Dry

by Per Jacobsen

How far are you willing to go for the ones you love … and how far are you able to go?

For Nathan Bray, this philosophical thought experiment becomes brutally real when an inexplicable event causes the oceans of the world to disappear, leaving him stranded on the dried-out ocean floor with his seven-year-old daughter.

Genres: Horror, Apocalyptic, Science Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, Thriller, Dystopia

286 pages, Paperback

First published August 9, 2023

About the author

Per Jacobsen is a Danish author best known for writing thrillers with supernatural elements. He got his literary debut in 2018 when he won a writing competition issued by Byens publishing house in Denmark. Shortly afterwards, he signed a contract with the publishing house Valeta, also in Denmark, who published his debut novel, The mirror cabinet. Per Jacobsen's next three books (books 1-3 in the Strung trilogy) were translated and gave him his international breakthrough as they quickly went to the top of the bestseller list in several countries, including the US and England. Today, Per Jacobsen is a full-time writer and lives permanently in southern Spain with his wife and two children.

Reviews

[Réka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just imagine that you're on a ship heading to somewhere with multiple people on board and suddenly the ocean disappears and you're in the middle of nowhere...and you're surrounded by thousands of dead sea creatures...and there's nothing but the dry seabed for miles and miles around you.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat until the very last page. Once I started, I couldn't put it down.

The whole concept is truly terrifying. I couldn't even imagine what I'd do in their situation. (I'd probably just lie down and accept my fate.)
But luckily our characters are nothing like me. 😅 They're fighting for survival against the unbeatable odds.

This is one of the few books I've read where I loved every character. Nathan, Jessie, Meredith and Earl are all fighters in their own way. Their little group grew on me really fast as they supported each other and did everthing to keep everyone alive.

Nathan is hands down the best fictional dad ever. The games he invented to try to keep his daughter from freaking out? They were the most heartbreaking and wholesome scenes ever. His love for Jessie was so heartwarming, he was ready to do anything to keep his little girl safe and get her out of this nightmare situation.

This book is truly unique, I loved everything about it even if it broke my heart.

And THAT ending? Omg...I'm so not okay.


This book was gifted to me in exchange for an honest review.

[Bobby's Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 STARS | DRY’s ending gave me the CHILLS! This was so good! What would happen if you were on a ship and the earth’s ocean water just suddenly evaporated? Thank you to HUMBLE BOOKS for sending me a copy to review, for I truly enjoyed this quick novel! DRY follows Nathan Bray and his seven-year-old daughter stranded on the dried-out ocean floor after a strange event of the oceans of the world to disappear! Fighting to survive and find help, Nathan is willing to go far for the ones he loves. A survival novel that will have you turning those pages until the surprising ending of the book!

[Milt Theo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book hits in the feels like no other, with its terrific writing, the uncanny imagery, and a story that pierces even the coldest of hearts! I was lucky enough to read this book as an ARC, finished it in a couple of days, and took my time writing a review, since this isn't your standard kind of survival horror book. 'Dry' makes an impact on a deeply meaningful level, stirring emotions that need to be talked out, brought out to the light, unless they fester in the dark. The book starts as a quasi-typical science fictional survival story: during a voyage to the Galapagos Islands, a father and his seven-year-old daughter watch the waters of the Pacific Ocean evaporate, leaving them stranded on the dry ocean floor. The images you get in those first hundred pages are hauntingly descriptive of the despair they have to deal with, along with two other survivors. Some of the situations they have to face provoke real anxiety: travelling through thousands of fish; looking at abysses greater than the Grand Canyon; avoiding stepping into almost invisible tentacles of poisonous jellyfish; touching a singing whale dying in the middle of nowhere. But, as the author himself carefully notes (twice), this is a dark book, and you have to brace yourself for an ending that will consume you, both emotionally and mentally. Jacobsen sticks to realism (other than those waters boiling to thin air), and offers a tale that invites us to take a deep look inside ourselves, and put everything we care about in question: what would you do? I admit I teared up a bit in the end. Very highly recommended!

