Questions are swords and answers are shields

Goodreads \\ Amazon \\ Book Depository

A murder on the high seas. A remarkable detective duo. A demon who may or may not exist.

It’s 1634 and Samuel Pipps, the world’s greatest detective, is being transported to Amsterdam to be executed for a crime he may, or may not, have committed. Travelling with him is his loyal bodyguard, Arent Hayes, who is determined to prove his friend innocent.

But no sooner are they out to sea than devilry begins to blight the voyage. A twice-dead leper stalks the decks. Strange symbols appear on the sails. Livestock is slaughtered. Anyone could be to blame. Even a demon.

And then three passengers are marked for death, including Samuel.

With Pipps imprisoned, only Arent can solve a mystery that connects every passenger. A mystery that stretches back into their past and now threatens to sink the ship, killing everybody on board.

---

My Thoughts

This book was gripping, thrilling and down right amazing. It kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. The book starts immediately which I really appreciated. I like how the entire book takes place on a ship in the middle of the ocean. It makes the book feel more creepy because the characters are essentially trapped with no place to go. There were so many twists and turned which I really appreciated.

One thing I wasn’t super found of was the amount of characters in the story. I found myself getting them confused quite often. I also found the e-book formate to be distracting because it was set up weird but I’m not going to rate that against the book because I received this as an ARC.

Overall, I loved the writing style and the characters. Each character had some great growth and I wasn’t expecting the ending. I kind of saw it coming but not all of it. The writing was superb and vivid. I felt like I was on the boat the entire time I was reading it. The way each chapter ended I found myself not being able to put the book down. I recommend this if you’re into mystery with a little historical fiction thrown in. 🙂

Thank you to Sourcebooks and Edelweiss for the ARC!

---

Final Verdict: