The classic story of Captain Ahab and his obsession with a huge whale, Moby Dick. The whale caused the loss of Ahab's leg years before, leaving Ahab so crazed by his desire to kill the whale that he is prepared to sacrifice his life, the lives of his crew members, and even his ship to find revenge.

The Volunteer, a nineteenth-century Yorkshire whaling ship, becomes the stage for a confrontation between brutal harpooner Henry Drax and ex-army surgeon Patrick Sumner, the ship's medic, during a violent, ill-fated voyage to the Arctic.

When a group of international activists arrive on the Faroe Islands, intent on stopping the traditional whale hunts, tensions between islanders and protestors run high. And when a woman is found viciously murdered only hours after a violent confrontation, the circumstances seem purposely designed to increase animosity between the two sides. As English DI Jan Reyna and local detective Hjalti Hentze investigate, it becomes increasingly clear that the...