Jay Gardiner has set out on 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 feels it’s the only way to relieve the guilt he has carried since his dad’s suicide the previous year. The dive begins well enough, but the sudden appearance of a giant squid puts Jay in jeopardy, made infinitely worse by the arrival of a sperm whale looking to feed. Suddenly Jay is caught in the squid’s tentacles, then pulled into the whale’s mouth and 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 a whale.

This book was all over my Bookstagram feed last year when it was first released. I was on the fence about reading it, mostly because the thought of being swallowed by a whale is terrifying, and I wasn’t sure I could handle reading about it. I decided to give it a go after reading so many stellar reviews. In the end, I found it to be an interesting read, though I wasn’t as blown away by it as many others were.

The book begins with our protagonist, Jay Gardiner, driving to the site where his father committed suicide a year prior. Jay is still burdened by unresolved grief and guilt. He didn’t have the best relationship with his dad, and it ended up causing him to leave home at a young age, abandoning not only his father but also his mother and two sisters. In order to repair the rift between his mom and sisters, Jay decides to take a risky dive off the coast of Monastery Beach to recover what he can of his father’s remains. Things take a horrifying turn when Jay encounters a giant squid and then ends up being swallowed by a massive sperm whale that is hunting the squid. From that moment on, he has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out.

This is a book best read in a single sitting, as the tension is so high that it’s hard to put down. The pacing is quick once the core action kicks in, and the setting is – unsurprisingly – very claustrophobic. The whale’s interior is vividly described, complete with unsettling darkness, gross digestive things, and a visceral sense of dread. The confined space and Jay’s dwindling oxygen supply create an overwhelming sense of urgency. At times, it’s almost physically uncomfortable to read.

The claustrophobia is amplified by Jay’s psychological battle. Throughout the novel, he is haunted by memories of his father, who was both a towering and deeply flawed figure in his life. Their relationship was complicated by his father’s unconventional way of thinking and high expectations. The dive is as much about ridding himself of these ghosts as it is about survival. While trying to escape the whale, Jay reflects on his fractured bond with his father and his lingering feelings of failure. These flashbacks are woven seamlessly into the present-day narrative, giving us a fuller picture of what made Jay who he is. In the end, his journey is not just about survival but about finding peace with his past and forgiving himself. The resolution is both satisfying and emotionally resonant.

While I enjoyed the story well enough, there were moments that stretched my suspension of disbelief. The idea of surviving inside a whale, particularly enduring the stomach acids and other physiological dangers, occasionally felt a bit far-fetched. Jay moved back and forth between stomach chambers and esophagus like a pro, suffering some wounds that, honestly, I felt would have been a bit more severe. Could he really have survived the stomach acid as easily as he did? I frequently found myself questioning how plausible certain events were.

This is one that I listened to while doing things around the house, and I found that the narrator, Kirby Heyborne, did an excellent job of keeping us inside Jay’s head. He did a great job of matching the pace and making me feel like I was listening to Jay recounting his story.

While I wasn’t as blown away by it as some were, this was still a fun read. For those who don’t mind a little claustrophobia and can stomach (see what I did there?) the intensity, it’s a quick-paced and thought-provoking read. I’d recommend setting aside an uninterrupted block of time to read it, as once you dive into Jay’s nightmare, you won’t want to stop until it’s over.

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