E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Cassie and her father live on the coast of Southern California, where her father is an aquarist for the small Mayim Aquarium. Her mother, who was also interested in the well being of the ocean and its creatures, was killed in a car accident when Cassie was three. There has recently been a yacht crash in the area that resulted in the loss of a lot of expensive jewelry, and the Royce family has offered a million dollar reward for the return of a particularly elaborate $50 million dollar necklace. Cassie, along with her Hunter Pro Series 2 metal detector named Sylvia (after marine biologist Sylvia Earle), is determined to find the item. What she finds instead is Blue, a very odd fish, whose point of view is shared in some chapters. Blue is caught in a fishing net and a lot of seaweed, and seems to understand when Cassie communicates with him. Cassie is not happy to see a “Mystery Thief", a boy her age who is also looking for the necklace, but gets to know TJ, who is staying along the beach with his uncle while his father and pregnant mother are back home in Carlsbad while the mother is on bedrest. Cassie spends a lot of time on the beach, nominally supervised by local artist Miss Mary, and when she sees Blue being menaced by a seven gill shark, she immediately goes to her father for help. Unfortunately, he is in a very important meeting with the new directors of the aquarium, but manages to save Blue. Since Blue is very unusual, he becomes a cause celebre in the news, but also isn’t treated well by the new directors. Will Cassie be able to continue to search for the necklace but also save Blue?
Strengths: Treasure hunts are always popular, and the ocean is an interesting place for them, which we see in novels like Rodriguez’s Treasure Tracks or Collard’s Double Eagle. Combining this activity with saving an unusual fish and an interesting small aquarium makes for an intriguing story. I was glad to see that Cassie didn’t fight with TJ the entire time, but learned to work with him. There is a little bit of friend drama with two of Cassie’s sometimes friends, both realistically named Emma! Cassie’s family is Jewish (as are many of Dominy’s characters, going back to her 2011 OyMG), as are the owners of the aquarium, and I enjoyed how the Jewish concept of tikkun olam was explained and demonstrated.
Weaknesses: This almost verged into fantasy, with Blue seeming to understand Cassie’s communication, but it remains a realistic fiction book. While it is admirable that Cassie wants to save Blue, releasing him back to a dangerous situation in the ocean while ignoring the recommendations of her father made me uncomfortable. It didn’t help that the dead parent trope was embraced even though it did nothing to enhance the plot. The ending is happy, but a little unbelievable.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoyed aquatic preservation adventures like Dimopoulos' Turn the Tide, Baskin’s and Polisner’s Consider the Octopus, Kelly’s Three Blue Hearts, or Pyron’s Octopus Moon.
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