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    The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle: from the bestselling author of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Last Murder at the End of the World
    Unavailable
    The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle: from the bestselling author of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Last Murder at the End of the World
    Unavailable
    The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle: from the bestselling author of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Last Murder at the End of the World
    Ebook547 pages9 hours

    The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle: from the bestselling author of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Last Murder at the End of the World

    By Stuart Turton

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    About this ebook

    Stuart Turton's epic instant Sunday Times bestseller The Last Murder at the End of the World is OUT NOW
    Solve the murder to save what's left of the world...

    The global million-copy bestseller: introducing The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
    ---------------------
    Can you solve the mystery of Evelyn Hardcastle?

    WINNER OF THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD
    WINNER OF THE BOOKS ARE MY BAG NOVEL AWARD
    A WATERSTONES THRILLER OF THE MONTH
    SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS DEBUT OF THE YEAR
    LONGLISTED FOR THE THEAKSTON OLD PECULIER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR

    Gosford Park meets Groundhog Day by way of Agatha Christie and Black Mirror – the most inventive story you'll read

    Tonight, Evelyn Hardcastle will be killed... Again

    It is meant to be a celebration but it ends in tragedy. As fireworks explode overhead, Evelyn Hardcastle, the young and beautiful daughter of the house, is killed.

    But Evelyn will not die just once. Until Aiden – one of the guests summoned to Blackheath for the party – can solve her murder, the day will repeat itself, over and over again. Every time ending with the fateful pistol shot.

    The only way to break this cycle is to identify the killer. But each time the day begins again, Aiden wakes in the body of a different guest. And someone is determined to prevent him ever escaping Blackheath...

    SELECTED AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE GUARDIAN, I PAPER, FINANCIAL TIMES AND DAILY TELEGRAPH
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateFeb 8, 2018
    ISBN9781408889572
    Unavailable
    The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle: from the bestselling author of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Last Murder at the End of the World
    Author

    Stuart Turton

    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, it has been translated into over thirty languages, and has sold over one million copies in the UK and US combined. The Devil and the Dark Water, his follow up, won the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Fiction and was selected for the BBC Two Book Club, Between the Covers, and the Radio 2 Jo Whiley Book Club. Stuart lives near London with his wife and daughters.

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    Reviews for The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

