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Carline Bouilhet’s Halibut Cove is easy
to read, keeping the reader’s eyes glued to each page.
The tale of personal trauma, adventure and romance is
filled with disappointments, intrigue and crime.
Rayne McLoud who is an authority in her
profession, returns to work after an accident in the
surf to prepare for the exhibition for the Contemporary
Art Museum in Sydney. She finds herself in the centre of
an incident, several days before the opening. This is
followed by numerous eye operations threatening her
sight which is her livelihood. She finally travels to
Alaska to holiday with her father, Aiden McLoud, a high
ranking business advisor to an Oil concern, and to take
stock of her situation.
Rayne delights in this beautiful piece of heaven
covered with billowing white snow and the reunion with
her father. However, the next day includes her as a
witness to a murder. This is shadowed by intrigue, lies,
media exposure of her loss of sight and discrediting as
a reliable witness. The young journalist becomes her
ally and together they toil to expose the murderer.
Aiden McLoud is employed by the firm behind the suspect
and has to tread carefully, which makes Rayne’s position
problematic.
The scheming, the plotting and machinations add
to the drama and point in no uncertain way to the
weaknesses and greed of people in power. Destiny,
however, does not always settle for what the people
devise. The climax is unexpected and final.
I like a happy ending.
I have found some grammatical errors, mistaken
meanings of words in a few instances, and, rather
unusual expressions which keep popping up throughout the
book. “did not you….”, “why do not you ……” These could
possibly be a result of translation from another
language, though this does not fit in with the rest of
Carline’s very extensive and rich vocabulary.
The plot and characters are alive and emotions
rise and fall as the story progresses.
A book worth reading.
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