Preview
  • The North Water

  • By: Ian McGuire
  • Narrated by: John Keating
  • Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (30 ratings)

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The North Water

By: Ian McGuire
Narrated by: John Keating
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Publisher's summary

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, brutal and bloodthirsty, Henry Drax is a harpooner on the Volunteer, a Yorkshire whaling ship bound for the hunting waters of the Arctic Circle. Also aboard is Patrick Sumner, an ex-army surgeon with a shattered reputation, no money, and no better option than to embark as ship's medic on this ill-fated voyage.

In India during the Siege of Delhi, Sumner thought he had experienced the depths to which a man can stoop and imagined he'd find respite on the Volunteer, but now, trapped in the wooden belly of the ship with Drax, he encounters pure evil and is forced to act. As the true purposes of the expedition become clear, the confrontation between the two men plays out in the freezing darkness of an Arctic winter.

©2016 Ian McGuire (P)2016 Simon & Schuster
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Critic reviews

"Fast-paced, gripping. A tour de force of narrative tension and a masterful reconstruction of a lost world." (Hilary Mantel)
"Utterly convincing and compelling, remorselessly vivid and insidiously witty. A startling achievement." (Martin Amis)

What listeners say about The North Water

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Good writing, believable characters and plot

Ian McGuire is a good writer. The story clips along, the characters are believable and the plot plausible. Enjoyed it.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fast paced, rated 18+

Great writing, great performance, fast paced and graphic. Some chapters not for the faint hearted! Totally sucked me in.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Not a morality tale!

For the frist several chapters this is a book that presents a pessimistic and gloomy portrayal of the human race. The tone is almost oppressive. Which is not to say it is a bad book. Depending on your state of mind this might be interesting or repellent. After this scene setting things start happening and the plot progression provides some respite from the gloom but it never leaves the novel.

Once the plot kicks in it continues at a decent pace to its conclusion. I was impressed with the writers ability to describe the physicality of the world his characters inhabit; there is no air-brushing away the filth or corporal reality.

John Keating was an excellent choice for the narrator; an excellent pairing for this novel.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

gripping story. rivetingly told and written

Loved it. Couldn't turn it off. the narrator is fantastic and it is beautifully viscerally engaging

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

needlessly horrific

A macho wet dream that didn't need to be written. It starts with the rape of a young child and goes downhill from there.

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