Review: The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.  This was released on September 18th, 2018.  I know my review is up a little late.  I've had this ARC for quite a while, but I'm so glad I read it.  If you like who-dun-its, or groundhog day type mysteries I highly recommend it.  It is a unique take on a mystery and I really enjoyed it.

This follows our main character Aiden over the course of 8 days as he tries to unravel a murder that hasn't happened yet. He finds himself at Blackheath, an old rundown estate, trapped in the body of someone else. He is looking for someone named Anna who he believes is dead. Aiden comes to find out that Anna is not dead, and that he is at a party, he is on a mission to solve a murder that hasn't happened yet, and his life is also in danger. He is assisted by Anna and the mysterious Plague Doctor who give him clues throughout the course of the investigation. Each day Aiden wakes up in the body of a different person who has a different perspective on the murder Evelyn Hardcastle, one of the party's hosts, if he fails to solve the murder he wakes up in the body of someone new the next. He remembers all of the knowledge he gained from his previous hosts in order to string together what he's learned by the 8th day in order to solve the unsolvable puzzle of Evelyn Hardcastle.

I really loved this. It was such a unique concept and I really enjoyed the twists and turns. Every time I thought I knew what was going on something else happened to prove my theory wrong. I loved that I didn't know "who-dun-it" the entire book.

There is a lot going on in this book, and it is fairly long. It doesn't feel like it though, the author does a great job keeping you engaged in the mystery and helping you keep all of the characters straight. It isn't fast paced, but it isn't slow either. The pacing was just right for the writing and story. I think that was quite a feat given the nature of the book. With the timeline and character switching this had the potential to be very confusing, and I always felt that I knew which character we were following and where we were in the story. Given the fact that the main character jumps characters several times and the timeline shifts several times the characters and side characters are fairly well developed for having so many. I really enjoyed this writing style and I'll be looking to read more of Turton's work in the future.


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