This book was not a good fit for me. It wasn't at all what I expected. I got 75 percent done on my kindle and gave up.

A compelling and intelligent read. This is the kind of a book where you want to read and make notes as you go along. It invites you to be a part of it and ‘solve’ the intricate puzzle. Some parts are lengthy and a tighter editing would have helped. This books reminds you of a Sherlock Holmes/Agatha Christie mix! Most of the guests are interesting enough and the characters are developed well. Overall a good read that keeps you on your toes.

Blackheath House was an isolated country manor surrounded by forests. The owners, Lord Peter and Lady Helena Hardcastle planned a masquerade party, a birthday bash for daughter Evelyn. How special was it that Blackheath House would reopen after nineteen years and the same guests would attend the gala? Evelyn Hardcastle, however, would be murdered at 11 P.M, but by whom? Here are the rules of Blackheath House. A guest would be able to return home only upon solving Evelyn's murder, by supplying proof implicating the murderer. Until the case was solved, a Groundhog Day Loop would continue to be activated. Aiden Bishop, here by choice, has been informed that he has eight days to produce the name of Evelyn's killer. In order to view the crime from different perspectives, Aiden must inhabit eight different "host" bodies, among them a doctor, a rapist, and a constable. If unsolved, Aiden's memories and amassed clues would be wiped out and the eight day loop would repeat again, indefinitely, until the murderer was unmasked. Solve the mystery and be released from Blackheath's enchantment.

The concept behind "The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle" by Stuart Turton is refreshing, a debut crime novel replete with infinite twists and turns, keeping the reader guessing. It has a true 1920's Golden Age "feel". I applaud Turton for his uniquely original debut tome, however, I was a bit overwhelmed despite concise note taking. This was a challenging read, a spooky mansion with deeply embedded secrets, a masquerade ball and an intricate murder mystery.

Thank you SOURCEBOOKS Landmark and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle".

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I thought this book was a well written, clever and unique murder mystery.
This is the author’s 1st book and I can’t wait to read what he writes next.
I highly recommend this book.

It’s very hard to review this book without giving anything away, mostly to its true to form mysterious configuration. It’s been a while since I haven’t read such a puzzling mystery, and if you’re like me and found the title intriguing, the book itself will fascinate you much more.

The setting strikes me like the typical English countryside, with a manor somewhere in the woods, far away from the nearest village, isolated, its rooms many and its structure like a labyrinth. In a way similar, I could say, to Agatha Christie’s ‘And then there were none’. At first, you’re introduced to a certain character which you think will be the main one, but then as time passes another one comes into view, and then another one, and so on, basically multiple points of view intertwined, becoming an interesting study of human character, responses and emotions. Each person is so different from the other and reacts in peculiar ways to the same situation. As far as character building goes I was quite fascinated, each one making perfect sense, like a little cog in a bigger machine. I loved the way they were introduced and how the relationships between them evolved over time. A honorable mention, one of the characters that you will meet has amnesia, a detail that helps to slowly introduce the others as completely new persons for him, but also for the reader, somehow giving you a sense of calmness as not even the character knows what is really going on there.

The plot is anything but predictable, it keeps leading you astray making it a really fun read while waiting for the final reveal.

The only downfall with this book, if I can call it so, is that at first it is really slow building. Not much happens at first until the tension starts to build. I would have liked to see a little more action in the first third of the book. That would be my only complaint. Besides that, the writing was gripping, nothing too excessive or boring. A really fun read, and as far as reviews go, the less you know the better.

The debut novel by Stuart Turton was definitely a doozy of a book. While it was a fun and intriguing read, it definitely kept me up at night trying to solve the mystery, I found myself frustrated at some of the aspects of the novel.
While I understand the stylistic choices the author made in regards to the backstory and why there was so little of it. I found myself not really caring about the fate of the main character because of it. I wasn’t really able to invest in who the characters had become, because I didn’t really understand who they had been.
All that aside, the novel reads like a game, an impatient whodunnit where the winner solves the mystery first. I found myself trying to solve the puzzle even before our main character did. If you have the time to dedicate to this book, (it requires a lot of attention to detail) I definitely suggest it! 4/5 stars!

Hmm. This book took me awhile to get into, but then I was hooked!

The Hardcastle family is throwing masquerade at their home. Their daughter, Evelyn will die at the end of the evening. Aiden Bishop must race to solve the mystery of who did it.

However, it is not that easy. Part of Aiden's quest is to discover WHO he is and who are each of the characters around him, and even more importantly WHO can be trusted!

There is a lot of mystery and many puzzles to solve to discover who did it. A very twisted but interesting story. The further in you get the more the day and mysteries begin to unravel. Good read!

