Whalefall was not what I was expecting. Sure, it was thrilling - a young man gets trapped in a sperm whale with only a small amount of oxygen! But this book dealt with some heavy topics and tackles the grief and guilt of a young man who has just lost his father.

Jay's father dies by suicide after his cancer treatments have stopped working. Throughout the book, we get glimpses into the past and the tumultuous relationship Jay and his father had. Mitch was famous amongst the SoCal diving scene, but his prickly personality made him hard to live with. Jay feels guilt because he never said good-bye and thinks he can make amends if he's' able to recover some part of his father's body. What he doesn't anticipate is behind swallowed by a sperm whale. From there, the race is on as Jay fights with his bare hands (and literal garbage floating around inside the whale with him) to free himself before his oxygen runs out.

The author created a suffocating, claustrophobic setting. It was really creepy. As someone who has always been intrigued and a little frightened of the deep sea I will say this did not help haha. The writing is descriptive, at times gory, and just beautiful. The author has a real flare for creating stunning prose and I just had a lovely time reading this one.

Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for a review copy.

I really wanted to love this book. However, the back in forth from Jays childhood to the present felt very choppy. It also seemed incredibly repetitive.
I thoroughly enjoyed the part of him being swallowed by the whale and everything in the present. I also appreciate the research that the author put into describing the anatomy of whales. I found this very interesting. I personally would have liked less of the flashbacks or something different in the flashbacks rather than just repeating the jays distaste for his father.

This isn’t just a story about a boy being swallowed by a whale. It’s so much more – Jay’s survival while processing grief and pain over the death of his father and a deeply complicated relationship between a father and son. It’s brilliantly constructed, and I was horrified to my very core at everything Jay experiences in the belly of the sperm whale.

Although an experienced diver, Jay hasn’t been in the water for a year. His father committed suicide, but his body was never recovered in the ocean. In an effort to deal with his grief, Jay makes a desperate attempt to find his father’s remains off the coast of Monastery Beach. The dive starts off well enough as Jay becomes accustomed to the water again – and then he’s swallowed by a sixty-ton sperm whale. He has one hour before his oxygen is depleted.

The Martian is listed as a comp title for this book, and there are many parallels. Jay’s only resources for survival are his knowledge, what he carries on him, and whatever he discovers in the whale’s four-chambered stomach. Most of the chapter headings list the amount of oxygen left in the tank, and the chapters are short, which makes this story move along quickly. I was so engrossed I could easily have read this book in one sitting – trust me, you won’t want to put it down – but had to split it into two. I learned a good deal about marine life (whales are fascinating!) and scuba diving (which requires extensive training) and appreciated all the research that went into this novel.

This is an intense story of Jay’s survival and coming of age, but also one of grief, regret, and complicated family dynamics that I highly recommend.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

It’s a beautiful day, you decide to go for a dive. And end up being swallowed by a sperm whale!!

This was a beautiful multi story book about Jay and how he grew up learning about the ocean from his father. How his father was diagnosed with cancer and decided to give his life to the ocean. Finally, Jay decides to deal with the loss of his father and dives where his father was last seen. While he was diving he gets swallowed by a sperm whale. I can only imagine trying to figure out a way out and your brain playing tricks on you from nitrogen narcosis. Part of me feels like maybe he never made it out and died in the stomach of that whale. And it was just a dream he was having from the nitrogen narcosis.

"Principles: a nifty excuse for being an asshole."

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" 'Your dad probably saved a lot of lives.'
Saved? Not ruined? It's the lesson of the funeral visitation all over. People did care. They saw the good in Mitt Gardiner. The same way Mom saw it, and Nan and Eva saw it. There's a chance, just maybe, that Jay has been the blinkered one."

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"Don't sons have responsibilities, too? The answer is yes, they do. To hold their fathers accountable."

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Jonah and the Whale meets Drowning gives us an intense struggle for life while facing your inner demons. Jay is a young adult who has major childhood trauma he hasn't dealt with but is forced to after his father's death. He has the half-cocked idea of recovering his father's body from the sea to help heal his wounds, so he sets out alone to do so. When he finds himself swallowed by a sperm whale he must remember all his father taught him and face their past together to try to survive.

