First published 2005
Evan Barrett thought he had left the ocean behind. After his parents drowned at sea, he and his older brother fled West Hook, their coastal hometown heavy with grief. They built new lives far from the water that took everything from them. But years later, the sea finds Evan again when a classmate asks for his help. Another student faces her own maritime disaster, and somehow Evan becomes the person she turns to. As he tries to help her navigate her tragedy, darker questions about his own family's death begin to surface. The answers he uncovers force him to confront not just what happened to his parents, but what he has been running from all these years. The ocean keeps its secrets, but some truths refuse to stay buried beneath the waves.
Genres: mystery, contemporary, thriller, family-drama
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, unreliable-narrator
Setting: West Hook, Ocean
Period: Present Day
372 pages · Library Binding · Turtleback Books
Content warnings: death