Whalefall
By Daniel Kraus
- Release Date: 2023-08-08
- Genre: Adventure Sci-Fi
Description
A USA TODAY BESTSELLER
Named a Best Book of 2023 by Book Riot, Shelf Awareness, and NPR
The Martian meets 127 Hours in this “astoundingly great” (Gillian Flynn, #1 New York Times bestselling author) and scientifically accurate thriller about a scuba diver who’s been swallowed by an eighty-foot, sixty-ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out.
Jay Gardiner has given himself a fool’s errand—to find the remains of his deceased father in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Monastery Beach. He knows it’s a long shot, but Jay feels it’s the only way for him to lift the weight of guilt he has carried since his dad’s death by suicide the previous year.
The dive begins well enough, but the sudden appearance of a giant squid puts Jay in very real jeopardy, made infinitely worse by the arrival of a sperm whale looking to feed. Suddenly, Jay is caught in the squid’s tentacles and drawn into the whale’s mouth where he is pulled into the first of its four stomachs. He quickly realizes he has only one hour before his oxygen tanks run out—one hour to defeat his demons and escape the belly of a whale.
Suspenseful and cinematic, Whalefall is an “powerfully humane” (Owen King, New York Times bestselling author) thriller about a young man who has given up on life…only to find a reason to live in the most dangerous and unlikely of places.
Reviews
Too much an anatomy lesson
3By what happened to good moviesI want to love this book. But there was so much scientific anatomy that I got bored. And the lyrical poetic nature of it just did not hit home for me.A very entertaining read
4By Amigo73Rarely do I give 4 stars. Rarely does a book deserve them. But Whalefall was a solidly good read. I read it in one sitting because it seemed wrong to break up the momentum. The analogies and symbolism were just a delight too. It was like The Old Man and the Sea meets Jonah.Disappointed
2By CorwinterI had high expectations for this book. Compared to the Martian it is plodding, predictable, implausible and just… sad.Tears
5By RobertshdbrbIt was a blessing to have stumbled upon this book the day it released. I had recently read The Martian by Andy Weir, and seeing this book connected to both The Martian and 127hrs in its description intrigued me. It was so much more than I was prepared for. I came for a fictional diving story, but I fell in love with the relationship between father and son weaving throughout it all. As the story began to unravel, I cried. Maybe it was a fluke. I cried again. I'm surprised. I cried again. And again. And again. It was so beautiful and cathartic, and although my idyllic relationship with my own father is far and away the antithesis of the character's, this story stirred up all of the best moments I've had with my dad, and brought me to ponder the painful loss that eventually will come. To the author - Thank you so much. All of your work was worth it. This has become my new favorite book.
