Leaving Protection

Hobbs, Will

ISBN 10: 0060516321 ISBN 13: 9780060516321

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2004

Synopsis

When sixteen-year-old Robbie Daniels leaves Port Protection, Alaska, for the nearby fishing town of Craig, king salmon season is less than forty-eight hours away from starting without him. The few salmon fishermen who can afford to hire help have already found their deckhands, and time is running out on Robbie's dream of fishing the open ocean for kings.

A tip from a teacher puts Robbie on the trail of a legendary captain named Tor Torsen, but when Robbie boards Tor's fishing troller without permission, he happens upon a piece of Russian history that Tor would do just about anything to hide. Then Tor surprises Robbie by hiring him on, but for reasons darker than Robbie ever could guess.

Catching king salmon from dawn till dusk, Robbie thinks himself lucky -- until he discovers his captain's true intentions. Tor is searching along the coastline for historic metal plaques buried by early Russian explorers laying claim to Alaska. When Robbie finds out how valuable these possession plaques are, he fears he may know too much to survive. Tor's wrath and a violent storm at sea put Robbie's courage and wits to the ultimate test.

About this title

Review

Though Protection is Robbie's Alaskan port where his family works at subsistence fishing, he leaves his safe childhood when he becomes the mysterious Tor's deckhand. Known for a successful salmon fishing business but not his discovery of historical treasures buried along the Alaskan coast, Tor barely reveals himself. Either the silence scares Robbie into fearing for his life, because he knows about Tor's secrets, or Hobbs has insufficiently villainized Tor, but the only proven danger is slippery decks and high winds. None of the characters are convincing and most of the text is problematic. First-person narrator Robbie flips from present to past tense, using the present to explain fishing and past tense to describe his adventure, most of which is slow and laborious. Light characterization, in combination with slow text, harms the reading experience, until the final monster storm, when past and present meld together into a fiery pitch with a sugary denouement. In a final word, Hobbs provides background information and further reading suggestions. For patient fishing enthusiasts who are willing to wait for a final thrill. (Fiction. 9-12) (Kirkus Reviews)

About the Author

Will Hobbs is the award-winning author of nineteen novels, including Far North, Crossing the Wire, and Take Me to the River.

Never Say Die began with the author's eleven-day raft trip in 2003 down the Firth River on the north slope of Canada's Yukon Territory. Ever since, Will has been closely following what scientists and Native hunters are reporting about climate change in the Arctic. When the first grolar bear turned up in the Canadian Arctic, he began to imagine one in a story set on the Firth River.

A graduate of Stanford University, Will lives with his wife, Jean, in Durango, Colorado.

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060516321
• ISBN 13: 9780060516321
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 192