The Ocean Above Me

Lukas Landon is a former war correspondent, with multiple deployments in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He’s seen plenty of dangerous situations, but being trapped on the ocean floor in an upside-down shrimp trawler, with the water rising and oxygen depleting, beats anything he’s experienced. Landon is living on the boat while writing a feature on the crew of the Philomena, which went down during a freak storm.
The novel jumps among Landon’s attempts to survive his water soaked prison, reflections on his military experiences, retelling of his failed marriage, and, most compelling of all, interviews with the crew of the Philomena. These include Captain Clarita Esteban, an ex-sergeant and Black woman trying to make it in a white man’s world. A first mate who came to Florida during the Mariel boatlift. And a Haitian-born cook with a wealth of knowledge far beyond traditional medicine.
But as far as we may wander, Sites pulls us back to Landon locked in that trawler, the clock ticking. Will he survive? And will he ever find the forgiveness he so desperately craves.A unique, taut read by the author of the nonfiction The Things They Cannot Say that illustrates the impact of trauma and the hope for redemption.