A moving character study disguised as a riveting, cinematic survival thriller...The pacing is relentless, the awe astounding, and the tension palpably constricting, even as Kraus takes time to provide necessary details both scientific and visceral."— Booklist, starred review Brave, bold, epic, propulsive. Whalefall is a deeply moving thriller that holds a planet’s worth of hope in the pit of its stomach.” There will be many an article about this book, but there’s only one way to truly understand the hype.

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A moving character study disguised as a riveting, cinematic survival thriller...The pacing is relentless, the awe astounding, and the tension palpably constricting, even as Kraus takes time to provide necessary details both scientific and visceral."— Booklist, starred review Given the concept, the name, and the Jaws-like cover (wonderful), i was so geared for the literary equivalent of a Jason Statham movie. A reading experience like The Meg, a long-before-the-film chazza shop copy of which is one of my most cherished possessions. While the main action here is the incident with the whale, what this is really about is the complicated relationship between Jay and Mitt, father and son. I did appreciate the scientific research regarding marine biology and scuba diving. However, the first third of the book was a bit tough (slow) to get through. I learned more than I will ever want to know about scuba diving/equipment. Once he is swallowed by the whale is when things really start to get intense and interesting!!

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COMPARISONS are a reviewer’s best friend. Not sure how to fully describe the impact of a novel? Simply find other titles that contain elements of the story in question and use them to help do the work. The rest of this suspenseful, claustrophobic tale speeds by as Jay discovers he has only an hour’s worth of air — not to mention how to figure out how to escape the whale itself.

Whalefall review: Stunning novel about being swallowed by a

Mitt also has two daughters, but his youngest is his son, and Jay gets to live through the vicarious and exacting tutelage of his father, almost constantly teaching, teaching, teaching - hammering into Jay all of this nautical wisdom with a single mindedness that suffocates his son, and with a sense of urgency that pushes Jay away. Maybe I’m being extra generous lately because I took most of the month of August off from reading, but I loved this. Whalefall is a mind-blowing, take-your-breath-away adventure, but it’s also a tender and moving story of the relationship between a father and son. Daniel Kraus is a writer I greatly admire. He can do anything, and does.” Jay is a 17-year-old boy who recently lost his Dad, Mitt, to mesothelioma and suicide. Mitt spent much of his life in the water, so when he saw the end coming, he weighted himself down and did a whalefall into the ocean. The father and son didn’t have the best relationship, and diving was about the only activity they did together. Jay was Mitt’s only boy, but he is small in stature and sensitive, leading to a lot of ridicule from his father. When Mitt was dying, he begged the family to make Jay come visit him, but Jay refused.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. Next...and this was the part that—again, pardon the pun—sunk the novel for me. Once Jay was in that whale, we got a guided tour of all the bizarre stuff that had managed to find its way into the whale's digestive tract...along with Jay, or prior to his visitation. (cue foreshadowing hints for all the items that will be used at the end, numbers one hundred fifty one through two hundred). Jay Gardner is a teenager who has been raised by a difficult father. Fiction frequently describes such a man as a ne’er do well, an alcoholic, or abusive. Mitt Gardner is separated from these other men by a devotion to the sea, and most specifically, by an allegiance to the craft of diving. Imagine Pat Conroy’s Bull Meecham from The Great Santini, but he is a diver, through and through. But as problematic as Mitt’s eccentricities are to the family, he is never overtly abusive and his love for his son and family is apparent. It was absolutely exhilarating. I might even say, it’s the next best thing to actually go scuba diving because, I am so terrified of being in the ocean, I will never experience this for myself. So I enjoy watching oceanic nature documentaries so that I can see what it’s like down there. Kraus cinematically used the gift of storytelling to bring Jay’s dive to life making it as real as possible for his audience.

Whalefall | Book by Daniel Kraus | Official Publisher Page Whalefall | Book by Daniel Kraus | Official Publisher Page

I haven’t read writing like this since Erika Ferencik’s “Girl In Ice”. The visuals seemed like you are RIGHT THERE in the stomach with Jay, and it was both beautiful and barbaric. The author wanted to make this as scientifically accurate as possible, and it made for a fascinating book. The entire story is good, but the mental pictures it gives are breathtaking. As with “Girl In Ice”, this is one of the most thoughtful, stunning horror/thriller books I’ve ever read. It gets nothing less than five stars! The primordial nightmare at the core of Whalefall is fantastically gripping. A character study developed in the most intense crucible imaginable, Kraus’s latest novel is smart, surreal, and powerfully humane.” While on the dive, Jay is confronted by a giant squid who Jay later determines to be a sperm whale’s latest meal. As Jay attempts to remove himself from the chaos, part of his gear gets caught in the squid’s tentacles. Struggling to get free was fruitless. In a flash, Jay is swallowed whole and finds himself in the belly of the whale beast with only less than an hour left of oxygen to escape his living hell.Daniel Kraus’s “Whalefall” explores interpersonal relationships, loss, and understanding in a profoundly moving and evocative manner. Through the intricate web of human emotions, Kraus deftly constructs a tale about Jay Gardiner, a young man troubled by his father’s legacy. While this was about so much more than just a diver and a whale, it just wasn’t enough to keep me interested.