Here's to Joe by David Becker

The huge dark sky. The crashing waves. The smell of the ocean. An escape? Or another trap? Scott has rented a house in an old seaside town in Nova Scotia. He plans to spend the summer painting and escaping from the hustle of his career in Toronto. He begins to develop a friendship with Emily, the local bar-owner, and creates beautiful canvases from the seascape by his house. It seems like he might get the vacation he sorely needs, but life has other ideas. A chance encounter with an old man and the mysterious journal he finds send Scott down an unexpected road, one full of secrets where a mystery is demanding to be solved. Told through the dual perspectives of Scott and scraps of journal entries, this fascinating and evocative novel explores how a small encounter can profoundly alter many lives.