Devil and the Dark Water

"So this is how men go to the devil. Cap in hand and short of hope, all their prayers gone unanswered."

A literal ship-in-a-bottle murder mystery, set in the 1600s, with supernatural elements. Not something I knew I needed or wanted until now, yet here we are. I will be upfront at the beginning here -- there are some problematic elements to this that made it hard for me to rate this book. I'm fully honest here that I probably was generous with the rating because I enjoyed the ride so much.

The Saardam, bound to Amsterdam from Batavia, is taking on passengers. A detective, Samuel Pipps, and his friend/bodyguard Arent Hayes are aboard, the former as a prisoner being transported and the latter as his escort and support on the way to trial. Also aboard is the Governor General, Jan Haan, his wife, his daughter, and his consort, as well as a small handful of other characters notable for their role in the events to come. Immediately before the ship gets underway, a mysterious leper calls out a curse on the ship and all aboard and immediately bursts into flames. Under this inauspicious event a great deal of superstition is fostered amongst the passengers and crew, superstition that is fanned even more after whispers are heard at night, a mysterious lantern is seen following them at night, animals are mysteriously slaughtered, and a great deal other supernatural events. Arent and Haan's wife Sara become neck deep in trying to solve the mystery, but with a deadline imposed on them all by Old Tom and things becoming more mysterious and not less, they aren't sure if they can in time.

I really enjoyed the setup and the mystery, just the right amounts of downtime spent trying to uncover clues and actual action and events that add layers to the whole thing. This was my first book by Stuart Turton, and I especially loved his writing style here. The actual mystery is a real head-scratcher, and I found myself making wrong guess after wrong guess at what was actually going on. I won't say much about the actual conclusion though, just that it wasn't what I was expecting. I actually felt a little let down at the big reveal at the end, but not enough to regret reading the book. Suffice it to say that there's a great deal of twists near the end, like any good mystery novel.

The elephant in the room here, and the reason for the 4 stars and not 5, is the author's handling of Sara's situation, and the situation of the female passengers near the end more generally. While, yes, it is the 1600s, and there's a certain amount of cultural baggage that comes with the era, I could have done without the on-page occurrences of spousal abuse. Additionally, (and, spoilers here for the end of the book events, but not the mystery as a whole), during the shipwreck period, why do we leap immediately to "well, we're low on food, I guess we should create a harem with the unmarried female passengers to keep crew morale up"? It felt tonally off, considering the rest of the book. Yes, mutiny, scum of the sea, thieves and villains all, I get it, but there's other ways to convey that than island sex slavery. .

All that said, I still really enjoyed the high seas murder mystery feel, and thus the 4 stars. I understand some of it may be hard to overlook though, and can understand the varying experiences listed here. I also listened to the audiobook, and thought the narrator did an excellent job at narrating this book and keeping my interest.

I read Turton’s debut novel, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, a short while before this book came out. So when a friend told me this was coming out, I knew I had to read it at some point. While Evelyn was a brilliant debut novel, I feel that Turton has really honed his skills in The Devil and the Dark Water. While not without its flaws, Devil really pushed me along its storyline—every time I ventured a guess, Turton was of course a step ahead. I even made notes on paper! I was very invested—sorry, term papers, I swear I’ll get to you and stop procrastinating this weekend.

The characters are well-developed and fleshed out, and I found myself suspecting all of them at one point or another. Such is the state of mind Turton puts you in. I don’t find myself reading mystery often, and Turton makes me regret that—but also, if I’m reading any mystery, I’m glad it’s him. (It makes me want to revisit Agatha Christie, whom I haven’t read since my youth.) People are complex, and Turton doesn’t shy away from that—each character has their own secret, their own vices and virtues. This means that the characters don’t fit easy tropes or roles, leaving the reader guessing their intentions until the very end.

There are some clunky writing moments, and minor plot holes that were not fully addressed. For example, spoilers: Who is the lady in grey that Crauwels sees at dinner? Why does Sammy (dressed as the leper) spare Arent after seeing his father's rosary, or did he always intend to spare Arent? How did Pieter conveniently have a past as an assassin, and why did he not recognize his new wife as the young daughter whose family he had ruined? These questions didn't really have neat answers, and I'm sure you can explain them away somehow, but they still nag me. The ending we get is satisfying and consistent with the plot, but Turton doesn’t baby the reader, wrapping it all up in neat bows. Real life is messy, and the ending is realistic—not all questions are dealt with—but that’s the nature of reality, and that is what the characters settle for as well. I found myself wanting more explanations, but Turton trusts the reader to get lost in the story, the details, and especially the nuance. This is easily a book I can expect to reread, which isn’t something I do much. (And I need to reread Evelyn, too…)

Whether you like history, ships, mysteries, or a good whodunit, there’s probably something in this book for everyone. I came in expecting Turton’s tricks from Evelyn, and I can see hints and echoes of that work here; but ultimately, the author is giving the reader an entirely new and well-crafted world to dive into. It isn’t always a perfect execution, but it’s a damn good one. Also, what is it with books starting with ‘The Devil’ that end up being fantastic…? The other example I have at hand is The Devil in the White City, which is one of my favorite books. It isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happened twice.

P.S. More spoilers: I just want to add, I love a good revenge story. The end started giving me The Count of Monte Cristo vibes, and I loved it. Also, I called Sammy being in on it from the start, and I am proud of that.

Michelle Obama voice: Stuart you have done it again, constantly raising the bar for us all, and doing it flawlessly.

I shouldn't be surprised that this was my first 2021 5 star read, but I'm just so blown away! I say it all the time, but I'm not big on murder mysteries, but this one really had everything, I don't know where to begin. The setting was so vivid and well developed. The atmosphere and culture of the world and setting was conveyed very naturally without blocks of exposition. The characters we were supposed to like were charming, and the characters we were supposed to hate were loathsome, but neither in a heavy handed way. I did find some of the dialogue to be a bit rushed and unnatural, but it was easy to look beyond. There were a few underlying themes around sexism and class disparity that were touched on in interesting ways. The author did a great job of painting a more... gritty? realistic?... picture of sailors than the oft romanticized versions we see today. This added to the danger and suspense for the female characters of the book, without using needless violence towards women as a tool for character development.

It goes without saying, but if you liked Evelyn Hardcastle, or if you like Agatha Christie-esque murder mysteries, you'll love this. I can't recommend it enough.