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

An emotional rollercoaster 5/5

The book follows Nathan and his 7-year-old daughter, Jessie, who are on board a ship going to the Galapagos Islands when suddenly the seawater starts to evaporate and they find themselves stranded on the bottom of the dried-out seabed. This survival-horror book follows their struggles as they try and make it to safety.

Whilst the characters are lovable, the story is filled with challenges and dread and there is a ton of emotion in this book which makes you care for the characters. You'll want only the best outcome for them as they make their way through the dry wasteland and the ending will stay with you for a long time.

Overall I loved the book, even the ending and its dark themes, and can highly recommend it for everyone.

[Linda Mcintire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oooh!! This was so good. I loved the plot and the characters. They really stayed strong to make the hard decisions in this strange new world. And what a strange world it is, one that I would never have imagined. I think this one will stick with me for awhile. I know it will be hard to take a cold drink of water without thinking of this book.

[Sharron Joy Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marine biologist, Nathan and his 7yr old daughter, Jessie are on a voyage to the Galápagos Islands hoping for adventure but suddenly the sea starts behaving strangely and they are fighting to survive.

This is apocalyptic fiction but with immense emotional depth. The four main characters have a harrowing and painful journey through a desolate, dangerous landscape, not only in physical terms but psychologically too. This is a bleakly honest story of the choices, or lack of, that have to be made to survive in a hostile environment. It does not hold back in its stark imagery and you can feel their desperation, their ravenous thirst, their fear.

This is a beautifully written, desperate tale of survival that is utterly terrifying. The impact on life on this planet and the consequences for the survivors are heartbreaking.

What would you do and how far would you go to save those you love?

[Kate Victoria RescueandReading · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Water can be a source of life, as well as death. Just like hope." R. Morgan, The Flood

Wow, this story delivers a gut punch of emotion. It asks the tough questions, and sometimes gives us the hard-to-swallow answers.

A father and his daughter are stranded when the ocean quit literally disappears from beneath their ship. With no water to drink, and an unknowable sea floor to traverse, things start to look bleak.

We also get flashback’s of an earlier time in Nathan’s life, when he made choices that affected a loved one.

Not only was this such a unique and thrilling concept of a story, but the characters are ones you can’t help but hope for. You read and feel their struggle for survival.

I will definitely be reading more stories from this author!

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to the author for providing a review copy.

Dry is a heavy, heavy book. The ocean is pretty terrifying in its own right, but a dried up ocean? Deeply unsettling. At its heart, this is a book about family and what choices we would make when the unthinkable happens. This one hurt my heart quite a bit. Beautiful and haunting, I'll be thinking about Dry for a long time. 5 stars

[LISA · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a book! Very dark topic, trigger warnings regarding suicide. I just finished it and am still in shock from a very surprising end. I still need to sit with the story a while to see where my feelings shake out, because it was definitely a thought provoking read.

[Rhiannon Boyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a truly difficult, somber read. It challenges you with some very heavy, dark choices and demands you examine your own values, your own limits, of what you would be willing and able to do in a similar terrifying situation.

The premise of the world’s oceans suddenly disappearing provides the post-apocalyptic framework for the story of a father and his 7-year-old daughter, along with other survivors of this bizarre and inexplicable event, as they traverse the now dry ocean bed they were sailing above. The event happens quickly and without explanation, and as they go about the business of survival, you start to think of the wider implications of this disaster and what it truly means. I realized that bleak, inescapable ending, seemingly far quicker than our band of survivors did, and the panic and dread it started to cause in me was truly distressing as the story progressed.

It is a bleak story, but it’s skillful and discerning in how it quietly makes you question what you would do in such a horrifying predicament. My compliments to the author for his delicate and deft handling of what are some rather controversial ideas towards death and dying in the most harrowing of scenarios.

[Marzena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite the gut wrenching emotions this story is describing, the palpability is largely missing. I get that it can be challenging to write compelling characters in under 300 pages. However, if the very purpose of the story is to show how humans deal with death and inevitability, it is kind of essential to build empathy with the readers. Possibly something got lost in translation.

