (welcometotheislands.com).

What got you interested in writing novels?

My father was a silk trader from Shanghai. He came to Hawaii to sell silk and he just loved Hawaii and so eventually he opened a gift shop in Chinatown where I grew up. My father was a storyteller, he used to tell me stories when business was slow, and so I was always interested in stories because of his storytelling. I am primarily a lawyer, and an effective lawyer has to be a good storyteller.

What drew you to Kakaako as the location?

In my practice I was fortunate to have many clients from all parts of Asia and they all had their own stories. They all wanted a part of our paradise here. To write the first book I needed a catalyst to unify these stories into a theme and that catalyst happened when Kakaako began to be developed as a luxury community with high-rises and buyers that are from the top 1% of wealth from all over the world. Because I am basically a real estate lawyer that was the incentive for my story.

There was a time when Oahu residents were being promised that Kakaako development was about providing truly affordable housing for Hawaii residents who don’t want to spend hours each day sitting in traffic. That is not how it has turned out. How does that fit into your books?

When the developers paid so much to the Ward Estate to buy the land, they couldn’t economically develop (housing) for the workforce. They had to go high-end. The Hawai‘i Community Development Authority did their best, they just could not get enough cooperation for more workforce development. That basically brought these successful entrepreneurs to Kakaako to basically rape and plunder. We’re not even halfway there yet (in terms of development).

I recognized the real-life counterparts of three musicians who are characters in “The Paradise Dispute.” Are there people in the high-end real estate business who might be recognized — as characters, or as the inspiration for characters — by those more familiar with the major players than I am?

Some of them would recognize the Jake Thorne character as a good friend of mine. The developer from Japan — I made him into an individual, but there was an entity that did what he did — and the character of Yuko was a composite of several of my lady clients. Her basic characteristics, her drive, her ability to manipulate men.

Will there be a third book?

I’m working on it now. It will be the final book of my trilogy. I started off wanting to do a trilogy and the third book is going to be “The Paradise Refute.” It started off as a “pursuit” for everyone able to afford part of paradise. Kakaako was going to be “the new Waikiki,” and then as people got successful and people started to want more there’s always “disputes.” The third part, as a “refute,” is really going to be a manifestation of how paradise (was) lost.

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Reach John Berger at jberger@staradvertiser.com.