Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
“A brilliantly original high concept murder mystery from a fantastic new talent: Gosford Park meets Inception, by way of Agatha Christie
‘Somebody’s going to be murdered at the ball tonight. It won’t appear to be a murder and 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…”
I can’t even imagine how difficult it must have been to plan out the plot of something like this, orchestrating the interactions between such a huge cast or characters when their actions are repeating, and some of them are the same man in different bodies. Bravo to Turton for writing such an intricate story. Unfortunately, while I loved the mystery and premise of this book, the execution didn’t meet my expectations. I found myself rereading sections as it was quite confusing. Aiden, our MC, woke up in different hosts and this alongside the time hopping aspects felt a bit overwhelming.
As the plot develops and we meet more of the characters, (some of which had very similar names so was difficult to keep track of) the mystery seems to get harder to solve. I would be surprised if anyone worked out what actually happened, which is great.
The ending was a bit crap. The while book is full of twists, turns and a lot of action but the ending, everything is wrapped up so neatly and is just unrealistic. After the revelation of who Anna really was, I don’t understand how Aidan could forgive her so easily. Their whole relationship just annoyed me.
Overall, I gave this book a 3/5* rating. I’d recommend this book if you have the time to spend getting your head around it all.

Oh i really struggled with this.

On one hand brilliantly inventive, high concept, ambitious, complex, ground breaking murder mystery.

And on the other just too much for me. 100 pages in and I was exhausted and it has been a real labour of love to finish.

I’ll settle for a simpler crime mystery without the added complexity of both time travel and body swapping.

Can absolutely see the appeal, just wasn’t for me.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a gripping and intense novel. It demands your full attention as there is a lot of information to take in and quite a few people to remember (there is a list of the characters at the start so you can keep track). It is not a book you can pick up, read a few pages and put down again, but it is so worth it.

It opens with a bang and then the storyline slows down as nothing much happens apart from Aiden trying to work out who he is. It takes a while for it to get into the actual plot regarding the murder of Evelyn, but once it does, this is where the story picks up tenfold, and the part where I became glued to the pages.

It is in essence an old fashioned ‘who-done-it’, but written in a modern way, whilst the plot is definitely not set in the modern day. It is a mixture of genres, all rolled into one, Crime, Sci-fi, Drama, Action, Adventure, Mystery, Psychological, Thriller, and of course a Detective novel, without a trained detective. A complete mix that works seamlessly together.

It is filled to the brim with red herrings, twist and turns, and a plot that you are never sure where Mr. Turton is going to take you. This is a puzzle that you will be eager to solve, so make yourself comfy this is going to be one hell of a journey!

I absolutely loved this book - it took a few chapters to really settle into the conceit of body switching but once it did I couldn't put it down. Some of the female characters felt a little thin, but upon reaching the end the reasons why became obvious. Although the plot was very complicated (I can only imagine what it must have been to plan) I never felt lost or totally confused (or at least, not considerably) and kept hold of the plot strings right until the end.

This is a mastercraft in historical fiction, unlike anything I've read since Agatha Christie.

Evelyn is going to be killed. Again. Every night her murder goes unsolved, the gala party where she dies restarts and Andrew is always too late to save her.

The writing is hugely atmospheric, and sets the scene perfectly. The descriptions are rich and detailed. It's almost like stepping back in time and being with these characters, living (and dying) amongst them. The plot is also quite unique in that the story is told over and over with Andrew taking the role of a different character every night with small hints and clues drip fed throughout, almost like a historical 'Groundhog Day' meets 'Cluedo'. However, the plot can never be taken at face value, as nothing is really as it seems and characters constantly surprised me.

It's not an easy read by any stretch of the imagination - there's twist and mysteries that left me completely baffled and had me desperate to understand what was going on, but that's what makes this such a compelling read. You really want to know what happens, as you try to draw conclusions before Andrew. I was especially drawn to Evelyn, and as her story unravels I felt a need to know who killed her.

That said, at times I felt a disconnection with some of the other characters as I was mainly so invested in Andrew and Evelyn, and sometimes it took a while for me to get my head round Andrew as a new person with different mannerisms every night.

Still, I thought this was like a fresh of breath air for the mystery genre. Different and exciting.

I have never read a book like this before .A mystery , murders, body swapping and time travel all thrown into the mix .I did find the story very long and confusing in places .The story is set in a country house very Agatha Christie !! with a wide range of characters that you are never sure what is real and what isn't .There are time leaps backwards and forwards and deaths galore .Nothing is as it seems .I was a little disappointed at the ending for such a clever book I found the ending a bit of a let down .

The Death of Evelyn Hardcastle is an extraordinarily clever, tense and original novel. Intelligently woven with intricate plots, I very nearly read this in one sitting. With all the tropes of a perfect golden age novel - a manor house, a ball and a number of suspect characters who may well have committed the murder - but with multi-layered time loops and a loose grip on reality,

As our hero Aidan Bishop attempts to navigate this surreal world and solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle, he is displaced into eight different bodies, each with their own agendas, histories and personalities which disrupt and enhance his search.

A masterclass on perspective, Stuart Turton has created a superbly crafted and highly imaginative novel that defies categorisation, so much so that I can hardly believe it is a debut novel.