[renee w · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Denise Rechani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, what an interesting story!

[Jamie Duggan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Per manages to make me love his characters on such a personal level. What an emotional read. Anger, sadness, confusion. His writing is phenomenal. I am a Per fan for life

[Megan Rang · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW! This book had me at the edge of my seat the entire time! I loved the way it was written with the 2 stories intertwined. I highly recommend!!

[Molly Mix · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the surface (haha), Dry by Per Jacobsen is an apocalyptic novel about what happens to a group of people from a specific vessel when an unknown force causes the ocean to evaporate out from under them so quickly they have no time to figure out what’s going on, what’s going to happen to their boat, nor plan for how to survive it, BUT there’s a lot more going on in this very short, but impactful story.

There are so many questions in this book. Is the phenomenon localized or global? If the survivors make it back to civilization, will it even matter? How do you know how long you should hold on and fight for life, and when to let go? I found myself trying to imagine what I would do in the shoes of these characters as they struggle against physical pain and existential terror to keep moving towards an uncertain future that may hold nothing better for them. Or possibly something worse.

Because of Dry’s brevity, there’s not much time with these characters, but none the less, I made an emotional connection with each of them, and was rooting SO hard for their survival. I think this is the author’s true strength – creating full spectrum three-dimensional human beings who really got to me with their strength, resilience, vulnerability, humor, loyalty, and kindness to each other. There was one perfect circle moment I thought was really beautiful as a reconciliation with the past offered an opportunity for a different choice to be made in the present.

My only real criticism is that I wanted a bigger more detailed view of the sea floor as they travelled it. What he gave us was cool (the crabs!!!!!), but it felt like there should have been more, specifically surviving marine life, and I desperately wanted more rarely and never before seen deep sea creatures. I really think this could easily have been a longer book.

Ultimately, this story is bleak, harsh, and disturbing, the landscape stark and unforgiving, the journey harrowing – and then it’s done. This is not a morality tale - the author isn’t trying to drive us to a specific conclusion. There are no easy answers and we are left with questions, ones that I’m still thinking about.

"The song of the sea, waves rolling in on the shore. One of the world's most soothing sounds... and now a thing of the past."

[Claire-Louise Armstrong-Brealey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, just pure brilliance

[Jaana Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. Ok, if you read this and view it through the scope of a story, what is missing makes it an ok book, but nothing special. But if you see what is there, you will find something that is raw, gritty and confronting hidden inside a story about a weird event. That end... *deep breath* wow...

[❤ArtfullySinful❤ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do we have any water left?

A life ruled by hardships is receiving its final push as a father and his seven year old daughter now face the hardest and most confusing moments of their lives. Three years prior and Jessie Bray lost her mother Michelle is a horrible cancer that left her body so barren and broken she craves suicide to the pain she suffered from. Unfortunately, her husband Nathan believed if she kept pushing and performing the surgeries and chemo she would eventually find a way to the other side alive. Months of aggressive treatments and eventually her body could no longer stomach the fight, and she would leave behind her daughter with slim memories of her to remember. Now, Nathan works as a marine biologist and is bringing Jessie along on the boats as she’s begun showing interest in marine life. Excited to see a sea turtle in person, they’re all confused when the ocean around them began bubbling yet the temperate remained icy cold to the touch. As the ship began sinking, the water began evaporating until nothing remained but the bed of the ocean floor. Seeing the death and devastation of a world without water, only himself, Jessie, Earl and Meredith would survive the sinking of the ship. Tasked with the reality of limited food and water, they would also suffer injuries making the task at hand very difficult. Earl was injured when rusty metal impaled his leg as he tried desperately to survive the ship being sucked into a depression in the ground. Limping and with the infection spreading, the survivors are forced to perform an operation to remove the metal still inside of him. As they continue walking across the terrain, they would awaken not to long after to gigantic lobsters attacking and consuming Earl. Left in a bloodied and dying state, he would last only a few hours before succumbing to his injuries and having his body left behind to rot.

