Re: The Devil In The Dark
Anna Pybus
But no sooner is their ship out to sea than devilry begins to blight the voyage. A strange symbol appears on the sail. A dead leper stalks the decks. Livestock are slaughtered in the night. And then the passengers hear a terrible voice whispering to them in the darkness, promising them three unholy miracles. First: an impossible pursuit. Second: an impossible theft. Third: an impossible murder. Could a demon be responsible for their misfortunes?
The best I can come up with is that The Devil and the Dark Water is a cross between Assassins Creed: Black Flag (age of sail shipboard shenanigans), Murder on the Orient Express (enclosed murder mystery with limited suspects and a brilliant, eccentric detective) and Jaws (terrifying horror stalks everyone on board and you are DEFINITELY going to need a bigger boat). See what I mean about genre-defying?
The end result is, however, utterly brilliant. Turton once again weaves seemingly disparate plot strands and characters into an intricate and tightly bound web to create an elaborate and mind-bending puzzle that kept me guessing right up until the final pages.
The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton is published by Bloomsbury Raven and is available now from all good booksellers and online retailers including Hive, Bookshop.org, Waterstones, and Wordery. My thanks go to the publisher and to Netgalley UK for providing an e-copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review.
If you can, please support a local indie bookshop by ordering from them either in person or online! Some of my favourites include Booka Bookshop, The Big Green Bookshop, Sam Read Booksellers, Book-ish, Scarthin Books, and Berts Books.
Synopsis with info from the book flap: Murder on the high seas. A detective duo. A demon that may or may not exist. It's 1634, and Samuel Pipps, the world's greatest detective, is being transported from Batavia [modern day Jakarta, Indonesia] to Amsterdam to be executed for a crime he may or may not have committed [he hasn't even been told what the charge is]. Traveling with him is his loyal bodyguard, Arent Hayes, who's determined to prove his friend innocent. Among the other passengers is Sara Wessel, a noblewoman with a gift for healing and a secret.
But no sooner is their ship out to see then deviltry begins to blight the voyage. A strange symbol linked to Old Tom, a demon that had previously ravaged Europe, appears on the sail. A dead leper stalks the decks. A ghost ship stalks them. Livestock is killed in the night. And then the passengers hear a terrible voice, whispering to them in the darkness, promising three unholy miracles. First an impossible pursuit. Second an impossible theft. And third an impossible murder. If they choose to follow Old Tom, their lives will be spared and a their deepest desire granted. Could a demon be responsible for their misfortunes? And could a pledge to the demon save them?
With Pipps imprisoned in the hold of the ship and able to give only limited advice, only Arent and Sara (assisted by Sara's brilliant daughter Lia and Sara's dearest friend Creesjie Jens) can solve the mystery that stretches back into the past and now threatens to sink the ship and kill everyone on board...
I really hoped that Turton was going to provide another knock-out as he had with his debut novel, The Eleven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. He came close--but the ending was a real let-down to me for a few reasons. First, and certainly not Turton's fault, I had just come off reading two mysteries where someone involved in investigating the murders wound up being the villain of the piece. Finding out that this was another one of those was disappointing, not least because (unlike the other two mysteries) this particular solution wasn't even satisfying for me. I could, just maybe, have swallowed half of the final duo being responsible (yes--two of the investigators are part of whodunnit, folks), but not both. I also don't feel like the other characters responded to that revelation true to form as they had been presented to us throughout the book.
Outside of my dissatisfaction with whodunnit, the solution is still not quite kosher. I find it difficult to believe that four people (our two main culprits had a couple of assistants) were able to roam around the ship at night, whispering Old Tom enticements to every single crew member and passenger (hundreds!--according to the numbers who are said to have perished in the shipwreck) without having been spotted by somebody. They had to be at it all night to reach everybody.
Sammy had one told him that love was the easiest thing to spot, because it didn't look like anything else. It couldn't hide itself, it couldn't disguise itself, it couldn't go unnoticed for very long. Arent had never really understood what that meant until now. (p. 396)
A mining colony desperately seeks help from the Enterprise in finding and killing a monster that has been tunneling through the mines and killing men. As Kirk, Spock, and a security team track the monster, they learn that it is not inherently hostile but rather misunderstood. Spock mind-melds with it (mind-melding with a rock?), and learns the nature of its existence.
