This appealed to me for two reasons: 1. as a debut novel: I like to try new authors, in hopes of discovering new favorites, and 2. my idea of a good beach read is adventure, suspense, or mystery, and this book delivered all three. The main character, Adam, is a college kid in the summer before his last year as an undergrad. From a working class background, divorced parents, with a lacrosse scholarship that has made a decent school possible, Adam has always felt out of place among the privileged, wealthy classmates. When he incredibly blows his opportunity and loses his scholarship, Adam has to earn his year’s tuition, room, and board in one summer. His girlfriend has an uncle who has a fishing boat in Alaska, where considerable physical risk and relentless hard work brings fishermen great earnings over three months. Adam figures he is strong and fit enough, and willing to take the dangerous chances for a lucrative adventure that will make his last year possible.

Enjoying the comraderie that comes from shared hard work, relentless hours, miserable conditions, and the bonding that happens when people must count on each other to keep danger at bay, Adam feels his ADHD is an advantage on the small fishing ship in the Bering Sea. He is expected to learn complicated tasks quickly, since the team’s safety and earnings depend on everyone pulling their weight and not screwing up. Weather, legal restrictions, and ruthless cheating all interfere to create a morally complicated scenario that becomes increasingly dangerous. The reader will be genuinely surprised by the turns this story takes, and the final surprise twist.

I felt Adam, his fellow fishermen, and the boss were all realistically depicted. The action was very suspenseful, the plotting well crafted, the action taut and fast moving. A good beach read.