    4/5

    1,642 ratings122 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I enjoyed this book, but did find all the characters hard to follow at times. I also felt it dragged on a little bit and seemed longer than it needed to be. However, I thought it was a unique take on the typical cozy mystery. I enjoyed each of the characters and trying to figure out what was going on. Lots of twists and turns. I definitely did not figure out all the different twists.
    • 5/5
      The concept – the whole book – is extraordinary,A man wakes up in an unfamiliar body, with no idea who he is, where he is, what he has done or what he should be doing. He will learn that he has been sent to a house party to solve the mystery of the murder of a young woman – Evelyn Hardcastle – at exactly eleven o’clock that night.He has eight days, he will experience eight different lives; and if he fails to solve the murder by the eighth day he will be sent back to the first day to will start all over again, remembering nothing of those eight days. That cycle will continue, time and time again, until he presents the correct solution.I was drawn from the start by the voice and the confusion of the narrator. He woke in a forest early in the morning, he heard a shot and believed that there had been a murder that he might have prevented, and he really had no idea who he was, where he was, or how he might find his way out of the forest.All he knows is a name – Anna.A sinister figure – who he suspects is a murderer – directs him to the stately home set in the middle of the forest. He learns that he is a house guest there, that no one has any idea who Anna is, and his urgent request to investigate a murder in the woods are not taken seriously at all. All he can do is use his wits to work out who he is and what is going on; because even when he taken up to his room, even when he looks in the mirror, he has no idea who he is, what he has done or what he should be doing.He begins to find out a little about who he is, he learns a certain amount by listening to what is going on around him; but when he wakes up the next morning he finds that he is someone else entirely.Later that day he begins to learn about his position and his mission from the strange and mysterious figure who will be his guide – The Plague Doctor.As the days pass by he will try to complete that mission, but he doesn’t know who he can trust, who might be involved in the crime, and which other lives he might come to occupy; and he has no idea at all why he has fallen into such a nightmarish situation.He does knows that he must find Anna, and understand what connects the two of them.I thought that this book might sink under the weight of its complexity but it didn’t; and I had a wonderful time caught in the moment with the narrator and his many hosts.I loved the different perspectives, and though I didn’t make a significant effort to see if all of the pieces of this gloriously complex puzzle fitted together I can say the things that I spotted did; and that said puzzle and its the myriad overlapping and intertwining story-lines can only have been the work of a brilliantly inventive mind.They wouldn’t have worked if the characterisation hadn’t been so very well done. All of the hosts were complex, nuanced characters; and to make them live and breathe while maintaining the character and the story of the man who was occupying their bodies and their lives was a magnificent balancing act.The central story had the familiarity of a Golden Age mystery, but the puzzles were shiny and new. Why was the Hardcastle family throwing a party to commemorate the anniversary of the murder of their child ten years earlier, having invited all the people who were present that day back to the decrepit home they had abandoned years ago? What was the connection between the events that were playing out in the present and the events that had played out ten years earlier?That could have made a very good book on its own. It would have worked, because although the story is strange and fantastical, the human drama and emotions feel utterly real and its world is so utterly real that it is easy to step into it and be caught up in the story.The book is so full of unexpected twists and turns, and I had a wonderful time wandering through its pages, knowing that I had some idea of what was going on and waiting for revelations. Those revelations came tumbling out in the final chapters, some of them sticking and some of them being blown away by the wind that bought more answers.Does the ending live up to what came before? Not quite – but nearly – and I think it was the right ending.It left me with a head full of thought and ideas, it left we wondering if this strangely real and fantastical world was still spinning, and it made me want to go back to the beginning and make my way though its intricate paths, examining the evidence and admiring the structure and the decoration, all over again.
    • 5/5