With the intriguing encounter with the Horta, "The Devil in the Dark" represents some of Trek's best ideological values: tolerance for all forms of life, the search for intelligence in unlikely places, and communication with the unknown rather than simply destroying what we fear. And as an action show, the episode works well, too.
In rewatching this episode, thought for the most part, it was reasonably creative and interesting. It falls apart a little on production value (honestly, the Horta looks like little more than an actor crawling on the floor with a decorated blanket over his head) and some hokey dialog with Spock (ridiculously talking Kirk into taking him into danger by quoting some made up odds of them both being killed and later complaining about being insulted on the bridge in a sloppily written ending).
I really liked this episode because, as noted above, it demonstrates the Federation values of respect for other life forms. Now, if only humanity could embrace this philosophy with regard to other intelligent life forms on Earth, we would be in a better position (morally) if and when we encounter them beyond this particular planet. As for the mining operation, I thought it would have been more consistent with Federation policy to force them to evacuate rather than continue to endanger the Horta. But the show was written in the '60s, and thus mining was considered a good thing - a form of "progress" - rather than its true face: an activity that destroy eco-systems.
I liked this episode a lot, too. I wonder though what would have happened to the Horta if they would have been peaceful, but useless? Also knowing human nature, I don't really think the arrangement will work for the Horta in the long run.
It would be beautiful if things did work out that way, though. But, we don't even treat different "life forms" on our own planet with respect and care. Sometimes Star Trek really highlights what the hell is wrong with us. :(
I also didn't quite buy the transformation of the pitchfork carrying villagers (aka the miners). Guess I'm very cynical with regards to human nature.
For me, this episode, "Day of the Dove" and "The Empath" are the three TOS episodes that best epitomize the Trek philosophy and idealism as Gene originally envisioned. Whenever someone asks me what I see in Trek besides phaser battles, I simply point them to this episode.
I couldn't help but think that the Horta greatly resembled Pizza the Hut, and I kept thinking that they probably could have healed her faster if they had just put her pepperoni back on.
Spock's initial attempt at the mind meld was highly reminiscent of Troi's little performance in "Encounter at Far Point," when she taps into the creature that basically IS Farpoint Station. I wonder if they told Marina Sirtis to study that scene in preparation. The wailing of "Pain!" over and over again was no more attractive from Spock than from her.
All that having been said, I did enjoy the episode, and the spirit of the message they were attempting to convey. One little nit, though... Shouldn't Bones have said, "Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor, not a stonemason!" instead of "bricklayer"?
Whatever. I agree with Jammer, three and a half stars.
The question that came to my mind while watching this episode was, If multiple generations of Horta have been tunneling through rock on that planet for eons, why is there any rock left? There is one plausible explanation, but it depends on the notion that in tunneling around, the Horta are consuming the rock, as opposed to just creating passages with their industrial-strength acid.
Just rewatched this on DVD this afternoon, a rainy winter's day in Melbourne, with my 25-year old daughter home from uni. Classic. Classic. Classic ST. On every level. The Spock-McCoy thing is really subtle here." I'm a doctor,not a bricklayer" is a Hall of Fame legendary line. The pace is crackling, those frontier miners are gritty, and even Shattner doesn't chew any scenery here. The man could act when he put his mind to it. And I've wanted one of those silicon balls since I first saw this as kid in the 60s. Beyond stars and ratings. Eminently rewatchable on a loop.
One of the best Trek TOS episodes for me - conveys the respect for other lives, no matter what they look like or have done. Very well conceived, written and acted. Took the crew a bit of time to figure out the silicon nodules are eggs but that may be because McCoy ridicules Spock for his initial suggestions about silicon-based life.
In any case, there are the iconic scenes of Spock and the Horta in mind-meld, the "No Kill I" and McCoy's initial scepticism for healing the creature. Kirk's lines are great in convincing McCoy to heal the Horta.
The episode moves at a good pace, there's no down time - everything is done with a purpose. Great how the episode starts not with the Enterprise approaching the planet but with the situation with the miners getting killed. Good to start differently.
No question, this one's 4/4 stars for me - what Star Trek TOS was all about with good acting, a good plot/suspense, and establishing a moral principle.