The Devil and the Dark Water
Author: Stuart Turton
Published by: Raven books
Pages: 555
Format: Hardback
My Rating ★★★★★
Published by: Raven books
Pages: 555
Format: Hardback
My Rating ★★★★★
It's 1634 and Samuel Pipps, the world's greatest detective, is being transported to Amsterdam to be executed for a crime he may, or may not, have committed. Traveling with him is his loyal bodyguard, Arent Hayes, who is determined to prove his friend innocent.
But no sooner are they out to sea than devilry begins to blight the voyage. A twice-dead leper stalks the decks. Strange symbols appear on the sails. Livestock is slaughtered.
And then three passengers are marked for death, including Samuel.
Could a demon be responsible for their misfortunes?
With Pipps imprisoned, only Arent can solve a mystery that connects every passenger onboard. A mystery that stretches back into their past and now threatens to sink the ship, killing everybody on board.
My thoughts:
A murder on the high seas. A detective duo. A demon who may or may not exist.
The Devil and the Dark Water is set during a 17th-century ocean voyage on an East Indiaman during the punishing eight-month ocean journey from Batavia to Amsterdam.
Onboard, its precious cargo is Samuel Pipps, the world’s greatest detective, awaiting execution for a crime he may or may not have committed. His best friend and loyal bodyguard Arent Hayes is doing his utmost to clear his name. This is how the story begins.
As the crew begin boarding the merchant ship, a leper suddenly appears high atop a pile of crates and issues a warning that the voyage will end in merciless ruin. He later bursts into flames and dies a very public and painful death. The observers, although chilled by his damning proclamation, shrug it off as the ramblings of a madman.
It's harder to ignore the devil's mark that miraculously appears on the sails, however. The incident understandably casts a sense of foreboding over the entire voyage. As mysterious happenings plague the ship, paired with reoccurrences of the devil's mark, Arent teams up with Jan Haan's wife, Sara Wessel, to try to get to the bottom of it.
An important piece of Arent's past, the lore of a demon named Old Tom, plays a large role in this story. Some say Old Tom is aboard the ship; that he's the cause of all the problems.
There's a ghost ship stalking them, the food supply is treacherously low, a storm threatens to sink them, people die, things disappear and throughout it all, Old Tom is trying to recruit passengers to the dark side.
Turton sets a vivid stage capturing the claustrophobic environment of the ship and blending it with old curses, beliefs and sailor’s superstition. When people start dying one by one, we start to believe in the devil. We don’t know whether it’s the devil dressed as man or a man dressed as the devil. The Devil and the Dark Water is all about narrative pleasure. The plot moves along at pace daring the reader to try and work out whether there is a demon onboard or who is behind the mayhem.
I absolutely loved the Pipps and Hayes duo and would love to read more of their adventures. I do hope there will be a second outing for these characters as there is so much more the author could do with them.
Ultimately this is a maritime mystery story with fantastical overtones, rich characters, and a gripping plot involving a demon, an impossible murder, and a celebrated detective. It’s an absolutely riveting read as well as an extremely fun and intriguing mystery novel. This was by far, one of my most enjoyable reads of the year.
Overall reaction:
A murder on the high seas. A detective duo. A demon who may or may not exist.
The Devil and the Dark Water is set during a 17th-century ocean voyage on an East Indiaman during the punishing eight-month ocean journey from Batavia to Amsterdam.
Onboard, its precious cargo is Samuel Pipps, the world’s greatest detective, awaiting execution for a crime he may or may not have committed. His best friend and loyal bodyguard Arent Hayes is doing his utmost to clear his name. This is how the story begins.
As the crew begin boarding the merchant ship, a leper suddenly appears high atop a pile of crates and issues a warning that the voyage will end in merciless ruin. He later bursts into flames and dies a very public and painful death. The observers, although chilled by his damning proclamation, shrug it off as the ramblings of a madman.
It's harder to ignore the devil's mark that miraculously appears on the sails, however. The incident understandably casts a sense of foreboding over the entire voyage. As mysterious happenings plague the ship, paired with reoccurrences of the devil's mark, Arent teams up with Jan Haan's wife, Sara Wessel, to try to get to the bottom of it.
An important piece of Arent's past, the lore of a demon named Old Tom, plays a large role in this story. Some say Old Tom is aboard the ship; that he's the cause of all the problems.
There's a ghost ship stalking them, the food supply is treacherously low, a storm threatens to sink them, people die, things disappear and throughout it all, Old Tom is trying to recruit passengers to the dark side.
Turton sets a vivid stage capturing the claustrophobic environment of the ship and blending it with old curses, beliefs and sailor’s superstition. When people start dying one by one, we start to believe in the devil. We don’t know whether it’s the devil dressed as man or a man dressed as the devil. The Devil and the Dark Water is all about narrative pleasure. The plot moves along at pace daring the reader to try and work out whether there is a demon onboard or who is behind the mayhem.
I absolutely loved the Pipps and Hayes duo and would love to read more of their adventures. I do hope there will be a second outing for these characters as there is so much more the author could do with them.
Ultimately this is a maritime mystery story with fantastical overtones, rich characters, and a gripping plot involving a demon, an impossible murder, and a celebrated detective. It’s an absolutely riveting read as well as an extremely fun and intriguing mystery novel. This was by far, one of my most enjoyable reads of the year.
Overall reaction: