Part maritime disaster story, part Fortean mystery, part Greek tragedy, this unsettling book tells a terrifying story of what can happen to a person when every avenue of escape seems closed. The book quotes liberally from Crowhurst's own writings and recordings, allowing the reader to see the man's descent into deception, desperation, and, finally, insanity. And yet, I didn't feel like Crowhurst came across as a bad person by any stretch -- simply someone who bet on himself too many times, and couldn't bring himself to face what seemed like a ruinous failure (and, for my money, might well have been suffering from bipolar disorder even before his final journey). There were at least a dozen times when this story could have gone differently, to a happier, more mundane, conclusion, but the wheels turned in a different direction, leaving us with this oddly moving cautionary tale.

Also, that last page of Crowhurst's log is one of the most horrifyingly fascinating things I've ever read. Gives me shivers.