[3][4][5] The novel is set over a 24-hour period on 23 October 2018 in the terminal building at the Andalusian port city of Algeciras in southern Spain.

The magazine's critical summary reads: "The Guardian finds Night Boat "an emotionally crushing panorama of two friends gone wildly astray, punished by regret but with their grim solidarity intact--so far" and deems Barry "a clairvoyant narrator of the male psyche".

[10] Publishers Weekly wrote, "Barry is a writer of the first rate, and his prose is at turns lean and lyrical, but always precise.

Though some scenes land as stiff and schematic, the characters' banter is wildly and inventively coarse, and something to behold .

James Marsh was attached to direct the film starring Michael Fassbender, Domhnall Gleeson and Ruth Negga.