The suspense element is handled masterfully as Turton knows how and when to reveal crucial plot ingredients, keeping the reader on the edge of his seat, always guessing and trying to work out what is actually happening in the ship. Furthermore, the representation of an era is magnificent as the setting of the novel is the year 1634, and the author succeeds in bringing to life a long-gone epoch with all its peculiarities and hardships. The characters are so well-drawn and three-dimensional, regardless of whether they are likable or not, that the reader can immediately identify and root for.

There is a mixing of different genres such as murder mystery, thriller, suspense, and whodunit with splashes of horror as well as hints to supernatural/paranormal intervention embellished in the text that makes for an unforgettable reading experience. The Devil and the Dark Water is Turton's second book and bears many of the traits that made his first writing attempt a much-discussed, bestseller. The novel won the Costa Book Award for First Novel (2018) while it was also nominated for the Longlist of the prestigious Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year (2019). (Oct.Stuart Turton's debut novel, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, was a massive commercial and critical success and established the English author as one of the most inventive and original crime writers of our era. Agent: Harry Illingworth, DHH Literary Agency. Fans of impossible crime fiction won’t want to miss this one. As Turton ratchets up the tension en route to the brilliant resolution of the plot, he keeps readers in doubt as to whether a rational explanation is possible. The puzzles only continue once the vessel sets sail, including a locked-room murder, the reappearance of the dead leper, and a ghost ship dogging the Saardam. Hayes and another passenger, the governor-general’s wife, rush to help the dying man, only to find that his tongue had been cut out, making any speech impossible.

As the grim figure, who appears to have leprosy, prophesies that the ship won’t reach its destination, his clothing bursts into flame. From the dock, a bloody man issues a dire warning to the Saardam’s crew and passengers. Set in 1634, this outstanding whodunit from Turton ( The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle) opens in Batavia, where celebrated investigator Samuel Pipps, who was working in the Dutch East Indies until his arrest for an unknown reason, is about to be transported to Amsterdam aboard the Saardam, along with his longtime sidekick, Arent Hayes.

The devil in the dark water