This vintage whodunit seemed to be simple--I thought I had it figured out, but I didn't!
Definitely did not see the twist at the end coming at all. Of course there are some moments that wouldn't get past the editor these days, but if you disregard those, or maybe mentally swap other words/persons/sentiments you can get past them. All in all a tidy little mystery.
One morning, as author Lynne Cox was heading in from her daily swim in the southern California surf, she was alerted that a baby gray whale was swimming along with her. Had she swam to shore, the whale would have followed her and been beached. So she kept going, swimming much farther out in hopes to reconnect the baby, "Grayson", with his mother. She continued her swim for hours beyond the norm, while onlookers and locals tried to rally help. The story is heartwarming, and mom and baby do eventually reunite. Lynne's recollection of the events of the day are astounding, as is her obvious knowledge of ocean life she was pressed to notice on such an unusual day, with an unusual swim, with a most unexpected buddy. There's a lot of detail at the beginning of the book which was honestly a little excessive for me, but it all came together when the whale appeared. This is a feel-good book for those days when you just need something nice to think about. And maybe she'll inspire you, on an unusual day of your own, to just keep swimming, too.
This book took off like a shot for me, but as the story progressed, things definitely took a turn. I found the protagonist extremely sympathetic initially, only to end up really abhoring her. I felt her dramatic U-turn was implausible, which made her extreme actions then seem unlikely. The story is about an orphan who is taken in by an unlikely benefactress when all her other family can't be bothered. As tenuous as their initial relationship is, they eventually form a bond that seems to have possibilities. When her beloved, but morally questionable brother meets his sister's new guardian, however, things get more complicated. Love the beginning, but hated the end.
