Title: Mounting the Whale
Author: Colleen McCarty
Published: December 5, 2013
Publisher: Cloud Clover Press.
Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book for review and book tour purposes.

Rating:

The Summary:
The self-made and affluent Pierce family is hurled into a seamy kidnapping plot when they receive a text message from Janine—the most troubled of all the Pierce children.

Cartel got me, tell mom

The siblings, drowning in their own problems, are forced to focus on the task at hand: a half-cocked rescue mission that involves a borrowed yacht, a favor from a notorious drug kingpin, and a shocking reunion none of them expected.

When the family decides to sneak into Mexico, mother Cybil is forced to deal with a rival CEO whom she’s developed feelings for in secret. Her only son, Tom, is willing to risk bodily harm to save Janine while his other sisters, Carlyle and Valerie, suspect that the kidnapping is less than legitimate.

The long sea voyage tests the limits of the family’s already frail bonds. Dark secrets of infertility, drugs, gambling and extreme taxidermy begin to float to the surface. But nothing compares to what they begin to learn about their missing sister.

If they’re going to make it out alive, they have to recognize they’re fighting the same battles and facing life’s greatest challenges: love, loneliness, and the struggle to find a place in the world.

At it’s core Mounting the Whale is a story about family; a real family with real, glaring flaws, and yet would go to bat for each other. I like that in fiction, and I suppose it’s because it parallels my own family. We don’t have nearly the problems that the Pierce family do, but at first glance we’re dysfunctional and slightly off the wall. I liked this story a lot, the characters really speaking to me. They have distinct voices and traits. There is a bit of a story-within-a-story going on, and again at first glance, this story is so much more than what it lets on.

The story and characters are well layered and weave together nicely. The action is well developed and fast paced. I got lost in the book, and finished it rather quickly. The end and the epilogue are a fun twist and just blew me away. I was pleased with this book, and I’m looking forward to reading more from this author.

Overall: Multidimensional quick read that’s more than it seems.

Would you like to read an excerpt? I have one of those. Read on after the jump.

Just that morning, Carlyle had awoken to familiar monthly cramps. She’d sobbed over the whirring of her electric toothbrush. Toothpaste dribbled out of her mouth and down her chin, where it mixed with her tears and splattered all over the counter.After consulting four different Trying to Conceive forums, Carlyle had checked her phone again. There was still no call or text from her husband, whom she hadn’t seen since last week. Part of her knew it was better that she wasn’t pregnant, but she’d wanted it so badly. She knew that a baby was the answer to all their problems.

Carlyle thought about her insides. She was furious that they refused to do what she required of them. Didn’t they understand that her life, her happiness were on the line? The constant stream of vibrations emanating from her phone shook her from her inner diatribe. It seemed that her job as the Director of Health and Wellness for Naturebar—and the never-ending list of duties that came with it—was both the cause and the effect of her fertility campaign.