In Jim Lynch’s mersmerising The Highest Tide, 13-year-old Miles O’Malley, while small for his age, is still a highly intelligent young boy who also happens to be a naturalist and an insomniac living on Puget Sound near Olympia, Washington. One night while he can’t sleep, Miles decides to hop into his kayak and comes face to face with a living Giant Squid, a phenomenon that has never occcured in Puget Sound before. Suddenly, reporters, higher-ups in the science world, and even a cult come down upon him, and Miles unwittingly steps into fame.

And so sets the background for Lynch’s beautiful coming-of-age story, where the pressures of having the world wanting to interview him are the least of Miles’ problems: his parents are on the brink of divorce, his hormally-challenged friend, Phelps, finds his passion for science geeky; his best friend, Florence, an elderly psychic, is dying of a degenerative disease and is predicting an impending record high tide, and, to make matters worse, he has a crush on 18-year-old Angie Stegner, the troubled girl next door.

Lynch infuses his novel with a truly impressive knowledge of marine life, giving his story a rich and multi-layered feel. Miles’ fascination and wonder at the natural world becomes the readers’, as he comes to realize his place in the adult world and in the very fabric of life itself.

Danielle Torres at A Work In Progress has high praise for The Highest Tide: ” I definitely recommend this one!”