What a brilliant and clever read. From the start to the finish I was hooked on ever page, It is a book that really should be read in one sitting- which won't be hard to do because it's amazing! It has so many different elements interwoven within this book that I can do define it under one genre. It's a very refreshing read as it is something different and I absolutely loved this book.

This is the type of book you have to experience for yourself because no description can adequately capture its essence. From page one you feel like you are dropped right into the middle of the mystery, as clueless and frightened as the narrator, whose memories have been wiped and is trying to figure out his own identity, location and purpose. The dark atmosphere of the Blackheath estate and its surroundings, as well as the toxic secrets and misdeeds of its guests, leap off the page and stay with you even when you’ve put the book down (which is hard to do given the cliffhangers and heart-pounding drama and suspense!). As Aiden Bishop moves through the same day, viewing it from the perspectives of eight different guests at the house party — with surprisingly little narrative overlap among them — small pieces of the puzzle click into place, but the big picture (and even bigger picture beyond that) stays tantalizingly out of reach until the very end. This is not the type of mystery where you can predict the outcome from chapter one — the non-linear narrative and twists and turns make guessing futile but the overall reading experience even more enjoyable. When you reach the end, your mind will be blown by the complexity of how all the moving pieces finally come together and how much work went into constructing a cohesive timeline presented out of order.

In summary: go pre-order or buy this book now! You will not regret it!

Thank you to Sourcebooks and Netgalley for providing an ARC of the US release for review!

Such a clever, unusual and unique mystery book - if you're a fan of crime / mysteries then you NEED to read this!

“If this isn’t hell, the devil is surely taking notes.”

Is it possible to miss a book once you’ve finished it?

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton is quite a book – both in content and size. As I was/am going through a whole phase, I’m a tad intimidated by books that are on the heavier side. Obviously one of the advantages of reading it on a Kindle is you don’t quite know what you’re signing up for. In the case of Seven Deaths, I was hooked right from the opening line, “I forget everything between footsteps.”

The book starts with a man waking up in a forest, with no memory of anything except for a name: Anna. He hears a scuffle and is convinced Anna has been murdered and a man whom he assumes to be the murderer hands him a compass. Using the compass, he finds his way out of the forest and reaches Blackheath, where preparations for a ball are underway. Servants and maids are running around, cleaning, arranging, decorating… He runs into a few of the guests, including a doctor, and they tell him his name is Sebastian Bell. He tries to reconcile his thoughts with the man he now knows he is. In the meantime, he meets Evelyn, the daughter of the Hardcastles of Blackheath, who spends most of her time in Paris and has returned for this ball. It is revealed that the ball is being held on the anniversary of the death of Evelyn’s youngest brother and the same guests who were present that day have been invited for this event. All of this is a lot for Sebastian to process. However, that’s the least of his troubles, for when he wakes up the next morning…
… he isn’t Sebastian Bell at all.

He is doomed to repeat the same day multiple times, each time waking up as a different person, a witness to the event that the title of the book alludes to.

When I realized what was going on, my mind immediately went to David Levithan’s Every Day. Unlike that one, Seven Deaths has body hopping as well as time travel. I’m not a fan of time travel usually – it leads to too many questions and there are always continuity problems that just cannot be explained. I kept all those doubts aside and just delved into the story.

What’s really impressive about this book is, even though it has so many named characters, at no point do you feel it’s an overload of information – each character has a distinct voice and a well-defined role to play. I quite liked the characters of Ravencourt, Dance and Rashton. The three serve as hosts on three different days and have the sharpest minds in the story. Dance’s sadness added an emotional side to this mystery.

In most books, around the 80-85% mark, the climax is done with and you’re just waiting for it to be tied up with a bow. No tying up here – for even at 90% you’re on a rollercoaster ride realizing all the information you’ve received so far is only half the mystery. The book keeps you on the edge until the last page – gripping and completely unputdownable, especially so in the last few chapters. It’s incredible, completely unreal!

