Flush

Because the novel is set in the Florida Keys, one might expect that boats of all kinds would factor into the story. For a population that depends largely on the sea for food and the tourist trade, boats mean survival. They appear in a staggering variety of forms that are designed to fit specific purposes, and their loss carries emotional as well as financial significance for the characters.

Paine is initially bereft when he loses his captain’s license and is forced to drive a cab on land. He later gets a job as a rescue boat operator, which allows him to reconnect with watercraft by manning a rescue boat but also causes him aggravation when he is forced to help irresponsible tourists who don’t know how to steer a boat properly. His aggravation at peaceful opportunities to educate tourists and enlist them in his cause highlights the questionable nature of his methods to achieve an inarguably altruistic goal.

When Paine is jailed, he tries to sell his valuable bone-fish skiff to Lice in exchange for the latter’s written testimony. Noah is troubled by the exchange because he sees this boat as a family heirloom and had always hoped that it would be his when he grew up.

The Coral Queen casino boat becomes the nexus for a battle between good and evil when Dusty engages in illegal dumping that Paine tries to prevent by sinking the boat. It later burns down, signaling an end to Dusty’s career. As a final insult, the boat sinks to the bottom of the ocean while being towed to a garbage scow.

Of equal importance with the Coral Queen is the Amanda Rose. Bobby built this boat as grief therapy shortly after his wife of the same name died. When the boat is stolen from him in South America, he devotes a decade of his life to recovering it. Seafaring vessels are a means of survival and familial love for the characters.