Books › Devil and the Dark Water
Devil and the Dark Water
605 pages
A dread-soaked, locked-room puzzle box set on the high seas, where every shadow hides a demon or a deadly secret.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like being trapped below decks on a rotting galleon while a storm rages outside and something unseen stalks the corridors. It is a masterclass in claustrophobic dread, blending the intricate, puzzle-box plotting of a classic locked-room mystery with the eerie, supernatural ambiguity of a gothic ghost story. The narrative moves at a propulsive clip, driven by a ticking clock of impossible crimes and mounting paranoia among a deeply suspicious cast of characters. The prose is vividly cinematic, making you smell the salt, the grime, and the fear. It is an absolute delight for readers who love their historical mysteries laced with theatrical darkness, where the line between human malice and demonic intervention is constantly, thrillingly blurred.
- Mood
- claustrophobic
- dread-soaked
- eerie
- stormy
- paranoid
- Tone
- ominous
- theatrical
- suspenseful
- wry
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- superstition versus reason · the corrupting nature of greed · loyalty and friendship · the inescapable past · the anatomy of evil
- The writing
- Cinematic and sensory-rich, dripping with the grime, salt, and shadows of a decaying galleon.
- The arc
- Moves from a creeping sense of nautical unease into frantic, claustrophobic paranoia before culminating in a breathless, mind-bending revelation.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave intricate, puzzle-box mysteries wrapped in thick gothic atmosphere and supernatural ambiguity.
Content notes
- animal death
- gore and violence
- claustrophobia
- disease and decay
About the book
It's 1634 and Samuel Pipps, the world's greatest detective, is being transported from the Dutch East Indies to Amsterdam, where he is facing trial and execution for a crime he may, or may not, have committed. Travelling with him is his loyal bodyguard, Arent Hayes, who is determined to prove his friend innocent, while also on board are Sara Wessel, a noble woman with a secret, and her husband, the governor general of Batavia.
But no sooner is their ship out to sea than devilry begins to blight the voyage. A strange symbol appears on the sail. A dead leper stalks the decks. Livestock are slaughtered in the night. And then the passengers hear a terrible voice whispering to them in the darkness, promising them three unholy miracles. First: an impossible pursuit. Second: an impossible theft. Third: an impossible murder. Could a demon be responsible for their misfortunes?
With Pipps imprisoned, only Arent and Sara can solve a mystery that stretches back into their past and now threatens to sink the ship, killing everybody on board...
'A glorious mash-up of William Golding and Arthur Conan Doyle' Val McDermid 'A superb historical mystery: inventive, twisty, addictive and utterly beguiling... A TRIUMPH' Will Dean
From the author of the dazzling The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle,
Description from Open Library.
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