Whalefall

Jay Gardiner has taken it upon himself to locate his father’s remains in the Pacific Ocean off Monastery Beach. He feels that by doing so it will help him with his guilt over not coming around during his father’s cancer battle and later suicide the previous year. His father was a hard man who loved the ocean and was hard (too hard) on his son when it came to everything in Jay’s life, resulting in Jay leaving his parents’ home as a teen and never coming back.

Everything is going well during the dive until he spots a giant squid which wraps its tentacles around him as a sperm whale begins to feed. As he and the squid are sucked into the whale’s mouth, he soon finds himself in the Whale’s first of four stomachs. With only one hour of oxygen left, he must find a way out.

This book was a very interesting surprise. Not only is this book about a man swallowed by a whale, but it is also family dynamics, guilt, depression, illness, emotional/verbal abuse, a father-son relationship, and survival. The descriptions in the book are vivid and put me right in the water and stomach of the whale. As Jay’s oxygen levels begin to decrease, the tension mounts. Will he find a way out? Will he survive?

Whalefall had me on the edge of my seat and I found myself immersed in the book. This was a fast paced read which had me worried and hopeful all at the same time. I loved the dialogue that Jay had inside the whale. During his time in the whale there are flashbacks to the past which ultimately led him to this moment.

As I mentioned the descriptions in this book are vivid, which I loved but they are also vivid when it comes to what is inside the whale’s stomach and the injuries Jay receives while doing his best to find a way out of the whale. Whew, what a page turner!

This was such a great book that was well written, fast paced, thought provoking, shocking and moving.