For the first time in Russian, this is the latest novel by Stuart Turton, author of the international bestseller The Seven Deaths of Evelina Hardcastle, translated into 30 languages and awarded the prestigious Costa Award for Best Newcomer. If The Seven Deaths of Evelina Hardcastle was called a puzzling, yet perfectly organic mixture of Downton Abbey and Groundhog Day, Agatha Christie and series like Quantum Leap, then The Devil and Dark Water is a brilliant cross between Conan Doyle and William Golding.
So, welcome to 1634. East India Company galleons carry nutmeg and black pepper, spices and silks from Batavia to Amsterdam. The route from the Pacific Islands to Europe leads around Africa and takes eight months. Not everyone got to Amsterdam: fierce storms and formidable pirates took their share. And now the Saardam is preparing to sail from Batavia. Among the passengers are Governor-General Jan Haan with his family and mistress, the famous "alchemical detective" Samuel Pips, shackled on an unknown charge, his partner is Lieutenant Arent Hayes. The signs of fate from the very beginning add up ominously. On the pier, the leper proclaims: “The cargo of the Saardam is marked with the seal of sin, and all who dare to board are in for a terrible death,” and flares up with a bright flame. When the sail is hoisted on the main mast, everyone sees a tailed eye drawn in charcoal on a white cloth - a symbol of a demon known by the name of Old Tom. And although there were seven ships in the convoy that sailed from Batavia, the eighth lantern periodically lights up in the night ocean. And when a murder happens on board, the functions of the detective, instead of the prisoner in the closet of Sam, nicknamed Sparrow, are forced to take on Arent, nicknamed the Bear...