This is marketed as sci-fi / fantasy, so let's not waste time on the plausibility discussion, I had his final escape solution as he was describing his equipment before the dive. What I think was done well was the introspection that happens during a life-threatening situation. The tension is high and yet we find ourselves in breaks from the action where Jay is reviewing his life, in particular, his relationship with his father. He is forced to see his father and himself almost as an external viewer, giving him perspective and the chance at healing. I don't often want an epilogue in a book, but I could have used one here.

This is one of the most unusual reads you will ever come across. I urge you to give it a try.

Thanks to Atria Books for gifted access via Netgalley. All opinions above are my own.

Whalefall was an emotional punch full of dread and claustrophobia. The ocean is scary enough on its own, but add gargantuan creatures to the mix and you'll have me horrified.
The horror of this novel was great, but that wasn't even the best part. Our protagonists emotional journey dealing not only with the loss of his father, but the negative relationship they shared prior to his father's death was very compelling.
The combination of the characters and the setting made for a very great story that I can see fans of Jaws and Moby Dick really enjoying.

I will never forget the experience of reading this. I don't think I've been this emotionally moved by a tale of this nature since Frankenstein and that's saying something. Then, at the conclusion, it happened. The book hangover.

Whalefall is Jay Gardiner's story. Since his father's death by suicide, Jay has been wracked with guilt. Their relationship was complicated and they were estranged at the time that his Dad took his life. Jay has given himself the task of finding his father's remains, which he believes lay somewhere in the waters off the coast of Monastery Beach. Taught serious diving skills by his Dad, Jay feels he is prepared for whatever he encounters.

Entering the water is like separating from the rest of the world. In complete silence, Jay enters the dark, cold waters of the ocean's depths. In that environment, Jay's mind roams freely. The Reader is treated to many of his most personal memories, watching his complicated relationship with his family unfold.

In the midst of his quiet reflections, the unimaginable happens. First the giant squid, then the whale. Jay has been swallowed by an 80-foot sperm whale. He passes all the way into the whale's first of four stomachs. There he realizes that he is still alive, but may not be for long. With just an hour left on his oxygen tank, Jay needs to find a way to escape and fast.

This story felt so real and original. I love the choices Kraus made in telling Jay's story. The back and forth between Jay's present circumstance and his reflections on his past kept the story moving at a nice, steady clip.

I developed such compassion for Jay over the course of the story, but also compassion for this whale, who becomes such a beautiful character unto itself. When I mentioned Frankenstein earlier, it's particularly this connection I meant. The whale, who could be considered the monster, beast or baddie, of this story, was just a creature with a soul who incidentally had all of these circumstances thrust upon it.

As Jay fought for his life, while simultaneously grappling with his past, you could feel his will, his humanity, his feelings of hope and love, begin to grow, but would he be able to survive long enough to act on any of it?

This was an incredibly powerful read for me. I became so emotionally connected with the story. Not necessarily because I could relate to anything Jay was going through, but again, just because of the way that Kraus spun the tale. I think if you let yourself just sink into this one, let the story wash over you and really feel it, this could be an equally powerful read for you.

In addition to all of the emotion though, this is also fairly gruesome and I thought the descriptions of what was going on with Jay's body, and the whale's, was so well done. Kraus definitely gets top marks for his Horror imagery.

If you decide to pick this one up, which you should, be sure you read the Author's Note at the end, where Kraus discusses the level of detail he went into when researching for this book. It's quite impressive. We love a well-researched story.

Thank you so much to the publisher, MTV Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. This is the first that I have read from this author, but it will not be the last!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria/MTV Books as well as the author for this ARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.
#NetGalley #Atria/MTVBooks #DanielKraus #WhaleFall
Title: WhaleFall
Author: Daniel Kraus
Publisher: Atria/MTV Books
Publication Date: August 8, 2023

Themes: Survival horror, Father and Sons, Grief, Family
Trigger Warnings: Drowning, father/son relationship, grief, suicide, depression, anxiety

