The Devil and the Dark Water

Flat 3

Hurts to say....mid.

Great development, terrible ending.

2.5/5

"That's the problem with summoning demons, you see. Sooner or later somebody else raises them against you"

Batavia, 1634. Samuel Pipps, the greatest detective in the world, is on his way to his execution in Amsterdam. His crime? Unknown, even to him and his closest friend and companion Arent Hayes. As if that weren't enough, while boarding the ship the passengers and crew receive a warning from a leper and witness a horrifying death. Soon, while sailing on the Saardam, strange voices plague the ship and shocking events confuse and scare everyone on board. Could this be the work of a demon just like they were warned on shore? Or is something more human afoot? With Sammy Pipps out of comission, and trapped in a dark cell, only Arent might be able to save the ship, but is he up to the task or will the dark waters take them all?

This was such a ride. I started this book filled with optimism as I love a good mystery and this had all the initial makings of one. A closed room, well ship, murder with a may or may not be supernatural twist. Add to that an interesting subversion on the classic detective story, by taking out the genius investigator out of the equation, and I was sold. Good writing (if a bit too descriptive), short exciting chapters, well constructed characters, lot of questions, this was shaping up to be a 4 stars. Until the crime was solved in the most ludicrous, senseless way. After everything that I read the solution to the mystery was something out of an episode of Scooby-Doo

I am genuinely so disappointed and upset by this book, I feel quite cheated. When reading a crime novel I enjoy trying to solve the puzzle. I take notes, check the evidence, come up with theories, etc. This is why if I get to the end of a book and find out that there was no way to solve it because the author was lying or pulling stuff out of nowhere I feel quite tricked and deceived. The road might have been enjoyable but if the destination is a sham? That will make me flip my opinion immediately. And this book didn't even have the guts to just go for it, the conclusion committed the crime of not only being impossible to reach as a reader, but also being lame.

Rant incoming:
You want to know the big secret that made it all work? Money. That was it. Thanks to a diamond the crew behind "Old Tom" was able to [checks notes] bribe an entire crew of a Company ship into veering off course into a secret island and building a whole clearing of respectable shacks and offload provisions there. Said crew also kept their mouths shut for weeks and agreed to keep participating in this increasingly convoluted charade and were super loyal all because uh money. With that money they also got a carpenter and a bunch of other sailors to turn the Saardam into a giant Saw trap (in a matter of weeks), and they also kept their mouths shut until they were disposed of. Oh, and they bribed the ship's captain too. The thing is that this doesn't explain everything. How did the other ship know went to turn on the red light? Even if you plan it perfectly, things change and maybe the conditions aren't right. How were they communicating then? Timing wise, a lot of events made no sense, like Jan Haan's meeting with Sammy, they couldn't have known when he was going to show up to the cabin. And don't even get me started on the crew never even thinking of opening the viscountess' room

Too many ideas. This book was not tight. I felt like it needed another round of editing to get rid of parts that did not add to the story. I also felt there were too many characters and the main characters were underdeveloped.

This was an interesting read, and I liked how the author surprised me in the end with a bigger reveal than I was expecting. Yes, I do like books that have characters that I can't quite figure out or predict.

I picked up Devil because of my experience with 7 Deaths and I can say I am not disappointed! We board a ship in the 17th century with some nobels and a famous detective who has been imprisoned. And by the end we find our perceptions completely turned upside down. Now, there were quite a few inconsistencies which kinda bug me, part of the reason for the missing stars. Otherwise though I felt engaged and, especially by the mid point in the book, invested in finding out the end of the story. Also, I know that the historical stuff isn't all accurate, the author even mentions as much in the pages at the end but unless you feel the only way you can enjoy a novel (and a novel that is non-fiction too!) is 100% historical accuracy I think you will be fine. Along with the inaccuracies the reason I removed a star was the ending. Our main characters are supposed to be good, honest people but are able to forgive murder and other horrible things just because the story needed to end. I am not sure that I love that.