All the doctors have given up … so why can't I?

Three days into their steps and they’ve ran through the limited water they had available or and now face a life where dehydration is the next step. Watching his daughter’s skin shrink against her skull and her lips left chapped and bloodied, Nathan wishes he could save her. Meredith meanwhile is accepting this was her time, and looks forward to reuniting with her deceased husband. Forced to contour without Earl and Meredith, Nathan tries everything to keep his daughter’s spirits raised but finds the effort too much. Knowing he would rather poison her then let her suffer any further, he takes the final can of potato soup and infuses it with the leftover poison scraped from a fish a few days before. Handing the steaming meal to Jessie, he watches with sadness and pain as she takes her first few sips before returning it to his hand for him to eat. Finally seeing a sea turtle they’ve nicknamed Tommy, he feels so much guilt and remorse for Michelle and their daughter that he could no longer wait for death to claim them both.

"But what about the mission? We haven't found out if there are sea turtles on Oceania yet."

[Review Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Book provided for an honest review*

And I will luve thee still, my dear, / Till a’ the seas gang dry.
Robert Burns, A Red Red, Rose

It happened, all the water from the oceans evaporated while Nathan Bray and his 7-year-old daughter were aboard a ship bound for the Galapagos. This is the last thing they need when they are already trying to mourn Nathan’s wife who has recently died from cancer.

This book is an extended metaphor about how we approach death. Do we look it in the eye and go as gracefully as possible, or do we drag it out ‘til it has broken us and everyone around us? The juxtaposition between time periods, one where Nathan’s wife is suffering from incurable cancer, compared to the current one where Nathan and his child are faced with survival on what might as well be a new planet illustrates these complex problems in an entirely new and original way.

At first, you are just drawn into the story. I absolutely loved the journey across the dried-up ocean. I thought it was such a novel idea, plus every next problem they encountered was so interesting. I could have read for much longer Jacobsen’s creativity about what dangers and creatures the evacuees from the ship faced.

I cannot remember the last time I was so interested and excited about what would happen next in a book. There are jellyfish fields, unfriendly terrain, and nightmare creatures who used to dwell on the bottom of the ocean and have never been seen before. Just to name a few of the obstacles they encounter.

I wanted the book to go on forever, but the torture of the characters did have to end sometime. That’s part of the theme, ending the torture and making hard decisions in hopeless situations. Dry is a heavy book. It's not a feel-good book about overcoming obstacles. But it is a realistic book (not the dry ocean part) when it comes to dealing with a loved one experiencing cancer and its effect on those around them. If this is a trigger for you, steer clear. The other way this book shines is its heart. What wouldn’t you do for someone you loved? What if you got a second chance, a do-over to try again?

I read this book in one night. It kept me captivated and left me thinking. I can’t think of a better endorsement than that.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Home," she then says. "Like us."

This story was heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, yet so brutally realistic. I did not expect to love this story as much as I did.

This novel tells us the story of a father and daughter's struggle to survive in a barren and dry world where all water has disappeared. From beginning to end, Jacobsen builds this new and hopeless world with such beautiful and vivid imagery. It's so easy to lose yourself within this world and get sucked in. Before you know it, it's all come to an emotional end.

I became so attached to these characters, and I found myself rooting for them to survive and make it back to civilisation! They were so realistic, their character development written so well throughout. I don't think Nathan's internal and emotional struggle could have been written and developed any better than it was.

The only thing I would love to know is the answer to the water mystery and what happened! That is genuinely the only (and I say this very lightly) flaw to this story.

Overall, I genuinely adored this story! It had me hooked from the beginning and left me crying at the very end. It tackles the topic of how far a parent will go for their child and how difficult it can be to make the right decision, no matter how brutal, for someone you love!
The ending, in my opinion, was perfect and very realistic considering the circumstances they're facing. It was written so beautifully.

Thank you so much to the author, Per Jacobsen, for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I genuinely can not rate this story any more highly and have already started recommending it to everyone!

