Book Addicts Anonymous

Be warned, if you pick this book up and expect a "nice read" about a shipwreck, you won't get it. This is not a Swiss Family Robinson, or Robinson Crusoe for adults. The main character Jeronimus Cornelisz is a desperately flawed character, who in The Accomplice by Kathryn Hayman comes across as evil, and he doesn't come across any differently in this novel. However the novel is told from Cornelisz' viewpoint. He is a man given to sadistic pleasure, even from and early age, and he makes no excuse for it. In fact he sees his pleasures as entirely natural. This doesn't make him likable by any means, but the actions that he takes are entirely in keeping with his warped character. Having read The Accomplice, I knew what the book had in store, and wasn't horrified. I do wonder if the story may have inspired, in part William Golding's Lord of the Flies.
The Company is a good read, but not for those of a delicate constitution.
http://www.panmacmillan.com/displayPage.asp?PageID=2557

The extract above gives a potential reader an insight into the novel.