Wow this was so different, which is why I loved it so much. Reminded me of a puzzle to solve more so than the usual "Whodunnit"

In case you’re as confused as I was, this is the same book as The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. An extra ½ death was added into the title for the US publication, for reasons I can only speculate. Perhaps the discrepancy is due to the similarity of another recently-published book, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Regardless, that extra ½ death is just one more reason you may need an aspirin and a glass of wine after reading this book.

Our main character is trapped on an estate with numerous guests all planning to attend a party that evening where a murder will happen at exactly 11pm. Our protagonist (giving away his name is almost a spoiler) inhabits 8 people, or “hosts”, during this one day in an attempt to solve the murder. Honestly, giving away any more information will inhibit your reading experience. Nothing is linear, time is relative, and the mystery is never straightforward.

This book is “Quantum Leap” + Memento + “Sherlock”, a triumph of complexity. Like the author mentioned in the Q&A at the end of the book, there are fourteen things happening at 1:42 pm and you have to keep it all together. If you can’t, don’t worry. The author leads you through the muddle and you never get so lost that you’re floundering. A little confusion and some mental staggering only make the story more interesting.
I couldn’t stay away from this book. Even though I may not have followed every detail in the mystery and despite being perplexed multiple times, I enjoyed this immensely. I looked forward to reading it every chance I could. It is a whirlwind of clues and twists and red herrings. Seldom do I read a book that captivates my attention from beginning to end. The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle had quite a strong grip on me, and kudos to the author for keeping everything straight.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks for the advance copy in exchange for my review.

I absolutely loved this book. It was AMAZING. I was always on the edge of my seat and even when I was confused I was SO INTO IT. I would highly recommend it to fans of mystery, thriller, fantastical elements, and you know, A DAMN GOOD TIME.

When I first heard about this book I knew that I had to read it. I am a big fan of murder mysteries and this was such a unique twist on the regular story. Happy to report that was not at all disappointed. It was an intense but different story.

Every night at 11pm Evelyn Hardcastle will be killed. Aiden Bishop is stuck at Blackheath until he can find out who kills her. Only everyday he is in a different body - or host. There is a big party being held tonight and each day he will be a different guest of the party. Hard too say too much more without giving it away - but what a fantastic twist at the end. Groundhog Day eat your heart out!

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own and are in no way biased.

I'm sorry I just can't get into this book...I am about 20% through and have decided not to finish it because there are too many other books on my list and so many that I have enjoyed this summer. I guess this one is just not for me!! I just can't get into the switching body idea and don't really know enough about the victim initially to care about the story.

Feeling like the odd man out with the 3.5 star rating... maybe I was in a weird mood? "Groundhog Day" meets "Life After Life" with a dash of body swapping, giving total Agatha Christie vibes. The concept is totally genius and the creativity of the storyline is definitely 5-stars. I was immediately intrigued by the cover art and the book synopsis/teaser.

Aiden Bishop is trying to solve a murder. The Hardcastle family is hosting a macabre party at their estate, on the anniversary of their youngest son Thomas' murder. At 11pm, their daughter Evelyn Hardcastle will be murdered. She will be murdered every night for 8 nights until Aiden can figure out who the killer is. Every morning, he wakes up in the body of a different "witness" in a race against time and the two others trying to solve the mystery at the same time. Only one of them can escape. Is this purgatory? A game? You'll have to wait and see.

I felt like I was in the dark for most of the story and then the last few chapters were a flood of information. Some of the twists and twists on twists seemed a bit melodramatic, but then again, that might just be a genre thing. It was an enjoyable read and is obviously going to be a huge hit, so it's absolutely worth the read... just not one of my favorite books.

Before starting The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, prepare yourself: this is a book that requires at least two read-throughs. Stuart Turton writes carefully; events at Blackheath are not so much confusing as they are complex, a subtle but important distinction. In your first reading it's difficult enough to keep pace with the rapidly expanding cast of characters and the delicate layers of Aiden Bishop's repeating day. Unless you keep notes as meticulous as the author's surely were, by the novel's conclusion there are simply too many threads to keep a firm grip on all of them simultaneously.

Certain recurring details will surprise you: not because you missed them the first time, but simply because of the sheer number of developments that followed in their wake. Aiden's revelations about the murder are a pleasant blend of the expected and the shocking. Turton, after all, plays fair. Unlike the supernaturally gifted Holmes or Poirot, whose solutions sometimes come with the benefit of facts undisclosed to the reader, every clue and sign that Aiden uses to solve Evelyn Hardcastle's murder are laid out fairly before the reader too.

