The Highest Tide

Jim Lynch

Bloomsbury

Otago Daily Times, December 19th 2005

The Highest Tide is essentially a coming-of-age novel with an environmental tint.  The hero, 13 year old Miles O’Malley, has two great obsessions; the ocean (he idolises Rachel Carson and can quote much of her writing verbatim) and his former babysitter,  Angie.  A budding entrepreneur and insomniac, he scours the sands and mudflats of America’s Puget Sound- often at strange hours-for specimens to sell to local aquarium shops and restaurants, while keeping close watch on changing landscape of the tidal zone. 

It is not surprising, therefore, that he is the first to notice the arrival of some unusual (and sometimes unwelcome) new arrivals, including invasive species of crab and seaweed, and a giant squid.  His discovery of the latter makes him an overnight media sensation, and he soon becomes something of an environmental messiah as he advocates for the protection of the world’s oceans. 

When not preoccupied with the Bay, he is caught in the grip of (probably) unrequited desire for Angie, and the prospect of his parent’s divorce.  All of which makes for a turbulent summer, during which he (as he put it) sorts out his view of the Universe.  And a worthy view it is too, one which will stand him in good stead in the US Green Party.  Unfortunately , though, Lynch fails to capture the thoughts and idioms of a teenage boy.  Miles seemed a little too much like a grown-up voice in a child’s body for me to suspend disbelief and fully enter the story.