Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - The Devil and the Dark Water

A good book!
It has all the good mystery traits of his previous book (7 ½ deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle) but with more paranormal-esque things.
Not my cup of tea, but still excellent!

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pkc's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

This book was WILD. Really confusing, but quite witty and however you think it will go is probably not how it will go. Violent, tense, scary, but very complex.

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diana_raquel's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

"Cleverness is a type of strength, and they won't accept a woman who's stronger than they are. Their pride won't allow it, and their pride is the thing they hold dearest."

Mystery thrillers are not my cup of tea. My reading tastes tend to be directed toward classics, fantasy, and contemporary. However, I loved the previous book of Turton.

After The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, I had an idea of what I would find in this book: a murder mystery full of details that wouldn't make sense until the final chapter, with an influence of speculative fiction. Well, I didn't get my speculative fiction influence. And that's okay. What I got was so much better. What I got was a murder mystery (somewhat) historical full of details that only made sense in the final chapters.

This was a really good book, with a solid structure. The characters were well developed and you never really know what they're thinking and what they might do next, which only made the narrative more compelling. And, as usual, my theories were all wrong, but then only made the narrative more interesting.

I think that the only thing that I wasn't a fan of was the pacing in the early chapters. They seem to be dragging and dragging. I understand the need to set the scene and the characters in a murder mystery but I think that this part could be done in fewer stages/pages.

Overall, I liked it and recommend it to murder mysteries lovers!

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tamara_joy's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

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lostpaperbacks's review against another edition

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mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Wow. Fast-paced, suspenseful and captivating. I knew I'd enjoy this one right from the first line. The first few chapters might be hard to follow with so many characters being introduced but as the story progresses, that won't be a problem. The writing really brought the ship alive, I can vividly imagine myself being on the ship amongst them.

The ending might be a little underwhelming and not that shocking but that didn't matter. I enjoyed the journey so much. The murders and sightings are so suspenseful I remember one time I got shivers for what's about to come. That's how immersed I was with this.

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oliverlang's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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v171's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Michelle Obama voice: Stuart you have done it again, constantly raising the bar for us all, and doing it flawlessly.

I shouldn't be surprised that this was my first 2021 5 star read, but I'm just so blown away! I say it all the time, but I'm not big on murder mysteries, but this one really had everything, I don't know where to begin. The setting was so vivid and well developed. The atmosphere and culture of the world and setting was conveyed very naturally without blocks of exposition. The characters we were supposed to like were charming, and the characters we were supposed to hate were loathsome, but neither in a heavy handed way. I did find some of the dialogue to be a bit rushed and unnatural, but it was easy to look beyond. There were a few underlying themes around sexism and class disparity that were touched on in interesting ways. The author did a great job of painting a more... gritty? realistic?... picture of sailors than the oft romanticized versions we see today. This added to the danger and suspense for the female characters of the book, without using needless violence towards women as a tool for character development.

It goes without saying, but if you liked Evelyn Hardcastle, or if you like Agatha Christie-esque murder mysteries, you'll love this. I can't recommend it enough.

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