Whale Soup

Book excerpt: San Franciscan Eddie Mellish, during teenage adventures with friends Grizzy and Jomo, develops an obsession with whales. As a student of zoology, he books a whale-watching trip in Hawaii, where two people end up in the water. Years later, he finds himself studying under a professor who was on the same boat. But their friendship is stretched to breaking point when they realise both have incriminating secrets. Eddie also discovers truths about Grizzy which his best friend might not want to know. The action zips between San Francisco, Hawaii, Cambridge and the rugged Cornish coast. While romance and careers beckon from both sides of the Atlantic, Eddie is sucked into a web of blackmail, as this novel hurtles towards a nail-biting climax.