There are plot twists and revelations and a frantic chase at the end which is almost as compelling as the end of Moby Dick. The New York Times Book Review picked this as one of its 10 Best Books of the year, and it is most deserving. But McGuire is an absolutely exquisite writer, and the pages roll as quickly as you can turn them. If all that sounds a little on the gloomy side, believe me, it is. What's not to like about a book whose most villainous character is named Drax? But the book is not so much about good and evil as it is about evil and evil and even more evil. If Moby Dick is about obsession, then The North Water is about evil. In trying to describe the book I can't resist this lovely line from Colm Toibin’s New York Times review: “‘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.” Exactly. The ship’s crew are a tough and sometimes villainous lot.

He signs up to be the ship's doctor on a whaling vessel because he can't really find anyone else who will have him. The Irish surgeon Patrick Sumner has some serious skeletons in his closet. The North Water by Ian McGuire is by no means a Moby Dick knockoff, but let's just say it partakes of the mood and spirit of that great novel. If you intend to mess with this story you had better do something pretty good. I then understood that the best reason to read Moby Dick is not all of the deep meanings that are certainly rumbling around beneath the surface of the sea but because it is a bracing good story.

As I was walking and listening I had to extend my walk and found myself almost breaking into a run as the book’s conclusion came rushing toward me. The final third was the most exciting thing I'd listened to in years. I admit the middle third is trying to say the least. But the first third of the book is brilliant. All I remembered from my first attempt was the slog through all the whale trivia. After all, it is sometimes referred to as “the American Bible” and it was a revelation. This time I decided I would do it by audiobook. I think I had read it once many years ago – or at least I was supposed to and made a good faith effort. A few years ago I decided to give Moby Dick another chance.

The north water book review