The early reviews of this book have called it Nolan-esque and Agatha Christie-ly atmospheric. Both of these comparisons are apt. Add in a bit of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to the mix for the brilliance that are the last few chapters.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle from NetGalley/Sourcebooks Landmark

I was very intrigued by the premise of this book, having someone switching bodies to figure out a murder sounded right up my alley. The descriptions of the characters and the old mansion were very detailed and I liked how things were pieced together as characters changed. However, it also got confusing with switching people and days so I feel it took me longer to get through the book.

*I received this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton exceeded all my expectations for a mystery thriller. Very seldom do I find one that literally keeps me guessing until the last page. I do not know how Turton did it but he definitely did.

Reminiscent of Quantum Leap ( one of my favorite TV shows as a child), we start our book at the close of another for Aiden Bishop. He wakes up with no memory of his past with the exception of one thing, the name "Anna". This seclusive memory becomes his driving force for the rest of the novel: he must save her at all costs. While he searches for ways to accomplish this, he is accosted and when he awakes he soon realizes that he's in yet another body repeating the same day. As the events quickly unroll, Aiden realizes that he's stuck in a loop of a visit from the Plague Doctor confirms that he will be stuck until he can solve the riddle of who killed Evelyn Hardcastle. The hunt is on for the killer, and Aiden only has 8 days and 8 lives to solve it. But he learns that he's not the only stuck in this prison and he must defeat his reveals who both hide in plain sight.

I HIGHLY recommend this novel to anyone who needs a good thought provoking escape.

I've never encountered a book that was this twisted in on itself. I actually felt like I needed a whiteboard to work out what was happening and by whom.

We start off in the woods, in the mind of someone who only knows the name Anna. This is Dr. Sebastian Bell, a guest at Blackheath, a guest of the Hardcastles. He has no idea who he is but he sees Anna getting murdered in the woods. Racing away, for we learn that he's really a coward, he comes across Blackheath manor and, inside, the other guests know him and take him in.

Our protagonist is not really Dr. Bell. Our protagonist is the person inside Dr. Bell, who is the person inside the butler, inside Davies, inside Derby. He is jumping bodies every time he falls asleep or is knocked out. But why? To stop Evelyn Hardcastle from being murdered. He lives 8 lives in 8 days and must solve the murder before it happens each day. If he doesn't, he starts back over with day one in Dr. Bell. This sounds easy enough, yes? Except he's being pursued by a killer footman and has other rivals in the house who need to solve the murder before him. The person who solves the murder goes free.

But it's really not what you think and it's STILL not that simple. Mind. Blown.

I refuse to hand out spoilers for this book because it was such a crazy "Are you KIDDING me?" ride to the end. The author does a fantastic job at revealing what is happening to us and the protagonist. He's learning who he is and where he is right along with us and, truly, I think we all get equally confused at points.

A heavily detailed book that is both amazing and confusing in equal parts!!
Evelyn Hardcastle will die everyday,at a party,unless Aiden Bishop can identify her killer and break the cycle. Everyday,Aiden awakes in the body of a different party guest or suspect,and becomes privy to the various groups and confidences that they are party to. But,nobody tells the whole truth,there are secrets and riddles to solve,and it will challenge,frustrate and eventually amuse you,depending upon how many times you have thrown this book across the floor!!
It's like Groundhog Day meeting Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile,and it is intriguing from the first few pages. It can be said that this book is too cocky and full of itself,there is too much detail at the beginning and that can overwhelm the reader,but,if you love puzzles and fancy yourself as a detective,then this may be for you. Feel sorry for Aiden,he has to solve the mystery or be trapped for ever,you can just put the book,unfinished or completed upon your bookshelf!!
I enjoyed this book,but had to reread several pages. You do need all your ' little grey cells' ,it is a unique book that I think I enjoyed... eventually!
I have posted this review to Goodreads today. Thank you for such a challenging read.

This is a strange and eerie book that I highly recommend- it's a cross between Quantum Leap and Groundhog's Day. At first it felt somewhat tedious to keep up with all the characters but the pieces started fitting together and made for interesting reveals where I was uttering, "Ah Hah!" and got excited to keep reading.

I finished this yesterday night and I think I'll have to read the ending again (so unexpected) to see if I like the way the story wrapped up. Right now, I'm in the middle of intrigued and astounded (I'm not sure if it is in a good way). I will say that I had no idea any of this was coming. When I thought I solved it, I was completely taken aback by the storyline. Overall, a great debut book!