WhaleFall is the the story of Jay Gardiner, who’s father has just committed suicide by drowning. So, naturally, he scuba dives in the general area to attempt to find his father’s remains. He’s hoping to assuage the guilt he feels due to the strained relationship that he had with his father. During the dive, he is swallowed by a whale and must escape before his oxygen runs out.
This was a quick read despite its average number of pages. The chapters are short and to the point. Unlike many of the reviews that I read, it took me a while to get into this one. I can’t say why exactly, maybe I found the pacing a little too abrupt. The story took awhile to emerge among the flashbacks. The transitions were not as smooth as I would have liked. However, once we got to the point, it really got going. I very much enjoyed the scientific information. It was presented in a smooth and palatable way. Very interesting. I LOVED hearing about the whale’s anatomy from the inside. This also helped this story to be incredibly immersive. I absolutely love being on the edge of my seat, which is why I love survival horror. The tension is delicious. It almost makes the slow start mean a little more. The anxiety started at zero and went to sixty in an agonizingly slow ascent, capped off by each chapter dealing with Jay’s fateful dive began with the PSI, a looming reminder of the time he has left.
This book gives off major Pinocchio vibes at first, but it was surprising how much I enjoyed it. I do wish the pacing was more smooth. I also wish there had been fewer flashback scenes. It did tend to break up the delicious tension. Despite that, I really enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone who loves survival horror or someone who loves marine biology and diving. This is a great summer read. Clear your calendar so you can binge this one.

Such a good cover. Book was super claustrophobic. Honestly needs a trigger warning. So good, couldn’t help flying through this!

Absolutely loved the cover.

Jay goes on a search for his fathers remains, his father committed suicide after a terminal diagnosis by jumping into the ocean at famous for being challenging beach. He is swallowed by a whale. Broken into chapters by year at times and pressure reading remaining on his oxygen regulator at times—this worked well. Emotional- Jay while his selfishness is evident, also evident he is working through grief. Mentions covid and isolation so also feelings from that.

As oxygen becomes scarce writing matches and becomes confused thought process, talking to his father through the whale even. Very descriptive scenes of internal events. The writing is solid. Story just lost my interest along the way.

Thanks to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Children’s publishing for my electronic advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Believe the hype. Buy the book. Whalefall is that good.

Whalefall is a claustrophobic survival story of a diver who gets sucked into a sperm whales stomach. Terrifying thought. As if deep sea diving isn’t scary enough with sharp tooth predators hiding right in front of you, or the miles of dark ocean above you with pressure that can kill you if you don’t ascend properly, now there is the threat of being eaten by a whale the size of a dinosaur. This is why I stay out of the ocean.
While the story is about Jay’s struggle to survive inside the whale, it’s also a story about grief, regrets and a toxic family relationship. Jay is in the water to retrieve his father’s bones, a father who he hasn’t talked to in years. His voice is inside Jay’s head through the whole story. Sometimes it’s harsh, sometimes it’s loving, the whole time it’s helping him cope with his mental and physical situation. It’s very well written, and sort of levels off some of the intense moments.
You will walk away from this book with so much whale knowledge, it may fool you into thinking you are a Marine Biologist. Lol. Daniel Kraus did his research, and it shows.
You’re going to want to read this one. I promise it’s that good.

The Martian comparisons were spot-on but do this book a bit of injustice - the Martian feels somewhat distant, the terror here feels palpable, real. This is JAWS for the 21st century.

This book was really good. I do not want to spoil the read by going over what happens but dang. I did not think a book about a boy and a whale was going to go this way.

I'm totally crapping the heck out of this review but that's normal for me. Everyone go read this so we can discuss it!

I'm going to put in my diary a new reason to be scared of the ocean.

Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.

An interesting take on horror.

There's a saying in my culture - you run from a wolf, you jump onto a bear. In this case, this saying works perfectly,

In this story, Jay has been running away from his father and his emotional abuse for years. But now that he is dead, he is looking for a way to deal with the loss of his father, and unsolved issues of his childhood. He goes looking for his father's remains in the place where he died - deep diving in the the ocean. While on this mission, the weirdest thing happens - he gets swallowed up by a sperm whale. (I mean if you couldn't tell by the cover, that this is where the book is going..)

Yes, you have to take this with a grain of salt, and accept the fact that this is possible, but maybe not probable. But this creates a very interesting setting to deal with loss and grief, and abuse. And finally understand each other in the son and father relationship. This book hit more of the emotional buttons, as Jay flashes through his memories of his relationship with his father and accepts that sometimes you cannot change things and must accept the absurdly impossible situations - such as having an abusive father, and being stuck in a whale.

This was well written sci-fi/horror book, though it might not be for me. Maybe I'm just not ready to accept the failings of my father (which are aplenty), so connecting to Jay was harder for me. Maybe it's his age, and the fact that he has to process a lot of emotional issues in a short period of time. Maybe it's the ending and implied meaning behind the whale. I don't know.