      Aiden Bishop has an impossible task: he must stop a murder that’s already happened. Impossible? Or . . . .Evelyn Hardcastle’s murder at her parents’ gala party will happen every day until Aiden can identify and stop the murderer. The same day repeats endlessly and each day Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest. Can he can solve the murder and escape Blackheath House, a place where everything is not quite what it seems?Ingeniously plotted, with twists and turns that keep the suspense building and the tension high, the narrative weaves a web of intrigue, trapping readers along with the main character in this clever, yet nightmarish, situation. With a truly gothic setting and well-defined characters to populate it, readers are sure to find the intriguing puzzle and the unpredictable events combine to create a fully engaging, unputdownable tale. Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      This is, without doubt, my favourite book of 2018 so far.Think Agatha Christie…with body hopping complications. Think locked room mystery…within which a murderer is seeking to kill all the incarnations of you. Think bloody good read, and you’ll be right.What’s it about?It’s not often that I steal the blurb wholesale, but this is quite good, so:Somebody’s going to be murdered at the ball tonight. It won’t appear to be a murder so the murderer won’t be caught. Rectify that injustice and I’ll show you the way out.It is meant to be a celebration but it ends in tragedy. As fireworks explode overhead, Evelyn Hardcastle, the young and beautiful daughter of the house, is killed.But Evelyn will not die just once. Until Aiden – one of the guests summoned to Blackheath for the party – can solve her murder, the day will repeat itself, over and over again. Every time ending with the fateful pistol shot. The only way to break this cycle is to identify the killer. But each time the day begins again, Aiden wakes in the body of a different guest. And someone is determined to prevent him ever escaping Blackheath…What’s it like?Stunning. Clever. Original. Just amazing really. And so beautifully written!I think I loved this from the opening moments:I forget everything between footsteps.‘Anna!’ I finish shouting, snapping my mouth shut in surprise.My mind has gone blank. I don’t know who Anna is or why I’m calling her name. I don’t even know how I got here. I’m standing in a forest, shielding my eyes from the spitting rain. My heart’s thumping, I reek of sweat and my legs are shaking. I must have been running but I can’t remember why.’Ooooh. I want to share the many, many joys I experienced reading this as different pieces of a very complex puzzle began to slot together, but I’m conscious that the joy of this story lies exactly there: in unravelling the mystery, piecing together all the little pieces and gradually discovering who all the players really are. I would hate to deprive anyone of that joy, so all I’m going to say is, if you’re a murder mystery fan, read this. It is sooooo good.Final thoughts:“How lost do you have to be to let the devil lead you home?” wonders Sebastien Bell, one of the party guests experiencing trauma at Blackheath. Witnessing Aiden gradually gather together not just the pieces of the puzzle but the pieces of himself ultimately leads to some reflections on the nature of evildoers. I really liked the way he found his ‘hosts’ increasingly over-powering his ‘true’ personality…which is also under immense pressure from his circumstances… The ending has found some critics, but I liked it, and it leaves plenty to discuss!I have no idea how Stu Turton will ever top this astonishing debut, but I shall be eagerly anticipating his next book (while telling everyone I meet to read this).Many thanks to the author, Stuart Turton, for providing me with a copy of this book as a prize for a competition on Twitter. This has not affected my honest opinion of what is, quite simply, an amazingly fabulous book.
    • 5/5
      ‘’I’m a man in Purgatory, blind to the sins that chased me here.’’What would it be like if one day we found ourselves in an another body? What if this happened on a daily basis? Us changing the vessel but retaining most of the traits that make us who we are? What if by changing identities we could turn back the time and prevent an injustice, a horrible crime? This is the wonderful premise of this exquisite novel by Stuart Turton, one of the most unique books of the year.A man has the opportunity to stop the murder of a young woman, Evelyn Hardcastle. In full Groundhog Day mood, he is given eight days and eight identities in which he must find the one responsible for the crime, otherwise everything will become irreversible. So, during a gathering that commemorates a tragic incident in the Hardcastle estate, justice must prevail. However, the wrongs that must be made right reach beyond a single murder…‘’Nothing like a mask to reveal somebody’s true nature.’’The story is set in Britain, around the late 20s, early 30s from what I could gather and the