The Whiteness of the Whale

February 11, 2013
With an obvious nod to Herman Melville and Moby Dick, Poyer, whose many previous nautically themed novels include The Weapon, tells a riveting modern-day tale of high-seas Antarctic adventure. Fleeing professional disgrace, Dr. Sara Pollard joins the antiwhaling activists aboard the Black Anemone, a high-tech yacht owned by rich philanthropist Jules-Louis Vergeigne and sponsored by the Greenpeace-like Cetacean Protection League. The members of the crew, which includes hard-bitten Captain Dru Perrault and movie star Tehiyah Doree, come from different backgrounds and have varied motives, while Sara feels uncomfortable with their mission of harassing a Japanese whaling fleet in the vast Southern Ocean. The crew battles snow, ice, frigid temperatures, storms, and each other before encountering the whalers in the midst of slaughtering hundreds of whales. The appearance of a mysterious rogue whale, however, introduces an even more deadly hazard than the crew’s human enemies. Poyer’s intense, fast-paced prose creates palpable suspense as he vividly describes the miserable close quarters, the terrifying sea and weather conditions, and the gruesome, wasteful destruction of the sea’s largest mammals.

February 1, 2013
Poyer's thriller takes fans on a frightening ride that will have them reaching for their Dramamine. Primate behaviorist Dr. Sara Pollard joins a small crew on the sailboat Black Anemone that plans to disrupt Japanese whaling in the Antarctic seas. Vessels called kill ships fire harpoons with exploding heads that leave their targets little chance of escape or survival. The hunters will not stop until there are no more whales to hunt, so Black Anemone sails from the tip of Argentina to points south with the promise: "We're gonna do some good out there." As they search for whales, they encounter turbulent waves, wind and icebergs--along with seemingly infinite solitude and unending sunlight. The stage is meticulously set before the first encounter with their adversary. Poyer describes sea and ice in gorgeous detail. Everything seems hostile and deadly, with one exciting scene after another, as when a Japanese crewman jumps (falls? is thrown?) overboard into the frigid water and will die without immediate help, or when a woman tries to help a harpooned sperm whale. That whale keeps trailing them, apparently bent on vengeance against humans. Through every threat, Pollard and crew must worry about their fuel supply and their ability to stay afloat. Can Black Anemone make landfall in Australia, 4,000 miles away? Poyer spent a great deal of his life on the ocean, and it shows. This is a fine thriller.

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Starred review from January 1, 2013

Retired naval officer Poyer (The Towers) brings nautical adventure to the green movement, pitting whalers and environmentalists against each other and the raw power of nature. Dr. Sara Pollard signs on with a crew of activists who decide to take the racing yacht Black Anemone into treacherous Antarctic seas to engage the Japanese whaling fleet. On board, Sara meets the rest of the crew, hardcore activists ready to put their lives on the line. As the ship moves into colder waters, the harshness of the environment--frigid winds, desolation--begin to take its toll. In pushing the fight to save the whales, crew members are lost, and the plot takes a dark twist when a rogue whale comes after the activists. VERDICT While the book's strength lies in the nautical details drawn from Poyer's maritime expertise, his white-whale imagery is a bit heavy handed. The line between conservation and survival is blurred in the shadow of Melville's iconic whale. [See Prepub Alert, 10/28/12.]--Ron Samul, New London, CT

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