Onboard the whaling ship Volunteer, survival is a matter of brutality.
Henry Drax is a harpooner, a predator in every sense. Drunk, violent, and foul, he makes the icy voyage north even colder. Patrick Sumner, a disgraced army surgeon trying to outrun his past, signs on as ship’s medic hoping for calm. What he finds is far worse.
Trapped in the frozen Arctic with something monstrous hidden in the hold, Sumner is drawn into a brutal battle of wills against Drax. As the sun disappears and darkness reigns, the only rule is kill or be killed.
The North Water is a visceral, literary thriller where man’s worst instincts surface with the ice. It is bleak, riveting, and unforgettable.
