Publishers Weekly
06/05/2023
This gripping sci-fi thriller from bestseller Kraus (who previously coauthored the novelization of The Shape of Water with Guillermo del Torro) takes readers quite literally into the belly of the beast. After local diving legend Mitt Gardiner dies in a suicide by drowning, his estranged high school–age son, Jay, sets out to bolster his own reputation as a diver by retrieving his father’s remains. Returning to the water after two years away from his domineering dad, Jay makes the risky dive. Instead of locating the body, however, he finds a giant squid, and then a massive sperm whale finds them both. Accidentally ingested, Jay struggles to escape the whale’s belly before the creature either digests him or retreats to depths that could crush him. Jay’s struggle to free himself from his blubbery prison mirrors his struggle to free himself from his father’s shadow, which forms the real heart of the story. Kraus provides solid nautical science alongside the stretchy coincidences that fuel Jay’s survival. Just on the brink of horror fiction, especially for the claustrophobic, this deep-sea thrill ride will have readers on the edges of their seats. (Aug.)
Gillian Flynn
Astoundingly great. Whalefall is, quite simply, a beautiful novel—a must-read story of the sea, the nature of awe, and the briny relationships between fathers and sons.
Owen King
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.
Christopher Golden
"Whalefall is a rare thing: a page-turning, hold-your-breath, man-vs-nature thrill ride, but also a gripping exploration of the unnavigable relationship between parent and child. It's an anguished cry from the depths of that struggle. Bravo!"
Joshua Ferris
Brave, bold, epic, propulsive. Whalefall is a deeply moving thriller that holds a planet’s worth of hope in the pit of its stomach.
Dan Chaon
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.
Stephen Graham Jones
One of our oldest stories, one of our greatest fears, and one of our most capable writers. Stranger things than being swallowed by a whale have probably happened, but they've rarely been told so well.
Clay McLeod Chapman
A brutal, unsparing, wildly uplifting book. The sheer buoyancy had me breathless by the end.
Alissa Nutting
"A masterpiece. I haven't felt so alive reading a book in a long, long time."
Gabino Iglesias
Unexpectedly emotional and wildly entertaining, Whalefall is the tense revamp of Jonah’s tale you didn’t know you needed."
From the Publisher
A crazy, and crazily enjoyable, beat-the-clock adventure story about fathers, sons, guilt and the mysteries of the sea . . . [Kraus] brings the rigor of a scientist and the sensibility of a poet to his descriptions of the undersea world.”—New York Times
“This gripping sci-fi thriller from bestseller Kraus takes readers quite literally into the belly of the beast [...] Kraus provides solid nautical science alongside the stretchy coincidences that fuel Jay’s survival. Just on the brink of horror fiction, especially for the claustrophobic, Kraus’s deep-sea thrill ride will have readers on the edges of their seats.”—Publishers Weekly
"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
"This hard sci-fi thriller is full of cinematic and wild suspense and would be great for fans of Andy Weir."—Library Journal, starred review
“Picture Jack London, but with a more nuanced handling of broken, damaged men.”—Chicago Tribune
“One of the most intense — and moving — stories that will grace the bookstores in 2023...what Daniel Kraus has created here is something that can’t be quantified.”—Cemetery Dance
“An absolute triumph, a masterpiece of suspense, emotion, and flat-out terror...It’s one of this year’s can’t-miss books, and a journey you won’t soon forget.”—Paste Magazine
“Kraus turns the literal guts of this novel into a haunted house, a torture chamber, a church and a uterus for belated rebirth. There is nothing else quite like Whalefall.” —New Scientist
#1 New York Times bestselling author Gillian Flynn
Astoundingly great. Whalefall is, quite simply, a beautiful novel—a must-read story of the sea, the nature of awe, and the briny relationships between fathers and sons.”
Booklist
"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
"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."
Library Journal
★ 05/01/2023
Kraus, coauthor of The Shape of Water with Guillermo del Toro, presents a nerve-wracking tale of survival in Monterey, CA. Jay is a young scuba diver who has a contentious history with his father, a local legend and maritime master. Feeling crushed under the weight of expectation and disappointment, Jay performs one last dive to prove himself. When he's swallowed by a sperm whale, with only one hour before his scuba tanks runs out of oxygen, he'll have to draw upon everything he's ever learned from his father and the ocean to get free. The novel conveys a great respect for nature, especially for whales and the ethereal beauty and ferocious dangers of the ocean. The scientific and biological accuracy enhances the disturbing realism of what it would actually be like to be swallowed by a whale. Jay's plight is viscerally intense and claustrophobic, even as he grapples with real and raw emotions that stem from remorse and a need for reconciliation. VERDICT This hard sci-fi thriller is full of cinematic and wild suspense and would be great for fans of Andy Weir, although the tone is far more austere.—Andrea Dyba
School Library Journal
03/01/2024
Jay's strained relationship with his demanding diver father caused him to leave home at age 15. Two years later, his father dies by suicide, plunging his weighted body into the depths of the deadly water off Monastery Beach. In one final act to seek approval, Jay dives into the dangerous bay looking for his father's remains. Tension slowly builds as Jay wrestles with unpredictable currents, a giant squid, and the approach of a hungry whale. In between hallucinations and flashbacks of their tempestuous relationship, Jay's air supply dwindles with each turn of the page, and readers sink into the belly of the whale right along with him. Teens who enjoy philosophical musings will gladly enter the abyss with Jay, though those who get frustrated with existential books such as Moby Dick may feel lost in the murkiness of this underwater survival story. However, the pacing is much brisker here, aided by short chapters and the balance of back story and impending doom. Science-minded teens will appreciate the problem-solving required of Jay, which is written convincingly as a product of Kraus's research with marine biologists and professional divers. VERDICT Recommended for young adults who enjoy reading about complex parental relationships, science fiction, and survival stories.—Carrie Shaurette
SEPTEMBER 2023 -- AudioFile
Narrator Kirby Heyborne embodies the gruesomeness and terror and beauty in Daniel Kraus's story. Listeners will feel its intensity in the pit of their stomachs. Teenage scuba diver Jay Gardiner is consumed by guilt as he seeks to find the remains of his father, who died by suicide, in the Pacific Ocean. As Jay searches the ocean's depths, he is swallowed by a sperm whale. As the story switches between key moments in Jay's past and the rapidly decreasing air in his tanks, listeners will feel like they themselves are gasping for air. Heyborne's performance robustly expands Kraus's tale, and it is divine. P.P.C. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
