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The story opens in a Texas prison. Finn Tully, an inmate and self-describe heroin addict and liar, has struck up a friendship with Calvery, while mopping the corridors of death row. With his connections, Tully is able to provide sugar to Calvery, who in exchange gives him some of the wine he makes with it. During these exchanges Calvery tells Tully about many things including his daughter Chloe, his treasure, and the thin places. Tully is dismayed to discover that Calvery’s execution date is the next day. Calvery seems very serene despite his situation, and reminds Tully that he promised to find Chloe and tell her that her father was innocent. This isn’t a promise he’s sure he’s going to keep, his priority is to get home to his wife and daughter, but he’s not about to deny a mans dying wish.
The day after the execution, Tully received a box of Calvery’s possessions. He finds some some books, a calendar, a poem and a pet turtle named Sport. Even though a good man and his friend had died, things seemed ok. Tully’s sentence was almost up and he was ready to go home. Unfortunately, he received 2 letters, one was a bill of divorce and the other was from his mother, telling him she has cancer and only about a year left. When he’s released, he goes to see his mother first and despite her protests goes to see his now ex-wife and daughter, Lacey. When he gets there, all he finds is a new man in his wife’s life, and a little girl who doesn’t know who he is. With everything he cared about gone, he convinces his mother to take a trip with him to Washington, so he can find Chloe and fulfill his promise to Calvery.
Meanwhile, Chloe is dealing with her father’s execution in Clam Harbor, Washington. She had just learned that Calvery was a death row inmate a few years earlier, and feels like an outcast when she sees his photo and the announcement in the paper. Chloe runs a charter fishing business on the Perpetuity, which she inherited from her father, with Calvery’s best friend Butch. She’s barely making ends meet though and she needs to make more money if she’s going to get her mother out of the nursing home. A somewhat regular customer of hers introduces her to a Texan named Duke, who proposes she enter into a smuggling scheme with him. Chloe is now torn between going completely broke, or making good money through illegal actions. The thought of losing her fathers boat and her mother in that nursing home are deciding factors, she needs the money.
Upon arriving in Clam Harbor, Tully and his mother run into Chloe almost right away, although they don’t realize who she is until later. She tells them about the clam festival that’s starting that evening, and they all run into each other again there that evening. Tully charters a trip with his mother on Chloe’s boat, and there’s definitely a growing attraction between the two. However, Tully begins to remember Calvery talking about his best friend Butch and puts two and two together. Now he’s torn between telling Chloe about her father and his growing feelings for her. Then he discovers her involvement with Duke; he has to come clean about being there specifically to find her. He and his mother have to try and help her find a way out of her situation and help her discover the truth about her father’s innocence.
I don’t really have anything bad to say about this book. The only thing I can think of is that I wish the climax had been a little more drawn out and detailed. I kind of felt like a lot more action could have been present there. Besides that, and that’s a minor thing to begin with, I loved this book. I found it very hard to put down, it was very enticing as you learned about each character and anticipated Tully and Chloe’s eventual meeting. I would give this book a 4 out of 4. It’s a great story about personal growth and the quest for redemption.
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