*I received an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

What a great book! There are so many twists and turns which made it fun to try and play along. There are a lot of characters and moving parts, so it isn’t a book to read if you know you’ll have a lot of distractions. Set aside some time to settle in to Blackheath!

Wow, this book is unlike anything I've ever read before! 

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is such a unique murder-mystery with an incredibly clever plotline, it had me hooked from page one!

The main character, Aiden Bishop, has been trapped in Blackheath re-living the same day over and over, waking up in bodies of different people. The only way for Aiden to escape Blackheath and return to his normal life is by solving the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle who is shot at 11pm every evening. Not knowing who is telling the truth and who is an enemy, Aiden has only 8 days to figure it out before his memories are wiped out and the cycle starts again.  

As a big fan of Agatha Christie I found this book to be a compulsive read that I thoroughly enjoyed, however, I can see why this book might not be for everyone. The story is scattered in bits with events presented in random order, which can be confusing at times. This is not a book where you can relax your mind and switch off. On the contrary, it is important to stay focused as nothing is in chronological order and new details and clues are revealed with each chapter which might only become significant much later in the story.

The end of the book is very rewarding as finally all questions are answered, secrets exposed and everything comes nicely together. I absolutely loved this from start to finish and will be watching out for the next Stuart Turton's book.

I'm not sure how to rate this book actually so I went with a neutral 3 star rating.
For most of the book I was confused. I had a hard time keeping track of the characters and who had done what. I almost felt like I should be taking notes.
The story did eventually explain itself and the mystery was well done and had you guessing towards the end.
To enjoy this book you have to suspend reality although I wouldn't describe it as fantasy.
The author himself describes it as a cross between time travel, quantum leap, and Agatha Christie so if that's up your alley this book is for you.
Overall it was well written and enjoyable, I just had a hard time following along at times.
Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC.

This story has elements that resemble that of Clue and Doctor Who with all the poise and structure of an Agatha Christie novel. The entire story and plot are extremely well developed there are so many details and storylines that are woven together so intricately that it is truly mesmerizing to read. There are so many characters within this story and every single one of them have unique personalities and backstories. There was one character in particular that pissed me off so much that I actually wanted to throw my Kindle across the room at a couple points, but that’s what the character was meant to make you feel and that’s damn good writing. I can’t imagine the length of time and amount of effort it took for Stuart Turton to make each one of them stand out as an individual. The way Seven Deaths is written makes you feel like you’ve been transported back to the late 1800’s despite it supposedly being set in the 1920’s (the cover gives me Great Gatsby vibes) but either way, the fact that an author can make you feel transported with something so simple as writing style blows my mind. I don’t want to give away any spoilers for anyone who hasn’t read this yet or plans on reading it when it comes out in the U.S. in September so there’s a lot that I can’t discuss at length until it officially releases, but I will say that there are so many plot twists in this book that I truly never saw coming and that’s hard to do when it comes to me.

Overall, this is an absolutely fantastic book that I can’t possibly recommend enough to anyone looking for a detailed and complex thriller/mystery. The only piece of advice that I would give to anyone who plans on reading it is to try to finish it within a set number of sittings and don’t get halfway through (or even a quarter of the way through) and set it down for an extensive amount of time because once you pick it back up you will be confused, and it will take a while before you remember who everyone is and their part in this novel. But if you’re anything like me, you won’t be able to put it down and will end up binge reading it so you won’t have a problem with forgetting any details.

**Review will be published to blog closer to publication date, i.e. last week of August**

I chose this book because:

of the title. How does one die 7 1/2 times? Where does the 1/2 come from? Tell me more! (Update: With a bit of research, I found out that this book was originally published in the UK as The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, but due to the title being too similar to the unrelated book The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, was renamed for the US publication.)

I’m fascinated by second chances in life (maybe even seventh chances) and often ask myself what I’d do differently (I never arrive at a conclusive answer). The premise of this story reminds me of Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, but a thriller version.

Upon reading it:

I don’t know if it’s because of the writing or because I was reading an epub on my iPhone, but I wasn’t really immersed in this story (it was probably both). I was hooked at the very beginning, got bored rather quickly, and may have dropped it altogether if not for the fact that I wanted to know the step by step of how Evelyn Hardcastle was murdered. As for the peripheral information — the setting, the characters, their wandering thoughts, their internal conflicts, any other descriptions — I didn’t really care. However, the story did pick back up in the last 15% and the end was surprising, which is what gave the rating for this book its third star. It was a cool concept, but I wouldn’t have gotten to it if I had decided to drop the book.