As the main character and only POV, Aiden is quite singular. His individual personality hovers beneath that of his host for the day, so that we come to know him not just through certain actions, but also how he registers and passes judgement on the natural reactions and resistance of whomever he's occupying. It's a unique trick: Aiden developing and becoming more familiar, even as his ability to override the inclinations of his hosts diminishes with each passing day. Impressively, Turton sticks the landing, molding Aiden into a distinct and sympathetic protagonist without allowing the various house guests he possesses to fade into an indistinguishable blur as a result.

The supernatural elements at play in his imprisonment remain subtle and suitably unexplained. Though we're provided enough information regarding the rules and boundaries of Blackheath, the tedious technicalities are kept vague, giving readers just enough of a foundation to fully immerse themselves in the mystery at hand.

And what a mystery it is! Rarely does a solution come completely out of left field; even more rarely does that unexpected revelation fit in perfectly with the events that preceded it, rather than feeling tacked on and cheap. Turton's plotting is intricate and precise, laying the groundwork for an excellent reveal while burying some of the most important clues in passing moments or mundane actions. This is where the second reading becomes necessary: after discovering how events carefully lay atop one another to finally culminate in a criminal's unmasking, returning to the beginning and retracing one's steps should prove most satisfactory.

The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle should gratify both long-time mystery fans and newcomers to the genre. Turton never tries too hard to impress or obfuscate: he's clearly laid out a puzzle meant to be solved. But he is also a master of the genre—and this is his debut! Casual mystery readers won't feel frustrated that they're playing against loaded dice, while more jaded connoisseurs can expect plenty of welcome twists and surprises regrettably absent from the cookie cutter marquee releases. Don't expect to speed through such a deliberately plotted tale, though. A methodical approach is necessary if you hope to solve the murder. But don't fret if you can't manage it the first time through—you have seven more chances to get it right!

I can't lie, I found this insufferably dull. But, I also am not a fan of Agatha Christie and I tried to read Life After Life earlier this year and found it unbearably confusing and the writing style just... ugh. I'm not sure why I thought that I would enjoy this novel. There was a lot that I liked about it, and maybe I would have liked it if I had just powered through, but I made it almost 20% of the way in and the main character (Apparently it's supposed to be someone named Aiden, not Dr Bell, whoever that is) had not even been introduced. I do wholeheartedly agree that someone that likes Agatha Christie and Kate Atkinson would enjoy this novel (and I would recommend it to those people)... however I did not.

“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.

(This full review will appear on my blog (http://bookstehthing.com) on 8/21/18. The slightly edited version posted on Goodreads today.)

I didn't even read the synopsis first when I saw this book available to request on NetGalley. The title was enough for me, so I had no idea what I was getting into when I started reading. I really love the blurb now that I have read it, and it would have enticed me to read the book, but going into chapter one with no idea was quite the trip-down-the-rabbit-hole. I'm not sorry I got to experience it blindly!

This novel is unlike anything I have read before. Each time I thought I was starting to get it, it would change on me just enough to get me guessing again. The characters are each unique and vibrant individuals, no small task considering the same man was inhabiting several of them, and even without the elements of mystery, I would have been hooked. It's a story I can't say too much about without giving things away, but I can say that it was the best thing I've read in ages.

One last note - if you go looking for this book on Amazon or Goodreads, know that you will find it listed as both The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (the American title) and The 7 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. Same book. Whatever the title is where you are, pick up a copy and read it!

WOW! Where to start? A thrill of a read that crosses and intertwines a number of genres. The beginning had me hooked - a man searching through the forest... and then coming upon a (strange!) mansion. The mystery only begins here. We find out who Anna is and what the main character needs to go through to be "free". He inhabits a number of characters in his journey. They all have both helpful (and unhelpful) traits. Each "day" ends in the death of Evelyn Hardcastle. Until...

It is really difficult to review without any spoilers. But a definite MUST READ!!! Great characterization, insight and awestriking twists throughout this book!!!

Many thanks to both the publisher and NetGalley for a great read!

