Shin, struggling with grief after his wife's death, decides to take his life by jumping into the frigid north-western Pacific waters. After waking up in a hospital, memories of a black-and-white torpedoed shape start surfacing, and Shin discovers that he can now communicate with a resident orca pod.

This book was right up my street: I'm a marine biologist specializing in marine mammals, I'm obsessed with the orca ecotypes of the NW Pacific, I'm a diver and I've spent a lot of time on ships. Needless to say, I loved it!

I wasn't expecting to get chapters from the pod's POV, and at first I wasn't sure it was a good idea, but it worked out really well. I also adored the friendship between Shin and Tyler; everyone needs a Tyler! The mystery was well executed and absolutely believable. The last few chapters were intense and kept me up past my bedtime (and it was totally worth it).

The subject matter of this book can be quite emotionnally draining for me. The impact of human activity on wildlife is unimaginable and often sends me into spirals of hopelessness. But I thought the author did a great job of showcasing it in his story, while not letting the reader fall into despair, but rather letting them leave the story with a sense of hope.

Some concepts were a bit too simplified to my taste and I would have loved to see a bit more details, but I understand it was meant for a wider audience that doesn't have my background. I still think that some additionnal info would have been nice; for example, it is mentionned that resident and transient orcas aren't visually different, but that isn't quite the case, you just need to know what to look for. I went into the book thinking that it would have the level of detail of Whalefall by Daniel Kraus, but it is definitely geared towards a more general public.