thing that fascinated me most in this novel isn’t the mystery itself or the unusual background- although they are both brilliant- but the focus on human nature and its various and interminable implications. I can’t even imagine the Herculean task of creating eight different characters to become the vessels of one person, all with their own characteristics and mannerisms and resulting in such a successful and marvelously written story. I admit I was a little bit cautious prior to reading Turton’s book. I thought it would be too confusing or wordy but I couldn’t be more wrong. Obviously, I cannot write a single sentence about the plot but I swear a most solemn vow to you that you will find yourselves with your mouth open in shock for about 60% of the story. That’s how perfect this book is. So many twists, so many different, complicated, tiny pieces of an exciting puzzle. I promise you you won’t be bored or confused. And if you do get confused, it will be in the best way possible.‘’Now you see them as I do,’’ says the Plague Doctor, in a low voice. ‘’Actors in a play, doing the same thing night after night’’.There is seldom such a rich array of characters who are all interesting, secretive, twisted, kind, intelligent, manipulative. Think of any adjective in any language and it will apply perfectly to this perfect cast. As Aidan discovers clues -only to be left in the darkness soon after- so do we. As he meets the guests, as he gets the chance to live inside some of the characters, he gives us the opportunity to collect more evidence. We know nothing before he does and we obtain a much clearer picture of every person involved in the story. How many times can we claim this happens in a mystery? Not even in some of Christie’s finest creations, in my opinion. Personally speaking, the figure of the Plague Doctor was the king of the story. Such a creepy, intimidating, cryptic character that elevated the novel into a whole new level. He embodies the concept of the Mask perfectly since nothing is as it first appears. Everyone undergoes a major transformation and every expectation and belief is turned upside down right until the spectacular ending.I would love to tell you so much more- good, old, blabby me- but I can’t. You absolutely, utterly (...again with the adverbs, I know…) NEED to read The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. It is a reading experience unlike anything we’ve seen and read before. I would like to end this text with a question taken from the Reading Group Guide, included in the book, which I feel captures the psychological weight and the very essence of the entire story.‘’If you know someone you loved had a devastating secret, would you choose to find out what it was or love them for who they’ve become? If you knew you did something terrible, would you want to remember or live with that shadow for the rest of your life?’’Many thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.
    • 4/5
      Mind blowing and unputdownable, this is one of those mystery thrillers that will keep you up at night until you see how it ends! How do you stop a murder that’s already happened? The Hardcastle family is hosting a masquerade at their home, and their daughter Evelyn Hardcastle will die. She will die every day until Aiden Bishop is able identify her killer and break the cycle.But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up each day in a different body as one of the guests. Aiden’s only escape is to solve Evelyn Hardcastle’s murder and conquer the shadows of an enemy he struggles to even comprehend. But nothing and no one are quite what they seem. Honestly, the first couple of pages, I didn’t know where this book was going and whether I am going to enjoy it at all. But as you go through the chapters and get familiar with the story, you realise how clever this book is, and you enjoy it like you have never enjoyed any other book before. As a debut novel, Stuart Turton did an incredible job with this book. It starts slowly, and grows into a great story. We follow the main character Aiden through many bodies, day by day. The book is set into one place, one town, one house and its surroundings, and sometimes moves backwards and forwards in time. If you love mysteries and closed escape room books, you will enjoy this book so much! I have always admired Aiden. Even though all the bodies he was in tried to make him forget about who he really is, he would always fight so his character can flow on the surface! I loved the sacrifices he makes towards Anna, and their relationship. The ending, the last 30 pages are so smart, amazing and perfectly wrapped up that I couldn’t believe I never noticed those clues. I am giving it 4 stars, because, even though I really, really enjoyed it, it was extremely hard for me to follow the times and bodies, and I couldn’t get along with the stories and solve the mystery together with Aiden - I always felt like I was falling behind, that put me under stress. If you haven’t had the chance to read it yet, please grab a copy as soon as you can. This is the escape room mystery that we have all been waiting for! I want to thank NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for providing me an advanced reader e-copy of this book, in exchange for my honest review.
