SUDOKU

If a setting could be considered a character in a novel, then this book would be the shining star of such an arrangement. Closer by Sea immediately submerges the reader in the land of stunning beauty and simultaneous challenges of making a living off the sea. The Newfoundland fishing village on an island isolated from the mainland employs most of the population in the fishing industry. The men go out to sea and if luck is with them, bring their heavily laden, purpose-built, handcrafted boats to the docks and fish plant, where the women prepare the fish for sale in Canadian and international markets. The children have various jobs too: a teenager, for example, could make some cash by deft knife work cutting “cod tongues,” the kids needing only a nod from a skipper to gain permission to work on a catch of cod. Pierce and his pals are a tight-knit group who work as a team on the docks, even when the target of a nasty bunch of older boys.

Twelve-year-old Pierce is the joy of his parents. When his father seems to be lost at sea on a calm day both mother and son are deeply shocked. The father’s boat is found with no one on board. Pierce is determined to make the boat “ship shape” and seaworthy in order to continue in his family’s tradition of fishing for a living.

As fishing boats return to port with fewer and fewer fish, the stress on the community is intense. Tempers flare. In the midst of this a girl whom Pierce is drawn to goes missing. One suspect is a non-resident elderly scientist “with eyes like a dead fish.” Suspense builds as Pierce and his friends risk their lives to find the missing girl.

Closer by Sea is permeated with the atmosphere of a Newfoundland working fishing village in the early 90s. The challenges that the young Pierce faces engage the reader immediately and sustain the tension throughout. Recommended.

The author, Perry Chafe, knows the nuances of Newfoundland, having been born and raised there. He is a television writer and producer whose credits include Republic of Doyle and Son of a Critch. This is his first novel.