A book about a motivated liar that explores in excruciating detail the themes of self-delusion, cowardice, failure and self-annihilation. The book is well-written and full of detail, and would appeal to anyone who is interested in sailing, electrical engineering and even what it means to be a successful husband, father, business collaborator and entrepreneur. It is not a happy book to read, not only because we know how David Crowhurst's voyage will end, but also because we experience first-hand the torturous experience he put himself through.

While this book is definitive, and contains more information about Crowhurst's voyage than any online article or documentary produced so far, the one major fault in it is that, later in the book, there are long sections devoted to Crowhurst's nonsensical ravings jotted down in his logbooks towards the end of his trip, and his life.

I suppose the writers were trying to explain that Crowhurst committed suicide because of psychotic delusions rather than true remorse about how his lies and ineptitude had forced him into a corner, but these passages from the logbooks are tedious and uninteresting, and should have been excised.

Besides that, this book is a great read.