The Devil and Dark Water (Stuart Turton)

We are pulling into port in Batavia, just in time to witness the shocking arrest of Samuel Pipps, the great detective.  What was his crime? we ask of the crowds.  They do not know.  What will happen now?  Execution.  Curious, the crew of the Arabella prepares to follow the ship setting out for Amsterdam.  Things are never simple, however.  Strange symbols appear on the ship's sail, a leper calls out an ominous warning, and soon, there are deaths.  The ship is cursed, everyone claims, but who knows if our crew will be able to survive in order to find out what happens!

So, your captain has a few choice words to say about this book.  First and foremost, it was an excellent, gripping tale that was nearly impossible to put down.  But, the ending took a turn that I didn't approve of, and I would argue that Turton lost the plot and sort of messed everything up in the last 2-3 pages.  Which is frustrating anything you're reading a book, but when that book happens to be over 450 pages, you feel somewhat cheated for committing that much of your time to it.  I lost so much sleep over trying to finish "just one more chapter" and to have the ending that it did just galled me.

I guess I would give this an average rating, since most of it was so good and the ending was so poor, they sort of balance out in the middle.  Would I recommend this?  Maybe?  I guess there are others who wouldn't feel the same way that I did about the ending.  And I'll be honest, the rest of the book was really good.  But, I feel somewhat cheated.  Although, I guess in keeping with a book's theme, a deal with the devil will usually leave you feeling cheated in the end.

Regardless of my review, Stuart Turton really is a very good writer, and I'm looking forward to seeing what else he writes in the future.