The whale tattoo - Jon Ramson

Having stormed out two years ago, it won't be easy, nor will returning to the haunted river beside the house where words ripple beneath the surface washing up all sorts of memories and disturbing prophesies. Joe turns to his sister, Birdee, the only person who has ever listened. But she can't help him, she drowned two years earlier. Then there's Tim Fysh, local fisherman and long-time lover. But reviving their bond is not without trouble.
As the water settles and Joe learns the truth about the river, he finds that we all have the capability to hate, and that we can all make the choice not to. Ransom's fractured, distinctive prose highlights the beauty and brutality of his story, his extraordinarily vivid sense of place saturates the reader with the wet of the river, and the salty tang of the heaving sea.