To be fair, in my opinion, the two main concepts of this book are difficult to execute. Especially if they’re part of the mysterious element of the story, which means that the reader is confused, or has a hint that something’s up but can’t pinpoint what, up until the reveal. Perhaps it’s one of those things that might be better/make more sense/be more enriching on the reread. I also think that the shock factor/”omg” moment upon realising these two concepts is what most readers rave about when reviewing this book. Unfortunately for me, the drag leading up to those points weren’t made up by those moments. There are several other books I’ve read with similar concepts that have worked to varying degrees (the ones that didn’t work for me were A Guide for Murdered Children by Sarah Sparrow and The Memory Agent by Matthew BJ Delaney, and the ones that did work for me were Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver and The Blinds by Adam Sternbergh).

(For hints to what these concepts are, highlight to reveal. First concept: [[inhabiting bodies]]. Second concept: [[virtual prisons]].)

Let me try to be more articulate about what didn’t work for me. First, the pacing was odd. The beginning, and even the middle, were really dragged out. But to get even more specific, [[the first host was really dragged out, and then the rest were just flipped through. I was about to drop the book within the first host so that’s how I felt about that pacing]]. And then everything happened in the last 15%. That’s not uncommon in thrillers, in books and TV shows too (I’m looking at you How To Get Away with Murder post-season 1). But I still don’t like it. Second, it felt like the Plague Doctor was playing God with the whole situation (who the Plague Doctor is doesn’t matter for now, just that there’s a character that plays God with the whole situation). Because of that, it felt like there were no real rules; whatever the Plague Doctor said, went. And so I had no expectations and I was never shocked. If the Plague Doctor mentioned another constraint or revealed something, my reaction was just, “Okay that happened.” Third, I felt like Aiden’s character could have been more developed. He didn’t feel like a main character. I didn’t empathise with him. He felt like a shell, [[even though it’s his hosts that are the shells hah]].

However, many readers found this book engaging the whole way through, so maybe it’s just my iPhone screen to blame.

just finished this book and all I can say is wow. What a unique concept. I remember I read a summary for this book last November and I was excited about it, but I really couldn’t remember the exact premise of the story. I jumped at the chance when I saw an opportunity to get an ARC of this book, and then dove in blindly. I’m so glad I did.

Going in blind, I started out just as confused as Sebastian Bell as he wakes up running through the forest shouting the name “Anna!” and suffering from complete amnesia. I loved experiencing the twists and turns of the story with him as we both learned who he was and what’s doing at Blackheath. I found myself reading late into the night on this one.

So what exactly is this book about? At the end of my copy there is “A Conversation with the Author.” One question asks about his inspiration. Mr. Turton's Answer: "I love time travel, Agatha Christie, and the eighties classic Quantum Leap, and over time a book emerged from hat beautiful quagmire."

I really don’t want to say any more here. I don’t want to give anything away. If you want to know more of what the book is about before you pick it up (what?! you don’t trust me?), check out the summary on Goodreads. It does have some minor spoilers to the creativity of the plot. I will go as far as to say that I’m adding this book to my Time Travel 101 curriculum.

Fantastic concept, great setting, and interesting characters. Don’t miss this mystery.

The psychological crime genre is currently choking with derivations of Gone Girls, Missing Girls, Husbands Behaving Badly, and People Who Aren't Who They Say They Are. Not so this incredible novel that defies genre tropes and expectations, leading to a reading experience that grabs your attention and refuses to let go. This is not just a murder mystery, but an exploration of identity, redemption, and free will. The plot device of using 8 different characters' perspectives on the same crime is uniquely fascinating and such a refreshing and unconventional way to explore these themes. The comparison to Agatha Chrisitie is inevitable, but this is no ordinary country manse--it could easily be housed in an episode of Black Mirror or Quantum Leap. While I wanted more details about Aiden and Anna's past, but I the vagueness of it makes sense within the context of the book's themes. Take a chance on this wonderfully constructed novel!

*I received this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in return for a review.

I was really interested in this book and was really looking forward to reading it after reading the description. However I struggled to get into this book, it may have been things going on in my life but I struggled to WANT to read more than a couple of pages a night.

The very beginning is a bit confusing you are just plopped in the middle of something which is actually how the character is feeling so it is apt.

After getting to 50% I was finally able to get stuck into the story and got addicted to reading it. But that took a long time and I can see people losing interest.

The story was compelling and I loved the whodunnit side of the story. I personally wasn’t sure about the ending but I also wanted to hear more about the outside world.

I think I need to re read it again as it is hard to keep track of all the characters and how they relate to everything!