Overall a very unique setting (I kept flashing back to old school Pinochio cartoon, where he was swallowed by a whale), a very intense emotional journey. But nothing that will stay with me.

TW: In parts very gory. Death of a whale.

It had been a while since I’d read a good science fiction survival story, so I was excited to get a review copy of Daniel Kraus’s new book Whalefall. This book is reminiscent of The Martian in that it’s about a man on his own in a fight for his life. But it’s so much more than that, too. It is also a look at a young man’s fraught relationship with his recently deceased father and the process of grieving.

Jay was raised on the water. His father Mitt taught him about the ocean and scuba diving. The two had a very rocky relationship, culminating with Jay leaving home to live with a friend in his teens. Now Mitt is gone, and Jay is grappling with the loss and his family’s feeling that he abandoned his father at the end of his life. So Jay sets out to redeem himself—by scuba diving in Monterey Bay to search for Mitt’s remains.

As Jay confronts the ocean, the dive, and the search for his father’s remains, his thoughts return to memories of times he had with his father.

But the already dangerous dive takes a turn when Jay gets caught up in a confrontation between a giant squid and a sperm whale. In the aftermath, Jay is caught in the squid tentacles and dragged into the whale’s mouth.

The rest of the story follows Jay as he tries to find a way out of the whale, all while he grapples with losing his father and comes to terms with their relationship. It’s raw and visceral (sometimes literally) as he does whatever he can to escape the whale before his air runs out.

I love how, even though this seems like a completely implausible situation, the author makes it feel very real. And while creating this narrative filled with rich detail about the ocean, scuba diving, and the sperm whale, Kraus also manages to create complex characters and intricate relationships within Jay’s family.

I highly recommend this book! I read it in two days, and I was engrossed from beginning to end.

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus is a literary thriller about Jay Gardiner, estranged from and now grieving the loss of his father. He goes on a personal mission to reclaim his fathers bones from the depths of the nearby ocean. During his scuba trip, things take an unexpected turn, and he accidentally ends up in the belly of a sperm whale.

This book is half introspection on Jay’s complicated relationship with his father and half thrilling survival story about trying to escape from inside a whale. I was definitely drawn more towards the survival parts and found the family story less interesting. Then again, I’m not a big fan of family drama and trauma stories. For me, the pacing felt uneven and suffered from the two alternating storylines. The science of the survival story was believable but be forewarned, the descriptions were very visceral. There were several times when the story pushed my limits of both claustrophobia and body injury/gore.

If you’re looking for Moby Dick style with Pinocchio adventure and father issues, this is the book for you.

Whalefall released August 8, 2023.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced release copy.

Wow. I mean, wow.

First of all, this books is almost poetic. The way it's written is so beautiful and descriptive, the details so vivid. It is also such a wild ride. So many times it was almost too much to listen to and at the same time I did not want to stop, I had to know what happened next. Jay and Mitt and the whale, you guys...

Fingers crossed that they make this info a movie. 🤞

My review was published in the August 11, 2023 edition of Shelf Awareness for Readers!

https://www.shelf-awareness.com/readers/2023-08-11/whalefall.html

"People aren't doors. They're whole floor plans, entire labyrinths, and the harder you try to escape, the more lost inside them you become." Jay was estranged from his father Mitt who committed suicide due to a long illness. He carries the guilt with him and decides that the best way to get closure and make amends is to find his father's body. This book follows Jay as he descends beneath the ocean in search of his father and as he recalls memories of his past dives with his father he finds himself trapped inside a sperm whale. He has to use all of the skills and knowledge that his father taught him in order to fight for his survival.

In this story, we get alternating timelines where Jay is in his current predicament inside the whale but also Jay as a child and what his relationship with his father was like growing up. They never seemed to connect and understand each other. They had a big falling out and Jay didn’t speak to his father again. Between the heartwrenching guilt he’s experiencing, as well as relieving the unhappy memories of his father, and trying to escape from the whale and not get crushed to death or drowned - I could not put this book down.

It was this weird combination of sad, emotional tale and science fiction and I loved every minute of it. You’re never sure if Jay is 100% lucid or if he’ll make it until you find out what happens at the very end. Plus, you’ll get a crash course in scuba diving and learn a lot like I did about all the things that go into it.

It’s unique and interesting and the imagery is so vivid. Plus, you just can’t help rooting for Jay and his tortured soul. I loved it!