Thank you #Netgalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange of my honest opinion
Wow… simply WOW! I really liked this book, the mystery its pretty hard to solve and it has so many twisted roads that you will suspect every character in the book, you won’t believe in anybody, and then you will believe in them all, but as hard as you try you will never guess the plot.
This was not like any other book I read before, Stuart Turton is a genius!
If you love mystery/crime novels and you like a good surprise and a net of characters that will interact and change everyday and where you won´t know what will happen next, then I will totally recommend this one!! However, I think it will be better going into the book not knowing much besides Evelyn will die and you need to find the murderer, otherwise the spoilers may ruin the book for you.

The rules of Blackheath
Evelyn Hardcastle Will be murdered at 11 p.m.
There are eight days, and eight witnesses for you to inhabit
We will only let you escape once you tell us the name of the killer
Understood? Then let´s begin…

In The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle we find ourselves in Blackheath, a dilapidated estate home, somewhere, in a non-descript time in the past. Blackheath is the scenario of this Agatha Christie meets Groundhog Day meets Quantum Leap story.

A bit confusing at the beginning, the story begins to take shape as our main character goes on to complete his task. I must say it took me a bit to get a hang of it, but I finished 75% of the book in one sitting. I realized then, we—the readers—are also participants in the experience of discovering the story. We are meant to feel his confusion, and we are silent observers of the developments and findings. Who kills Evelyn Hardcastle? Perhaps you’ll find out before he does. I had many theories, and I almost got it right. There’s a part of the story I didn’t see coming and it took me by surprise. I kinda thought about the universe presented in Husk (a book you should check as well, really) and how this story could easily exist there. Very clever. Well done, Stuart Turton , my inner sleuth was highly pleased.

This was an exciting, unexpected, and unique plot. I don’t want to give out any spoilers to ruin the experience of it. If you like the whudonit genre, with touches of futuristic aspects, this may be the right book for you.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks, Inc. for the Advanced Copy!

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is unique, clever, original and a page turner! A terrific read!

Captivating characters, well-planned events and surprising twists make this book a must-read of 2018! If you don’t own a copy yet, make sure to order it right now.

What do you do when someone dies at her own welcome party? And what the day repeats itself over and over again, and you watch Evelyn Hardcastle kill herself for the thousands of times?

Aiden Bishop knows what it feels like when you are incapable of helping, watching the death approach again and again. Watching it through the eyes of 8 different hosts, 8 different people with their own habits, strengths, and weaknesses. Watching and hoping that the next day you will come closer to solving this mystery.

«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.»

Thrown into the mists of the unknown, we follow our main character and narrator who wakes up in the forest without any recollection of what happened. It is as if his memories were wiped blank. He is calling for Anna, but why? And who this mysterious Anna is?

Many guests were invited to Blackheath country house for a welcome gala of Hardcastle’s daughter Evelyn. But only one person knows how to escape Blackheath, and he is not willing to share his knowledge without something in return.

The Hardcastle family is hosting a party in honour of their daughter, Evelyn, to which many people are invited to attend. The only problem is that at 11:00pm that same night, Evelyn will be murdered and her murder will never be solved. How terrible! But when our narrator wakes up the next day, he is strangely reliving the same day. He's caught in a perpetual loop of the party and Evelyn's murder until he manages to solve her death. And there's another catch: he's not living in his own body, but in the bodies of 8 different men who are attending the party, a different body for each day. He must use each man's skills and experiences if he wants to break the loop, but no one and nothing is as it seems and he'll have to struggle if he wants to succeed.

This book is basically Groundhog Day meets Agatha Christie. You have a narrator who becomes annoyed that he's stuck in a loop and tries desperately to break out of it in any way he can. You have an isolated location where the murder takes place, narrowing the suspect pool down a bit (but not nearly enough). You have some eccentric characters and others who seem irrelevant but ultimately play some key role later, and most of them are hiding a treasure trove of secrets. You also have some supernatural elements beyond the Groundhog Day-like loop. And you also have a seemingly convoluted timeline with confusing actions happening beyond the narrator's control, but that all becomes logically solved.

It's basically the perfect mystery. It's a twisty, sometimes messy narrative that ultimately resolves all your burning questions (because believe me, you'll have a LOT of questions), and you'll want so badly to find out what happens next. I was really impressed by all the elements and thought put into it. I will admit I was skeptical when I first started reading because I'm not a huge fan of narrators who seem to be suffering from amnesia, but the way the novel was structured and the reason for the narrator's memory gaps were thoughtfully planned rather than a plot device.

I definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a well-written and well-planned murder mystery with supernatural elements, a somewhat unreliable narrator (or at least a narrator whose facts are often inaccurate or incomplete, though through no fault of his own), and cunning and manipulative characters with their own secrets and agendas.

This was an amazing murder mystery--the twists and turns kept me reading chapter after chapter. It's like a mix of Life after Life and an Agatha Christie novel with a bit of sci-fi thrown in.

[Review will be published on Reader Voracious Blog on 8/12/18.]

Wow, 4.5 stars. What a wonderful five days I had reading this mind and genre-bending Mystery debut. This is definitely a book that you should go into as blind as possible and for that reason my review will be shorter than typical as this is near impossible to review without spoilers.
"Blackheath seems fertile ground for tragedy."
Turton managed to create an amazing and contained environment for this story to take place, and his writing is vivid in its descriptions of Blackheath and the people inhabiting it that I feel like I could walk the grounds myself. The atmospheric writing gripped from the first lines to the very last and even managed to make me feel the emotions of the main character.

While this is certainly a mind trip and not a cozy mystery read, the writing is solid and the MC's voice at times has this sarcastic humor that I just couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"I hadn't previously made the connection between [redacted for spoilers], probably because it's easier to imagine him being delivered onto this earth by a biblical plague."
The was definitely a 5-star plot for me, but in execution I have it at 4 stars. It took some time and patience to settle into the narrative style, and I think some people will struggle. Just keep in mind that this isn't a light, cozy mystery.

Blackheath is a place where everyone wears a mask and no one is who they seem. This book has the feelings of the movies Groundhog's Day and Memento mixed with an Agatha Christie novel. Paying close attention will pay dividends. While I guessed a couple of the reveals due to my pick-apart-everything nature, even I was thrown a couple of curveballs... and I love to be surprised, especially when it is done well.

I love how everything tied up nicely in the end (no loose ends that I noticed) and I think this is a book that would get better with re-reading. Turton managed an inventive, complex, and mesmerizing book for his debut and I look forward to reading his future publications. I highly recommend this book to fans of mysteries, but be prepared to be highly engaged in a web where answers come long before you think to ask the questions. I don't think this will be for everyone, but this is an absolute gem for the right people.

Many thanks to the publisher for providing me an electronic advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is (so far) my favorite mystery of the year.  It's inventive, fascinating, and extremely exciting.  Part Gothic thriller, part fantasy, part whodunnit, this book kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time.

When I read the blurb for the book, I was a little concerned that the plot might be repetitive.  After all, Aiden Bishop keeps reliving the same day over and over.  However, there was no need to worry.  Not only does each repeat reveal new clues, the events leading up to the murder are seen in completely different ways.  The book was never boring.

Although the hero of the story, Aiden Bishop, is someone to cheer for, most of the other characters are either terrifying or loathsome.  Surprisingly, this made the book a great deal of fun to read.  Just like every spring and cog work together to make a clock, each character in the novel, as horrible as some of them were, fit perfectly into the overall structure of the plot.  At times, keeping everyone straight was confusing, but the personalities of each character were so different that I seldom ran into trouble.

Even halfway through the novel, I was recommending The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle to friends and family.  I had no doubt that the ending would be fantastic, and it was.  I hadn't predicted what would happen, yet the conclusion was a perfect fit with the rest of the book.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle was an amazing book, and I can't wait to read more from this author.

An incredibly original and imaginative story! It was unique from start to finish and once it grabs the reader it really doesn't let go at all. There were many, many interesting aspects to this story and I appreciate that it really deviated from the traditional mystery/thriller genre and created something very singular within itself.

It loses it's 5th star for me because while I was highly impressed with the originality and complexity of the story it definitely got very convoluted. There were many times it was very difficult to follow and I had to go back and re-read things to make sure I was understanding them correctly. The best thing that can happen for a reader is what I call the "reading zone" or "deep reading" - this is when the world falls away and you can't hear or see anything, even the words on the page because you're so engrossed in the story it's playing out in your mind like a movie. Unfortunately, I couldn't do that with this novel because it took so much brain power just to wrap my mind around what was happening at places throughout the novel.

The writing was cohesive and the prose beautiful. This was a very well put together story and I'm incredibly impressed with Turton. I will definitely be picking up more books by Turton and suggesting this to friends and family who ask!