Thrilling Novel of Scuba Diver’s Search for Closure in Belly of a Whale

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus

How far would you go to gain closure? I’m willing to bet it wouldn’t compare to the length Jay Gardiner goes in Daniel Kraus’ new thriller, Whalefall (MTV Books).

Jay is 17 and his father Mitt passed some time ago. Due to rocky circumstances, at the time of his death they hadn’t spoken in over a year. Jay is torn up inside and can’t decide what to feel. His conflicting father had taught him to dive and was obsessed with the ocean, even willfully dying in its arms. And so, that is how Jay decides he’s going to get him back: he’s going to dive — for his father’s remains, to be exact.

Dodging the Coast Guard and equipped with subpar equipment, Jay doesn’t fully expect to return. More than a little part of himself wants to join his father eternally in the ocean. But fate has something different in store.

Once Jay is submerged, full tank of air and relatively calm, he realizes his father’s obsession in full: the rippling colors of sea life, the muffling silence and the focus it all entails. Pure meditation.

Curious Jay hovers over a trench, reaching out just a little. The blackness below seems to vibrate and a giant squid emerges from the deep, leaving Jay enthralled by its behemoth beauty. Following the squid, a sperm whale rises, intent on dinner. In a whirlpool, the 80-foot, 60-ton whale pulls the squid into its gullet, and despite Jay’s best efforts, he too is swallowed whole, down past the whale’s tongue and esophagus and straight into the first of its four stomachs.

Battle to Survive in Belly of the Beast

What happens next is a nail-biting account inside the sperm whale as Jay grapples to survive within its bodily confines. Each chapter of Whalefall alternates between the fervid present, the PSI number Jay is left with (from 3,000 and decreasing) to a flashback at some point in the past, a memory Jay needs to reconcile with. He only has an hour left before his oxygen runs out. That’s if the ocean‘s pressure doesn’t squeeze him to death first.

Jay loses minutes and precious air alongside internal muscle and scalding hot, digesting prey. His injuries grow with nearly every movement, but he still has other battles to fight; not only with his father, but with his will to live.

He holds a heart-to-heart with the whale that sounds like his dad. He remembers the 5 a.m. drill sergeant billows of “Sleepers, arise!” How rough and mean Mitt had been when he drank, how unstable the household had been. Jay left on a sour note one stormy, drunken day at sea, resentment eating him alive. And now that his father is gone, this singular hour inside a whale will change the course of everything.

Innovative Premise That Demands Attention

Whalefall is written in a bullet style — every sentence goes straight to the point. A thriller in every sense, some chapters are simply a flashing thought or a brief realization in Jay’s fight to survive, using every resource available to him inside the whale.

Kraus’ writing is immediate and concise; not a word is wasted. His vivid descriptive style is especially impressive. He uses parentheses to great effect with internal struggles and sound effects, throwing you right into the action. Kraus makes sure we stick with Jay, feeling every injury and stab of guilt right along with him as they come, each second ticking by in agony.

Reading Whalefall feels like being in a fast-paced movie, pages and chapters flying in a blink. It makes sense that Imagine Entertainment has already struck a pre-emptive film rights deal.

Good novels just flow, and Daniel Kraus thankfully has this writing talent. Whalefall has an innovative premise that demands attention, and luckily the text does as well.

A journey through memory, family, guilt, depression, consciousness and ultimately internal-external forgiveness, Whalefall is touching, visceral and as tense as a wire pulled taut. If you’re longing for an exciting, thought-provoking novel perfect as a Summer speed read, look no further: Whalefall to the rescue.