[Nikki Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished this book and I feel completely devastated.

The book is about a marine biologist who is traveling on a cargo ship with his 7-year-old daughter when something unknown causes the world's oceans to dry up within minutes. The handful of survivors are forced to navigate the dried-up sea bed and face the unknown perils that result from that, in search of a safe haven.

If you're considering reading this book, get off the fence and do it. If you haven't considered reading this book, consider it now and do it. This book is just so very good. It is wonderfully written. From the very first pages the writer doesn't just present a cast of characters to you, he introduces you to a loving, doting dad, an imaginative and boisterous little girl, a matronly widow with kindness to spare, and a burly ship mechanic with a big physical presence and an even bigger heart. He offers you believable relatable characters to whom you feel connected.

This book was difficult to put down, but very hard to read. It rips at your heart and exposes an early sense of dread that grows stronger with each flip of the page. I don't want to reveal anything that would ruin the experience for anyone else. I will say that the ending left me wounded. But it had to be that ending. It's the only ending that would have made sense.

Per Jacobsen hit a home run with this book. I will definitely be reading more by this author!
Dry

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 to 4 stars

This book was very short, somewhat light on settings and characters, but that made it very easy to follow and quick to get through. The sub-genres I guess are post-apocalyptic (or just apocalyptic?) and survivalist.

The reason I'm stuck between 3.5 and 4 is that there isn't a lot of tension between characters. Everyone gets along with no real interpersonal issues even as the world crumbles around them. The book promises a bleak ending right from the author's note/trigger warnings at the start, but the story doesn't feel dark and crazy like I expected. There also was not a lot of suffering by the characters on page, so I didn't quite feel the urgency much of the time even though it seemed hopeless for the characters based on the situation afflicting the world. But at the same time, it was almost refreshing, with the dad doing make-believe/roleplaying as astronauts or pirates or superheroes with the daughter to keep her spirits up. So, I can't fault the author much as overall I enjoyed following their journey.

This book really flew by fast and I'd love to read more by the author set in the same world with a different batch of characters. I just hope for more tension and conflict between characters next time, but either way I'm very interested in what comes next for the author and possibly the world this story is set in.

I listened to the audiobook and found the narrator to be perfect for the role, a very nice-guy voice for a main character who is a friendly father figure. It was a fantastic audiobook experience.

[Chiara Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The song of the sea, waves rolling in on the shore. One of the world's most soothing sounds... and now a thing of the past."

It was supposed to be a pleasant journey through the sea for Nathan and Jessie, but it ends up being one of their worst nightmares!

Suddenly stranded on the seabed with all the water disappeared, this is a story of mental strength more than anything and love! In this apocalyptic scenario, how are you able to survive with a 7 year old?

I can't say it was an enjoyable read because it was full of dread and made me reflect about myself, my inner strength and my choices if I were to be in the same position! I liked how Nathan's memories were interspersed into the story providing some context for his choices!

The only thing that I had a hard time reading was about the continuous eating of crabs, which saddened me enormously.. So I really had to put myself in their shoes to not think about that animal cruelty..

If you enjoy apocalyptic scenarios with lovable characters and hard decisions to make, this is the book for you!

Thanks to the author for the opportunity to read it and this is my honest review.

[Soph ♡ (elfmumma) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another apocalyptic NIGHTMARE from Per Jacobsen. This man writes dread, terror and heartbreak like no other!

Dry is a psychological thriller in which we follow our main characters Nathan and his seven year old daughter after an inexplicable event causes the ocean to completely disappear, leaving them stranded on the dried out ocean floor with two other survivors and only a small bag of rations to keep them going on their journey to find their way back to civilisation and Nathan has to realise exactly how far he's able to go for his daughter.

Jacobsen has such a cinematic and submersive writing style that you really feel like you're in the story with the characters, which in this case was absolutely heartbreaking. This book does not have a happy ending but honestly I cannot recommend it enough!

I also adored the little Easter egg mentioning Tommy from the Strung trilogy which is another must read of Jacobsen's!

