SO far this has been my favourite longlisted book. It tells the story of a doomed whaling voyage in the 1850s. The Volunteer sets sail from Hull with the motliest of crews, made up of brutes and savages and skippered by the dubious Captain Brownlee. In the first few pages we meet Henry Drax, a vicious harpooner with a thirst for murder. He casually slaughters a drinking partner and rapes a young boy in the harbour before even setting foot on the ship.
I thought the character Drax was one of nastiest characters I had read about for a long time.
The writing is violent and unflinching from the beginning with insurance fraud, sodomy, abuse, survival in a desolate environment and some pretty gruesome scenes within the pages. McGuire doesn't shy away from writing about the gory details of life, whether that’s putrid smells, bodily fluids, animal slaughter, or human cruelty.
The sharp dialogue and stylish prose help to create an unnerving atmosphere of peril and suspense on the high seas. However the violence eventually loses its power to shock because of its frequency.
The ending felt a bit abrupt
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