The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

The Devil and the Dark Water is the second book by award-winning author Stuart Turton, a delicious mix of historical fiction, fantasy and supernatural. As is usual with Stuart, the book defies genres giving us an impossible mystery on the high-seas in the times of Dutch East India Company of the 17th century, a devil onboard and a colorful array of characters who would leap out of the pages to park inside your heart, including the world's best detective Sammy Pips and his brawny bodyguard, Arent Hayes, whose mystery-solving exploits are famous across the world. 

This is my first Stuart Turton book and I am truly blown away by it. I am in awe of his writing prowess, his narrative is truly a guilty pleasure, with the wild but very befitting comparisons, his clever turn of phrases and of course, the fiendishly clever construction of the whole puzzle, this mystery turns out to be. Needless to say, Stuart goes right to the top of my "must-read-authors" for any of his books now. [ The Last Murder at the end of the world, here I come for pre-orders!] 

So as the story starts, it is the year 1634 and we are preparing for a gruelling eight month long voyage from Batavia to Amsterdam on an East Indiaman (a type of ship/galley). But the voyage is already beset by ominous prophesies promising ill-luck, murder and mayhem. Aboard are the Governor General Jan Haan and his wife Sara, daughter Lia. Jan is cold ruthless man, his heart too full of ambition and greed, to leave space for any love for his wife or daughter. He's particularly motivated for this voyage as he's traveling to Amsterdam to deliver a "prize-catch" to the mysterious capitalist governing cabal known as the Gentleman 17, so to take his own place among this world ruling council. Sara is a braveheart, a defiant woman, whose only mission in life now is provide a safe and free life for her precocious extraordinarily intelligent daughter Lia and she is prepared to take any risks to achieve this life goal of hers. Until she meets Lieutenant Arent Hayes on the same voyage, a righteous soldier who has taken up the role of protection of Sammy Pips, the world's most 'celebrated' detective. Now Sammy is a prisoner on this voyage, owing to some unexplained circumstances in his latest case involving a highly classified instrument, known only as the Folly. Also accompanying the General's family is this famous courtesan, Creesjie and her twin boys, currently a mistress to the Governor, sailing to Amsterdam to be wed to a duke. 

This makes up the main cast of characters on board Sardaam, the ship. Stuart opts for a twisted crime-drama for the narrative with enough twists and turns to make you forget your sea-legs. Throw in demons, harrowing histories of violence and oppression, murderous sailors, destructive storms, disappearing fleet of ships, you got a recipe for a clever unpredictable unconventional detective story. For those of you expecting a Holmes-Watson-esque mystery, expect to be surprised and delighted. For this is more of Arent's story rather than Sammy's. Sammy for the most part, is stuck imprisoned in the belly of the ship while Arent, whose beefy appearance belies his warm heart and sharp mind teams up with the determined Sara, an equally gifted genius in the art of deduction to solve this highly improbable crime onboard the ship. 

Stuart sets an unforgiving pace for his narrative, right from get-go on the island of Batavia before the voyage sets sail, with the introduction of the first set of misfortunes for our doomed party. The twists are self-aware, cleverly disguised and hits you square in the face. The action is grim and aplenty but it's the gentle quiet moments between these frenetic sleuthing that actually got me. Especially that burgeoning relationship between the gentle empathetic brute of a man, Arent Hayes and the quite, resolute and beautiful noblewoman Sara. There are several other characters who are painted up with brusque efficiency who play critical roles through the story, blending in with the fog and smoke of the stormy battlefields on -deck. 

Was this novel perfect? Damn near so, I would think. It isn't a conventional mystery nor is it an outright fantasy or horror story. What makes it so irresistible is this undeniably gleeful mix-up of genres and the wonderful inventive setting aboard an East Indiaman in the 17th century. It's an absolute delight, think a devilishly clever locked room mystery imbued with the action, build-up and pace of a Zack Snyder movie set on the high seas. I really wish to see more of Arent-Sammy duo and the rest of the characters in another story from these times. A heist story next perhaps?