Thank you so much to Humble Books and Per Jacobsen for the ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Craig Matthews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dry was a 3.5* read for me, a gripping read that ultimately just needed a little more depth (no pun intended).

Giving me a similar vibe, but less bleak, to The Road, I really enjoyed the central relationship between the father & daughter. The other cast of characters were thin, but the other two protagonists were likeable, and I enjoyed spending time with them. It was refreshing in some ways to not have major conflicts or arguments between them - over a short period of time and with such a small group it felt realistic that they would band together well - although it did remove some elements of drama.

The flashbacks to the protagonist's wife were upsetting, and while they ended up telegraphing the ending for me a little, they added a lot of depth to the main character and his pain and conflict were palpable.

Overall I thought this was a very strong book, and I may adjust my rating upwards once I've spent time sitting with it. A unique and interesting twist on a post-apocalyptic survival story.

[Lori Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Received as an ARC, this is an honest review. Dry is an amazingly poignant, profound and darkly beautiful masterpiece of desperate survival you'll remember long after you've finished reading. The voyage Nathan Bray and his seven years old daughter Jessie are taking to the Galapagos islands should have been an adventure... what it becomes for Nathan, Jessie, Meredith and Earl is a haunting journey within an enormous labyrinth of sand and stone; clinging onto life- searching for a light in the darkness that's slowly consuming them and forcing upon them stark choices no one wants but reality is calling upon them consider. The authors is absolutely honest about just how emotionally heavy this story is right up and he does not sugar coat how harrowing the road becomes for these characters. But it's how realistic and descriptive everything is that makes Dry extraordinarily memorable.


Definitely highly recommended.

[Beatrix Starling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just give me a minute here to find my words, I'm still reeling from the ending...

Dry had a curious, unusual premise: the ocean disappears quite suddenly and inexplicably, and we follow what happens to a few survivors from a boat that got stranded in the middle of nowhere on the ocean floor. Fascinating, right?

To be honest, i thought i was reading a different book from what i actually read up to the last 10 pages or so. I thought it may be a trilogy in the end, and we'll find out what happened, and i was so bloody curious what the author will come up with... And then in the home stretch it dawned on me: this is not what's happening. And my eyes opened wide and i read the last of the book where it suddenly all made sense and my whole perception shifted and i realised that this was a fucking brilliant book that probably marked me in ways i never expected.

Per Jacobsen, hats down and a huge thank you. Now let me go and message your wife to beg for a signed copy.

[Justin Boote · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a book a few weeks ago that I had to put down a few times. The most heartbreaking story I ever read. I just read another that equalled it. This goes straight into my top 5 ever. Even the premise was unique, something I've never seen before.
One day, while on a ship with his 7yo daughter, marine biologist Nathan wakes up to something inexplicable; all the water from the Pacific Ocean has disappeared. He finds himself with his daughter, an elderly lady and badly injured seaman as they try and make it somewhere, anywhere, battling against the elements, hunger and thirst, and it soon becomes apparent they're fighting a losing battle...
I would class this as post-apoc horror, truly unsettling. We have characters with flaws, constant obstacles in their goal to find water and safety, and as we near the ending the desire for our characters to survive is overwhelming. Highly, highly recommend if you like post-apocalyptic scenarios!

[Marie-France · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read a fair amount of apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic stories, but the concept presented in this story was a brand new one to me-- what would happen if all of the water just... evaporated?

This is what happens here. Not only that but the main character (Nathan) and his daughter are on a boat in the middle of the ocean on their way to the Galapagos Islands when it happens. The idea of being stranded on the ocean floor, surrounded by dead/dying sea life and having to traverse grounds that had been pretty much unknown to man until this event makes for an absolutely riveting and yet harrowing story to follow.

You may wonder what the point of reading about such a concept is as the ending seems to be so obvious, but reading about the struggles of the characters and their drive to survive is engrossing. The characters are relatable and you find yourself rooting for them, against all odds. This novel is bleak, but absolutely worth the read.