READ OF THE MONTH

Whalefall

Daniel Kraus

Named Best Book of the Year by the New York Times Book Review, NPR, Amazon Book Review, Shelf Awareness, and More!

"A crazy, and crazily enjoyable, beat-the-clock adventure story about fathers, sons, guilt, and the mysteries of the sea."

-The New York Times

Jay Gardiner has given himself a fool's errand: 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 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 the whale. Suspenseful and cinematic, Whalefall is 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.