    • 5/5
      Mystery layered upon mystery! This is a “whodunit” story on steroids. I feel like I have done this book a disservice by reading it during the time I was moving. I was so dead tired every night that I feel asleep while reading and took twice as long to get it finished.This is not a book to be reading when you are off your game because it demands your attention.The story begins with an unnamed man who awakens not knowing who he is. Readers will soon find out that every day this man awakens as someone else. This is like a Twilight Zone version of Groundhog Day. The man’s goal is to discover who kills Evelyn Hardcastle. As the story progresses, he becomes obsessed with not only discovering the killer, but preventing the murder.The entire story is set in one location, a run-down estate called Blackheath. The estate was abandoned and left for ruin after the death of a child. Rumors abound about what actually happened and throughout the story readers learn the truth about the death along with the mystery surrounding Evelyn Hardcastle.This was such an intricate mystery and at times it was a bit confusing. The characters are mostly unlikeable people and I found it a bit difficult to keep track of who was who, but again, I was a bit distracted when I was reading. Readers who love a good gothic murder mystery with a few twists will love this book. I don’t often want to re-read a book, but this is one of the few that I will put into the re-read category. This is author Stuart Turton’s debut novel and I will absolutely be looking forward to reading more of his work.Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebook Landmark for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.
    • 3/5
      A special thank you to NetGalley, Edelweiss, HarperCollins and Sourcebooks Landmark for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. "Nothing like a mask to reveal somebody's true nature."Evelyn Hardcastle, the young and beautiful daughter of the house, is killed. But Evelyn will not die just once. Until Aiden Bishop—one of the guests summoned to Blackheath for the party—can solve her murder, the day will repeat itself, over and over again. But each time the day begins again, Aiden wakes in the body of a different guest. And someone is determined to prevent him ever escaping Blackheath...As far as any book goes, the concept is actually brilliant, especially for a debut. The book is smart, (mostly) well-executed, and clever. Here's where my glowing review ends. I was confused throughout and had to keep going back to reread parts which given the size of the book, was not ideal. It was unclear at times as to which body Aidan was in and at what times. There were also a lot of characters and it was challenging to keep them straight. Having a character change their identity eight times is a gamble for Turton and he almost pulls it off. Where he fails is that the reader questions how well they know and understand the characters—they are suspect because of all of the different identities inhabited. The premise, as mentioned, is fantastic. When you read the synopsis, there is definite intrigue, but actually reading it was a whole other matter. I was left disinterested around day six. There was some unnecessary bulk at this point in the storyline and hopefully this will be resolved in the published product. My final thought is that given the level of detail, the number of players, and the intricate plot, this should have been a series.
    • 5/5
      I was completely drawn in by the first impression excerpt I previously read, so I was delighted when I won the raffle for a free physical copy from BookishFirst. I love the instant action of the story, pulling me into the mystery and creating a wonderful Agatha-Christie-esque atmosphere. I thought I’d catch on, but the plot twists and interesting characters kept me spinning.It’s difficult to review the story because I don’t want to give away any clues, but will say that I’m not a mystery genre reader, but found this book mesmerizing. The excellent writing created a movie in my head. I’m glad I wasn’t disappointed in the present tense narration—something I’m usually not fond of.This book has a nostalgic feel with interesting characters and a satisfying unpredictable ending.
    • 2/5
      A brilliant idea let down by its execution, this Black Mirror/Agatha Christie mash-up would make a great video game or TV show, or perhaps even a great book in someone else’s hands. Subplots and antagonists complicate things for no obvious reason, and the setting is more contrived than it needs to be. But for all my problems with it, I have to applaud the genius of the set-up.
    • 4/5
