After his first book The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, which I confess I haven’t read, earned rave reviews across the board, I will admit I was intrigued by and rather eager to dive into Stuart Turton’s follow-up, The Devil and the Dark Water.
It would appear that Stuart has a particular knack of writing historical stories, with this one set in the 17th century. The story itself centers around two main characters; Pipps – accused of crimes by the Batavian governor, and Arent, who acts like a bodyguard and seems to be his only friend, who are, along with scores of other passengers, to set sail for Amsterdam. The books’ first shock comes early on, just prior to boarding, and involves a leper, fire and a warning about “Old Tom” who will wreak havoc. What follows is quite the adventure and intriguing story, something that’s often hard to create when the setting of such story never really changes.
On board the boat is some cargo that few know about, or if they do, the don’t know what it is. It appears this cargo is both precious and dangerous as pretty soon, mysterious and unexplainable deaths start to happen on board the ship, with the message of “Old Tom” being left, in various ways, as a warning. It’s up to Arent, governor’s wife Sara and her daughter – her very smart daughter – Lia to try and find out what’s going on before the entire ship falls victim to the darkness surrounding them.
Yes there have been scores of “whodunnit” books released over the years, and yes, I have read many of them, and while The Devil and the Dark Water admittedly took me some time to get into – it’s quite a big book just so you know – certainly by the half-way point in the story, I found myself intrigued enough to keep turning the pages. The “Old Tom” part in particular was well thought out and detailed, not ever really dropping any hints as to who or what it was or meant, but it was the final quarter of the book that really had me gripped. I can usually guess what’s coming in the pages ahead, but this one got me good – and when the big reveal occurred (no spoilers!) I was completely dumbfounded by how I genuinely hadn’t thought about or considered it and I applaud anyone who figures it out before the truth is laid bare.
In summary, if you love historical based books – including Stuart’s last novel – you will likely absolutely lap this up. It’s not a book or story for everyone, and it might seem like quite the slog given the size of the book itself, but the big reveal at the end makes it worth sticking with.
The Devil and the Dark Water is out next week.
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