This is the book you have been longing to read!

For some time now I've been on the hunt for a book that would hit all my pleasure points; a book that was smart, thrilling, and fresh. This is all that and so much more. Categorically, I'm a pretty slow reader. I have many hobbies and while reading is one of my favorites, I don't get much time to focus my sole attention on it. I was watching a recent podcast that happened to mention this book as one that they were planning on reading again because they wanted to see what knowing all the answers to the riddles would do to the context of the whole book. I'm not usually a mystery reader, but I was fascinated by the concept and so I feel down this rabbit hole and didn't emerge until I finished the book two days later. It's an odd thing having a book affect you so much that it infiltrates your dreams and waking hours, but I swear to you this morning when my alarm went off for work I dreamingly reasoned that I could stay in bed for 10 more minutes and one of my "other lives" would kick in.

This leads me to the premise and I will be honest - I'm going to be vague here because I do not want to destroy this story for anyone. You are a person, trapped in a world in which you must solve a murder in one day, but you are not always the same person and you do not have consistent skills to solve the mystery. You are not alone - you are hunted and thwarted at many turns. If you do not solve the mystery the loop will begin again.

This book could easily have gone south, but the author did an outstanding job of keeping me captivated, as well as keeping me guessing - never right might I add. This was a story told with great skill and an intelligent mind. If you are going to pick up one book this year this is the book that you must grab. I hope that many readers find their way towards this book and I hope to read many more tales from this author.

Another book I regret waiting so long to read. As this book has been described it is Agatha Christie meets the movie Ground Hog Day. Our hero has 8 days or rather 8 lives to enter in order to save Evelyn. With the help, or maybe not help, of some other characters our hero and we learn what happens each time he falls asleep and what will happen if after the 7 sleeps/8 lives he does not solve the murder. This is a must-read for all mystery buffs! I am giving it a 4.5 rounded to 5 stars.

I am currently buying books for the library at school and I greatly enjoyed this title. I like to buy a good spread of books from YA to non-fiction so that the young people read as diverse a group of books as possible. I feel like this book would be a challenging, interesting and unusual pick, that would certainly give the young people at my school a great deal to talk about at our next Book Speed Dating events. I will certainly be recommending it to our school librarian and can't wait to hear what the kids think of it too!

I See Dead People...or more accurately I See One Dead Person over and over again!
This book has gotten a lot of hype and I really wanted to love it more than I did, but the plot was so convoluted that I had to work too hard and sometimes felt exhausted. The premise is definitely unique: Aiden wakes up every day in a different "host" body and repeatedly sees Evelyn killed. To break the vicious cycle he must solve the murder. I was drawn into it from the beginning but it just went on too long with so many different characters interacting as Aiden continues to be confused about his "role" in a new body. I did enjoy Turton's writing; clearly he is talented at his craft and it was so unusual and unlike anything I've ever read. Maybe my pea brain just couldn't keep up! But I don't like to have to work that hard to enjoy a story--and fantasy is not my go-to genre. But if this plot appeals to you, go for it! It has plenty of great reviews!

Finally! - a truly original mystery in the era of: "New Mystery! Just like (fill in the blank)".

This book was engaging, twisty, turny, and just a fantastic weaving of separate-yet-connected plot lines. The main character wakes up, unsure of who he is, where is is, or why he is, but he has a name on his lips: Anna. He's been brought to a house for a big party, with guests arriving constantly, maids and house servants bustling every which way, and an undercurrent of shady dealings with various unsavory character types. It happens to be the anniversary of a child's death at the same house long ago, and someone will die tonight, unless their yet-unknown murderer is found out and stopped. But that barely breaks the surface of what is actually going on here - and it's SO GOOD. Without giving too much away, just know it gives a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure vibe, for the main character, not the reader. The reader just goes along for the ride, and what a ride it is.

Loved everything about this book, including the historical setting, and the major reveal. And the ending didn't even ruin it! Bravo!