      “If this isn’t hell, the devil is surely taking notes.”Couldn’t have said it better myself. If, after reading the first few chapters, you find yourself feeling a bit discombobulated don’t worry. You’re in good company. Even the MC doesn’t know what the hell is going on. Imagine you’re playing a real life game of Clue. You wake up one day as Col. Mustard & find yourself sequestered in a decaying old manor full of strangers. All you’ve been told is tonight someone will murder Miss Scarlet & your job is to identify the killer. Oh, and you have 24 hours. Because if you fail, tomorrow the whole day will play out again in exactly the same sequence. Except this time you’ll be Prof. Plum. Fail again & you’ll relive the same day as Mr. Green. Now take this scenario & transfer it to Blackheath, home of the Hardcastles who’ve invited a throng of bickering, scheming guests for a special occasion. The plot & structure of the story is too complex to be reduced to a few sentences here. In this mash-up of Agatha Christie & Groundhog Day, the story centres around daughter Evelyn. And yes, she does die…a lot. Our narrator & MC is Aiden Bishop although it takes a while before he (and we) know his true identity. There is a deliberate lack of the kind of information that gives a story context such as date & location that leaves you feeling uneasy & slightly uncomfortable. This bonds the reader with Aiden as we both struggle to make sense of his predicament. But eventually the reality of his situation is revealed & it’s a doozy. HIs first task each day is to figure out who he is & then continue his investigation. Luckily, he retains his memories as he jumps from one character to the next. This enables him to slowly put together the pieces as he sees the same events through different eyes. But it’s complicated by a wealth of suspects. With few exceptions, these are despicable people who have cornered the market on lying, cheating, stealing & blackmail. They don’t even seem to like each other & it’s not ’til the end that we understand why they ended up here. This is not a lazy beach read. It’s a book that requires patience & attention to detail if you want to nail the killer. Hang in there, the payoff comes at the end when all is revealed & the true scope of the story takes shape.It’s a clever, ambitious mind bender of a story that will test your memory skills. Hats off to the author, I truly don’t know how he managed to keep it all straight & avoid errors in continuity (I can’t help but picture him writing this in a room wallpapered with spreadsheets connected by strings). Ingenious, tense, mystical & haunting…this is a book you’ll think about long after you’ve finished.
    • 3/5
      I have no idea how I feel about this book. If the amazing Agatha Christie mysteries had a love child with the movie Groundhog Day who was then raised by The Hunger Games (books of course) I think you would end up with the book. The mystery was just mind-blowing and spot on - one of the best mysteries I have read in a long while. The concept of how it was solved was mind-blowing and completely original. The world in which it took place was also mind-blowing and immensely thought provoking. But, as I read I found myself confused. A lot. I was also a bit bored through the middle. Then I felt a bit rushed at the end. And ultimately I was bummed that I didn't find out the conclusions or back stories for the main characters. So throughout the book I pinged back and forth through a 1 star rating all the way up to a five star rating. So where do I land? I'm just not sure. Were the flaws of this book mine? Did I miss a lot of detail and the natural rhythm of the story because I could only read it in short little bits? Maybe. Or where the flaws of the book the author's? I just don't know. I will say though - if you love a good twisty mystery with lots of red-herrings and plenty of misdirection - this is totally the book for you. I am thankful to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
    • 5/5
      So much mystery packed into one book. There were so many twists and elements to the story, but it wasn't hard to keep track of events. The different perspectives really added a whole new level to solving the mystery. In the end, the murder was solved and everything made sense... yay for closure! Well-written, captivating, intriguing, and a wonderful murder mystery with twists and turns around every corner. I would not only love to revisit this and see if certain clues that evaded me this time would be lost on me again or become recognizable but also make this a book club book for discussion. The hype of Agatha Christie meets Groundhog Day was actually pretty accurate and it didn't fail to deliver a page turning tale.
    • 4/5
      I'm not often surprised by the "twist" endings in mystery stories, but this one managed it, at least a little bit, and that counts for a lot in my book. I was still left with questions, but most of them regarding the world outside the constrained environs of Blackheath.

