It's a tad Holmes and Watson, a touch Treasure Island, but there's so much else, too; the lives of women at the time, the contemporary obsession with witchcraft and most of all the authentic stink, creak, superstition and slop of life on board an Indiaman, roaring sailors and all. If you read one book this year, make sure it's this one -- Wendy Holden ? Daily MailBrilliant... intoxicating... There are some great villains and terrific heroes, especially the gentle (and gory) giant Hayes.The Devil and the Dark Water overflows with wonderful descriptions, neat similes, and enough horror, mystery, and crime to keep anyone enthralled ? IndependentThink of a Holmes and Watson-style duo operating in a Pirates Of The Caribbean-style universe, complete with a demon with a love for Faustian pacts, a secret invention called The Folly and a leper who has seemingly survived being consumed by flames . A rollicking adventure yarn ? MetroThe Devil and the Dark Water is all about narrative pleasure . The locked room murder meets a Michael Bay movie, by way of Treasure Island; you can't know what's going on, if only because the author won't let you know until he's delivered the final surprise - and another one after that. The effect is irresistible. Turton has got his world up and running inside the first two pages; thereafter, deceptions and diversions multiply until the ultimate, outrageous reveal, at which point the dark water turns out to be rather darker than you imagined -- M John Harrison ? Guardian[Turton's] second book is an even more exuberant demonstration of his storytelling skills . Wildly inventive, Turton's tale defies definition as either historical fiction or crime novel, but provides all the pleasures of both genres and more ? Sunday TimesA rollicking tale of devils, lepers and witchfinders ? Irish TimesAn imaginative tour de force ? Literary ReviewTurton's prose is jaunty and vivid. And unlike most whodunits I wouldn't recommend it for pre-lights-out reading - not just because of the spooky bits, but because such a lovingly complex construct needs readers who are fully awake ? Sunday Telegraph, Novel of the WeekA genre sampling epic that sets outrageous traps for the reader and builds an atmosphere of dread up to an operatic final twist ? Financial TimesA glorious mash-up of William Golding and Arthur Conan Doyle -- Val McDermid Biografía del autor Stuart Turton's debut novel, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, won the Costa First Novel Award and the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Best Novel, and was shortlisted for the Specsavers National Book Awards and the British Book Awards Debut of the Year. A Sunday Times bestseller for three weeks, it has been translated into over thirty languages and has also been a bestseller in Italy, Russia and Poland. Stuart lives near London with his wife and daughter.