The North Water

A Novel

By: Ian McGuire

Narrated by: John Keating

Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

A 19th-century whaling ship sets sail for the Arctic with a killer aboard in this dark, sharp, and highly original tale that grips like a thriller.

Behold the man: stinking, drunk, and brutal. Henry Drax is a harpooner on the Volunteer, a Yorkshire whaler bound for the rich hunting waters of the arctic circle. Also aboard for the first time is Patrick Sumner, an ex-army surgeon with a shattered reputation, no money, and no better option than to sail as the ship's medic on this violent, filthy, and ill-fated voyage.

In India, during the Siege of Delhi, Sumner thought he had experienced the depths to which man can stoop. He had hoped to find temporary respite on the Volunteer, but rest proves impossible with Drax on board. The discovery of something evil in the hold rouses Sumner to action. And as the confrontation between the two men plays out amid the freezing darkness of an arctic winter, the fateful question arises: Who will survive until spring?

With savage, unstoppable momentum and the blackest wit, Ian McGuire's The North Water weaves a superlative story of humanity under the most extreme conditions.

©2016 Ian McGuire (P)2016 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

" The North Water...is a great white shark of a book - swift, terrifying, relentless and unstoppable." ( The New York Times)

"Riveting and darkly brilliant.... The North Water feels like the result of an encounter between Joseph Conrad and Cormac McCarthy in some run-down port as they offer each other a long, sour nod of recognition." ( The New York Times Book Review)

"[An] audacious work of historical suspense fiction.... It's the poetic precision of McGuire's harsh vision of the past that makes his novel such a standout...absolutely transporting." (NPR's Fresh Air)

Please write something else......anything else!

Any additional comments?

Incredible read......every sentence contains a gem!. Mr Keating's narration is flawless as well! Thank you Mr McGuire - hopefully you are busy at work on your next novel(s)....

Historical suspense

Wonderfully paced historical suspense story. The story is somewhat violent and there are some Scottish accents. If neither of those facts are issues for you then this is a great audio book. It is long listed for the Booker prize.

A Gripper

Where does The North Water rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

North Water ranks near the top of my audio books. A great crime-thriller.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Not on the edge of my seat, but fully engrossed until I fell asleep. Fast moving plot once the characters were developed.

Which scene was your favorite?

There were several, but to describe them is to reveal too much

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There were many

Any additional comments?

Hard to imagine a better description of pure, perverted human evil.

Remarkable job.

This audiobook is a complete performance. Listening to it is like attending appay with remarkable actors. A pure pleasure. I wish Dr. Sumner well.

A dark wicked journey on the sea

This book is wickedly dark and is only for those with a strong stomach. A cool portrayal of life on a whaling ship which sounds like hell, and the characters that inhabit the ship are among the worst humanity can dig up. Still, it's a compelling listen that is often thrilling if not depressing. At times I had to stop it and listen to something cheerier, because things got so rank.

Good men doing bad things

And bad men doing horrible things on British whaling ships. (Perhaps American whalers were less crude.) This is a very good yarn and not for the squeamish, filled with believable slices of life among gritty men. Very well narrated.

Brutal, but.....

...a well-executed narrative, very capably read by John Keating. I almost returned it at the outset as too gratuitously violent. In sticking with it, there is to be found an edifying realism - dark, often sinister, and quite unforgiving. The characters are presented in compelling fashion, thus giving form and function to a rather haunting tale of survival.

Ian McGuire is a good writer. I shall look into his other books.

Fiction for men

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

The author brilliantly creates a world you can nearly inhabit

Who was your favorite character and why?

The deplorable but resilient Drax. Who will be left in his wake?

What about John Keating’s performance did you like?

Amazing performance with accents tilted just enough to carry you onto the ship and ice

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The men gathered in the tent burning the last vestiges of wood

Any additional comments?

Will listen to this one again

strong in words as in tension, absorbing

What made the experience of listening to The North Water the most enjoyable?

The performance of the reader was magnificent and the description and choice of words very precise (although I not always knew all of them - as a non native English reader)

What did you like best about this story?

The unexpected turns and twists of the story

Which scene was your favorite?

Many different once. For example: In the captain Brownlee's office when Sumner asks to be allowed to examine Drax or when they catch the polar bear cub. I was fascinated how the writer described smells and sounds.

If you could take any character from The North Water out to dinner, who would it be and why?

I think the only one I would feel safe is Patrick Sumner

A "Man's Man" Book

Women and Ladies will find this repulsive of language, description, jargon and assault. That said, this is compelling writing, historical fiction and heroism under fire. The surgeon is dragooned into a mid 19th century whale ship fitted out with the worst of humanity: Read Psychopaths in small quarters. But the plot and style draw you in to adventure writing, the horror of a singular profession and prose colored with a broad, expressionist brush. This is the literature equivalent of German Expressionist painting. It is brutal in scope and yet fine in insight.