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鈥淗ope collapsed every morning at six a.m. Sleepers, arise! Jay began to see dad鈥檚 siren as the opening punch of a boxing match, Mitt Gardiner versus his life. Dad didn鈥檛 want the house, not really. He didn鈥檛 want the family, not always, Only Jay, by bad luck the only other balls-haver in the house, was doomed to join dad鈥檚 fight, to be brought up as the first mate on a ship headed straight for the rocks.鈥� 鈥� 鈥淲halefall鈥� by Daniel Kraus

Author Daniel Kraus鈥� new book 鈥淎ngel Down鈥� was recently crowned the winner of the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

I was thrilled that Mr. Kraus was awarded this prestigious prize. In 2023 he published 鈥淲halefall鈥� and it has been sitting on my bookshelf for three years. Kraus鈥� Pulitzer win motivated me to pull 鈥淲halefall鈥� off my shelf and give it a read.

What an incredible story 鈥淲halefall鈥� is!

Whalefall is a term coined by marine biologists for the body of a dead whale slowly descending to the bottom of the ocean. As the body of the whale falls, other creatures in the ocean feed from it.

The book 鈥淲halefall鈥� starts with a young 17-year-old diver discussing his tumultuous relationship with his father, Mitt Gardiner, a legendary diver. His father is diagnosed with terminal cancer and waits for his son to come see him. Once he figures out that his son will not see him in his near-final moments in life, Mitt ventures out to Monterey Beach, a dangerous spot off the coast of California, with his pockets full of diving weights and gives himself back to the ocean. Jay is tortured at his father鈥檚 death, so he decides to strap on his diving gear and dive into Monterey Bay to see if he can discover any of his father鈥檚 remains for closure.

Jay has 3000 psi in his tank, which equates to about an hour and a half of air. He isn鈥檛 in the ocean long before he comes across a giant squid. Shortly after coming across the squid, Jay and the squid are swept up in the mouth of an elderly sperm whale, turning this redemptive dive into a struggle to survive.

鈥淚n all the art Jay鈥檚 seen, sperm whales are barges of fat. But when the whale before him curls its fluked tail to the side, muscles bigger than Jay pull tight, pinching seams through blubber. It must be the strongest thing that ever lived, matched only by its unexpected grace. It holds the pose; a comma in a sentence so large only gods can read it.鈥�

Each chapter starts with how much oxygen is left in Jay鈥檚 tank. The chapters are short and fast-paced with a palpable sense of danger. The adventure goes all the way to the last chapter that leaves readers wondering if Jay is going to survive. The story parallels his very complicated life with his dad, his dad鈥檚 death, and the fact that he begins to view the whale as his father.

If you鈥檙e looking for a good book that moves quickly, I highly recommend this one. Also, Father鈥檚 Day is coming up, 鈥淲halefall鈥� would make a great gift.

鈥淎 single life is nothing but a spark. The explosion is everything after death, the generations of reverberation. Every consumed morsel of your body, your wisdom, your kindness, your art, is another bid for perfection, a chance to get it right this time, or next time, or the time after that. There is no death.鈥�

Deborah Condit is the owner of Books on the Bosque, 6261 Riverside Plaza Lane, Suite A-2 or at .