WOW!!!!!! Just wow....... I cant even.... This book still has my jaw dropped. It was that good. I really didn't even see a fraction of the twists and turns. This book kept my full attention as each character was introduced, with you never really knowing each one's motives until its too late, and the mask has "slipped off" so to speak. 

The plot to this book contained far more than what the synopsis ever could dare to describe. The sharpness and fluidity of the author strikes something that can not be erased. The development of each character was beautiful and flawless and will leave you reeling.

This book took me far out of my comfort zone , leading me on a path of a downward spiral, staying up reading till almost four am. This book was a mixture of the classic game of clue, mixed with the twists and turns of some most loved murder mystery classics!

A definite 5 star book in my opinion. I received this e-ARC from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I thought this was fabulous. It took a little bit for me to get interested, but once I did it I couldn’t stop myself from devouring the book. I felt like this was a unique and timely contribution to a genre that can easily get stale and I would LOVE to read more by this author and see what their brain can come up with next.

Oh My! This book is so different from any book I have read, reminding me of a good Agatha Christy novel with all its plotting twists and turns. This book does not disappoint in keeping you thinking what is the resolution going to be. I can only imagine how hard it was for the author, Stuart Turton, to keep it all together. The premise behind the book, revealed late into the story, is a great one with an interesting answer to a problem currently face. I am not sure if this is the solution, but what an imaginative take on solving that problem!
I really liked, hated, despised, worried about, wondered about, and hoped for the various characters in this novel. The author does a great job in making the reader feel connected to each ones individuality and their role(s) in the book.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes their mysteries served with a challenge and is willing to work with the main character in unraveling it over and over. Thank you Net Galley for this advance copy of the book, I am betting it will be, and stay, on the best sellers list for awhile. I am also wondering who could play the various characters in the movie version!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC for my Kindle.
I really like the description of this book and the premise, but I found myself "lost" while trying to read it and had to go back to earlier chapters trying to figure what was going on and who was part of the current plot. It's a mystery that only became interesting for me toward the end. So, for me, it was just o.k.

Part Agatha Christie, part Groundhog Day, and all parts incredibly inventive. Turton has created a memorable tale centered on a murder mystery with plot twists galore to keep readers constantly on their toes. A few days later, I'm still wrapping my brain around all that happened and wondering if it truly hangs together successfully; a second time through knowing what happens in the end may be necessary to clear everything up, but I greatly enjoyed the wild ride. I was especially tickled as I got deeper into the book and details from the beginning started to explain themselves as the narrative bounces around in time. To say anything more would spoil the fun!

What a ride! Wow. I'm stumped as to how to even explain how detailed and twisty and turny and clever this book is! I read somewhere that Stuart Turton had to map out an 8-day timeline with post-its marking every 2 minutes so he could keep track of everything - and wow! Just wow. I cannot even imagine the thought and preparation that went into arranging this story!

There is such creativity to this mystery - reminiscent of the best Agatha Christie novels, the book is set at Blackheath, a sprawling ancient estate, which has seen better days. But back in it's glory, almost two decades ago, there was a murder of a little boy. Now, coming up on the 20th anniversary, a whole slew of characters is gathered at the crumbling estate by the matriarch of the family, and yet another murder occurs.

Evelyn Hardcastle is the sister of that little boy, and she will die every single day until Adrian Bishop can solve the murder. He's stuck in an 8-day loop, and needs to figure out the killer and break the cycle. Oh and did I mention that every time her falls asleep, or goes unconscious, he wakes up in the body (and mind!) of a different guest?!

I loved how this all played out - Imagine waking up in an obese body that stinks and can't even get out of a bathtub without assistance! And then in that of a constable with a sharp clever mind and gorgeous fiancé, and then a drug dealer! What a ride this was! I dove right into it not knowing what to expect and breezed through the first 1/3 of it. By 2/3 in I started getting a little bit mixed up. The timeline jumps across and back the span of 8 days and you never know where in the past or future you will end up - or in whose (of 8 guests) mind/body. But by the last 1/3 - I was ravenously flipping pages to find out who killed Evelyn and the end does NOT disappoint! Wow! Again - wow!

What really cool and clever idea. I've never read anything like this and it was seriously one of the most inventive and creative murder mysteries I've ever read.