Tangled Ties To A Manatee
Kalen Cap
May 4, 2012
344 pages
Amazon|BN
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5/5 Books

A pregnant manatee is rare at any zoo, and a first for the Grove City Zoo in Ohio. Ankh is a delight to zoo patrons, a concern to its staff, and the unintentional victim of two con men. She has no idea how many human relationships, problems, and dreams tangle around her.

Jerry is a young developmentally disabled man who happily follows Ankh’s pregnancy on the zoo’s webcam. He has a shy crush on Janelle, a pretty college student who volunteers for his group home’s outings to the zoo.

Jerry’s Aunt Vera also loves nature and runs an environmental retreat center. But all is not well, with Vera or the center. The center needs money and is under investigation as a cult.

Amid their college studies, Janelle and her friend Cecily try to help. Instead, Janelle re-awakens an old obsession in Vera when an innocent tarot reading hints at how the center might be saved.

Two bumbling con men are attempting to sabotage the region’s electrical grid as part of a lucrative scheme. But Jerry accidentally gets in their way and becomes their captive.

When the con men surprisingly succeed in bringing the grid down, it spells danger for Ankh, her unborn pup, and the many people tied to them both. With investigations of their own, Cecily and Janelle try to untangle it all to find Jerry, save a manatee’s life, and rescue Vera from herself.

Tangled Ties to a Manatee is a humorous crime thriller with environmental themes that is revealed through multiple points of view. The novel emphasizes college-aged characters, though not all, such as the developmentally disabled ones, are in college.

Author Kalen Cap

About The Author:
Kalen Cap is a writer living in Columbus, Ohio. Active in animal protection and environmental causes, he often brings such concerns into his fiction writing.

After having a number of poems and short stories published, as well as original plays produced locally, he took up novel writing.

“Tangled Ties to a Manatee” is his debut novel.

Connect With The Author:
Website | Facebook | Twitter

My Review:
Kalen Cap’s debut novel is a unique one. I’m not always big on novels that are told in more than one or two POV’s but Cap did a great job at keeping the reader interested. Usually, for me, with multiple POV’s I get confused from all the jumping around. But, not with this one. I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome of this novel.

The title itself is enough to make the reader chuckle. But, as the title says, it’s about a manatee. A pregnant one. And all the people that are connected to her in some for or other. That’s not all it’s about though. It’s about more suspenseful elements, like what goes on outside the manatee’s world (yes the story even has the manatee’s POV!), why there are two people investigating an environmental center, why Jerry, a special needs group home resident and lover of the manatee is suddenly taken hostage by two men who are determined to cause sabatoge, and so much more twists and turns of the story.

The way that Cap created the group home and all it’s residents is stunning. Sometimes, capturing the essence of someone with special needs is taken out of proportion, but Cap did a realistically amazing job at the little details.  The way he created Jerry to be fascinated with the manatee, and then his tender trusting heart was awesome! I really felt connected to Jerry by the end of the story, not to mention the lovable sweet Manatee named Ankh!

I can definitely recommend this book with 5 Books! It’s a story filled with the perfect amount of humor, lots of fun from a manatee and a tangled up mess of why’s, who’s and how-come’s. I am anxious to see if Mr. Cap creates a story that branches off from this one, bringing back Jerry and Ankh and the crazy aunts . Wonderfully done, Mr. Cap!

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