      There was a cruise ship mentioned. Can we go there next? Maybe with our rebellious "helper" as our protagonist? I think that could be loads of fun.
    • 3/5
      A man ( Aiden Bishop ) wakes up in a wood and he doesn't know who he is, and he is not in his own body. He witnesses what he believes to be a murder.This book has been described as an Agatha Christie ( read them ), Cluedo ( love playing it ) and Groundhog Day ( never seen it ). I have to agree with this and felt that the whole idea was unique.I did start this book worrried that I wasn't going to find it easy. At first I was loving it. I got my head around the idea of Aiden living the same day over and over in different hosts to solve who killed Evelyn Hardcastle.The first half of the book was great, it all was coming together. Then the middle bit of the story became a little slow then when it picked up pace again it became very confusing. I felt the book was ambitious and needed to stay a little bit more simpler like the beginning. Towards the end I just lost the plot with it. Which for me was a shame because I was enjoying it.I would think for me to appreciate this book I needed to read it in bigger chunks, the book needs concentration and perhaps a reread, which I don't feel inclined to. A promising book which lost its way.
    • 4/5
      I don't want to spoil this, so I won't say much about this book. This was a complex and interesting murder mystery with an unusual approach. I liked the body-hopping protagonist even when it got a bit confusing, because there are so many people and names involved. You have to keep track of the protagonists hosts and also of the days he uses them while he investigates a murder that repeats itself every day. It's a bit like "Groundhog Day" but with a crime story instead of the humour.I had two small problems though. The first has to do with unnecessary lengths. Sometimes the story could use tighter editing to get to the core of things. The second is due to a lot of unanswered questions and a rushed ending - at least when it comes to Annas secrets. But overall it is a very good read and I would recommend it to readers who like interlaced plots.
    • 5/5
      Well. I hardly know where to start or how to review this novel. It's complex, exciting and a little bit mind-blowing.I also don't want to give anything away as to do so would spoil this book completely so I'm going to have to be quite careful here.We first meet Aiden Bishop at Blackheath, a faded country house. I don't remember if the year is mentioned at all but I would say late 1920s/early 1930s. There's a ball going on with a number of guests who have been there before. The cast of characters is quite large and each one is unlikeable in various degrees and utterly crucial to the story. In fact, more than one of them may be hosting Aiden as he hops from body to body, living the same day over and over, in an attempt to work out who kills Evelyn Hardcastle, daughter of the house, at the ball.I confess now, this is one of those books that I find absolutely fascinating, but that I don't wholly understand. The author must have spent ages plotting the whole thing and what I loved most of all about reading it were those moments of dawning realisation, those bits where Aiden set something up which made little sense, only for it to become clear why he did it when he's living the day again in another host. Just brilliant!The setting is perfect and wouldn't really work as well in any other time period. These were the heady days of big country house parties, faded grandeur, the spectre of war still hanging over it all. This is a traditional crime novel in many ways, but then totally turned on its head, put in a bag and shaken up!My one regret is that I read an e-copy of the book which made it a lot harder to skip back and try and put the clues together. But, despite this being a pretty big book at 528 pages, I raced through it. Just when I thought I was getting close to knowing who killed Evelyn, a curveball was thrown at me and there was another piece of the puzzle to slot into place. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is such a clever and cunning book. I can't imagine how the author ever managed to make it work but he certainly did. This is going to be a popular book (and possibly a Marmite one too). This reader was certainly thrilled by it.
    • 4/5
      can’t stop reading this! amazing tour de force. so good!
    • 5/5
      This is one of those books where you think you know what's going on but you don't. It flips. Flips again and is deliciously disorienting. Awesome.
    • 5/5
      One of the best books I’ve read. High-pace, wonderful characters and a story to die for, seven times ?
    • 5/5
      What an absolutely wonderful, rollicking adventure! It's really complex, and requires a lot of deep concentration. So very beautifully plotted. Sheer brilliance.
    • 3/5
      It had an interesting start, but the twist wasn't satisfying enough for me. Maybe if the book was shorter, it would have been forgivable. But for a book this long, no.
    • 5/5
      With a familiar premise mashed with a familiar genre, what results is a debut novel that is a breath of fresh air for both and will leave even the most seasoned mystery readers bewildered.
    • 3/5
      I really wish there was a 3.5 for this. I read the book FAST, so its definitely engaging and kept me hooked. And the prose is wonderful, and I care about things. But I had to err on the lower side because it is very dude-centric. And so much of the plot seemed to revolve around saving these women and/or being helped by them. I wish at least one of the 'hosts' had been something besides a white dude? But still, really twisty good book.
    • 3/5
      At first this was a slog and I didn't care much about the main character and his amnesia. Then the first twist came and now I did want to know what came next - but it was still a bit of a slog. The plot is very *full*: there are a lot of characters to keep track of, and a lot of secrets and scandals and general unpleasantness, and then the time-travel keeps the chronology hard to track. There are plenty more twists along the way though and the ending is satisfying.
    • 4/5
      3,6 stars

      It's not easy to rate a book that's well-written and has a pretty unique plot, when you don't particularly like the way it's been written and it doesn't really make you feel anything.

      Great read for when you have hankering for an excellent mystery and aren't too worried about the characters or the writing style.
    • 3/5
      The writers descriptive writing skills are great and brought a lot of the characters, settings, emotions to life and vividly too.
      The plot was overly complicated and hard to understand most of the time; I had forgotten and lost track of characters and their names - when the names are reported throughout the story, I sprays asked myself the same question: “who is that again?”
    • 4/5
      not normally into victorian mysteries, but this was not just well done, but the way the story began intrigued me to no end... who are the real friends? who are victims? who are the predators inside this mystery? a truly surprising ending was in store, not telegraphed from earlier pages...
    • 3/5
      Excellent mystery with a unique method of solving it.
    • 4/5
      Well that book was about 200 pages too long. Interesting premise and good writing, but seriously dragged across most of the story.

      This was Groundhog Day meets Clue. A "who dunnit" where the main character lives a day in the life of 8 different people. The hard part is reading the same day over and over.

      And so many characters! After a while I stopped trying to keep everyone straight and just held on until the end.

      I gave it 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.