1 Star and almost a DNF

A gala party is being thrown at the (formerly) grand estate of the Hardcastles. The date is the anniversary of their son Thomas's murder and also a homecoming party for their daughter Evelyn. The invitees are the same group of people who were present at the estate at the time of Thomas's murder. At 11pm Evelyn will be murdered. It's up to Aiden Bishop to solve the mystery of who kills her. It's not that simple however. Aiden will inhabit the bodies of 7 different hosts in order to solve the murder. Each host will have the same amount of time to help Aiden with their observations and particular character traits. Not everything (or everyone) is as it seems and this murder will take a lot of skill and memory is order to solve it.

I really struggled to get through this book. The premise was interesting and the murder was very cleverly crafted, however there were too many characters and names to keep track of for me. Looking at the reviews it seems as though you either love this book and can't put it down, or you can barely finish it. I'm with that second group. I just wanted it to end so I could move on to a better read. Maybe it would have been helpful if there was a short description of each character in the beginning of the story.

This was so intricate and well written! All the hosts and characters intertwine so well together. It takes a little getting used to it as its written in a style that ive never come across before but i really enjoyed it and loved the mystery of it all

The first 50% was a lot better than the second half, i found it did drag a little but the mystery and constant twists kept me interested and pushed me to finish!

This is one of the best books that I have read in a really long time. It is so smart and so well written- the complexity of the plot line is mind-boggling and kept me absolutely entranced until the very last page.

Evelyn Hardcastle will be murdered every day at 11:00 PM. In order to escape Blackheath, Aiden Bishop must solve her murder. He will wake up every day for 8 days inhabiting a different host body. He must use their strengths and the information he has gathered to solve the case. If that was not enough, there are three other people at Blackheath trying to solve the murder and only one will leave. Who is trustworthy and who is trying to lead Aiden astray?

I absolutely love the way that Stuart Turton tells a story. Everything is explained and in hindsight is so clear but, will keep you guessing throughout the entire book. This is a murder mystery but with a twist, and a delightful one at that. An absolute must-read! Definitely my favorite book of the year.

Take Agatha Christie, add a generous pinch of supernatural, a dash of timetravel and some Sartre (albeit it’s a bit far-fetched, admittedly) and you get the story around and about Evelyn Hardcastle. Her deaths, the death of her brother and the many other people roaming the grounds of Blackheath Castle.
It was very atmospheric, confusing, thrilling and in the whole utterly entertaining.
However… personally I thought there had been a stretch in the last third of the book that prolonged the entire mystery/confusion/unrelatable narrator bit unnecessarily. Nevertheless a fantastic and gripping read!

When I found out I had been chosen to review this by Netgalley I was thrilled as I have been hearing so much hype and buzz around this book.

Firstly, I think the concept is great. I really would recommend going in blind and not having your judgement clouded by any other reviews or spoilers as it makes the experience better. One reviewer mentioned it was a video game and part way through the book I thought what a cop out and got annoyed at the writer – only to discover it isn’t a video game! But a future reality and a prison which is a fabulous idea! People are calling this ‘Agatha Christie’ style and I disagree – it isn’t anything like a poirot book.

I actually thought that the murder mystery aspect was fairly obvious in terms of who actually ‘dunnit’ but the overarching concept was great.

The writing itself is beautiful, there are some great quotes but unfortunately it was just sooo slow. The last quarter of the box really picked up the pace but I found some parts tedious and I was making myself read it. It also frustrated me that I had the kindle version because it isn’t as easy to flip back and forth and I did find myself wanting to reread sections. Having read other reviews I’m a bit disappointed because people seem to LOVE this book, and I did but I think people are mistaking having everything thrown at it and lots of different plots as being a punchy, fast paced read – which it is not. I found it to drag at times even though there is A LOT going on.

I also found the chapters a bit confusing, sometimes it said which day we were on and sometimes it didn’t. It might be more helpful to have which host is occupied at the top.

I think if I had read this book in one or two goes I would have enjoyed myself more but I read it before and after work on the tube and I found I ended up having to flick back and re-read sections to remember where I was at and which host Aidan was in. I also found that I didn’t much care about the main character, but this could have been because we find out too late in the book as to who he is and why he is solving the murders plus I just did not get why he was so drawn to Anna after she had killed his sister – a memory that he could remember – even though she had shown some kindness whilst in Blackheath.

There are plot holes, and it was too slow and way too long, it could really have done with some parts being cut down but I enjoyed each hosts character and I thought the overall plot was a great idea. I particularly liked the questions at the end where the author spoke about how he wrote the book – it must have taken an awfully long time and a lot of thought. It is an ingenious idea however it was too slow and didn’t grab my attention.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.