Required reading for anyone who loves to guess whodunnit (I bet you won't), I can only describe this as Agatha Christie meets Inception or, as one Twitter user put it, 'playing Cluedo after dropping acid'.

I don't think I'll quite read another novel like it, and I will certainly looking forward to seeing what the Stuart Turton.

M. Sturton is a madman and a genius. Because it was a very complex concept and he nailed it, which makes The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle my first favourite book of 2018.

I’m hard to please when it comes to murder mysteries because I need a fresh angle to be interested. That's why I read few of them, and that's why Seven Deaths, with its unique premise, intrigued me so much, and I was really looking forward to reading it.

I’m very impressed. This particular mix was highly volatile yet Stuart Turton avoids every mistake he could have made and what I first thought was a bold experiment turns out to be a masterpiece. I can't even believe this is a debut novel. So Aiden Bishop has to figure out who murdered Evelyn Hardcastle. BUT the trick is: he’s not the only one trying. Two other people are stuck in the same loop and only the first one to find out the truth will be set free. Aiden has to investigate, but also to escape a bloodthirsty rival who’s trying to secure his own victory by killing each and every one of Aiden’s hosts. Think Cluedo with a time limit, a killer after you and you get new cards at every turn. Sounds fun, right?

To escape the time loop, Aiden has eight hosts and needs to survive long enough to discover who murders Evelyn and bring the answer, with proof, to the mysterious Plague Doctor, puppeteer of this play where nothing is what it seems. So every day, Aiden wakes up as a different person, which grants him a fresh perspective thanks to his hosts’ different skills. Lucky for him (and for us because it would get old really soon), his memory loop works on an eight-day basis and doesn’t reset every morning. This is perfect for a murder mystery because “every day”, Aiden gathers more information by reliving it from a new angle and slowly pieces back together the whole story. The downside for him is the further he goes into the week, the blurrier the line between his own personality and his host’s, which can make the host a liability at times when Aiden really doesn't have the luxury to have one.

However I think some people will end up very confused. It is a bit tough to follow, I guess, because some things happening on the first day come from actions that Aiden will do later. I really enjoyed it because this is how I like my time travel. Events being explained later by future actions are something I love, because it gives me the feeling of watching a huge 3-D puzzle coming together. It’s fascinating to watch it being built but you need to know how to look at it. Don't hesitate to draw a timeline if needed.

As for the characters, we get to know them through Aiden’s different sets of eyes. I have a soft spot for Lucy, the maid, and I think Cunningham really lives up to his name. He’s resourceful and he’s got spunk, I like it. I thought it was extremely interesting to watch the characters showing different sides of themselves depending on which one of Aiden's hosts they were interacting with. I also think Aiden’s hosts are full of surprises, two in particular I thought might be useless but turned out to have their own part to play. I was surprised of how easily I could tell Aiden apart from his hosts. It’s very delicate work and I’m in awe because it was a very thin line to walk.

The eight-day time limit and the Footman’s attacks, always unexpected, add a sense of urgency. The Footman scared the hell out of me and I still feel uncomfortable at night, sometimes, picturing him lurking around in the shadows. He's a great villain, smart and spooky. As for the mystery itself, I really appreciate the fact that even if Aiden was always a few steps in front of me, I was never lost on the way. I never once thought “it’s too complicated, I don’t care anymore, I’ll just see what happens”. I got really into it, I followed each twist and turn, changing theories every time the rug was pulled under my feet (and boy did that happen a lot!) and having a real blast until the very end. This is EXACTLY what I was hoping for, and more.

It was bold, suspenseful, gripping, witty, 5 well deserved stars. Blackheath will sink its claws into you and won’t let go. Be ready for the ride of your life.

I would also like to point out that it would make a great BBC mini-series. Just sayin’.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc for sending me this beauty in exchange for an honest review. And thanks to M. Turton for writing said beauty. You rock. And I’m totally buying a final copy.

Groundhog Day Meets Agatha Christie was all I needed to hear to be completely positively intrigued by this book. I had an absolute blast reading this and trying (and failing) to figure things out. Aiden Bishop wakes up in a body that is not his with no memory at all. He learns that he will wake up on this same day 8 times in 8 different hosts to solve a murder that will occur in the evening. We follow him chronologically (from his perspective), but everything is always happening at once. There are two others trying to solve the same murder and he will have to figure out who is on his side and who isn't. This is such a staggeringly brilliant premise that is then executed stunningly.

Stuart Turton juggles many moving parts in a way that makes it relatively easy for the reader to follow along. He has all his moving pieces coming together beautifully and effortlessly and I think this is the biggest strength of this very strong book: this could have been a confusing mess but never was. The different versions of Aiden Bishop feel distinct enough to be complete characters while there is also a piece of him that is always recognizable. I adored the ruminations on identity and responsiblity, with a strong emphasis on action rather than personality.

Aiden Bishop has an incredible disdain for his hosts, who to be fair are mostly unpleasant, but I sometimes found his descriptions unnecessarily cruel, especially regarding one of his host's overweight body. He went into detailed description of why this body was disgusting and this just did not sit well with me - especially when juxtaposed with his descriptions of another of his hosts (who is a rapist) who he also hates but not that viscerally. It makes sense from an in-book-perspective (his hosts' personalities influence his reactions and the rapist sees nothing wrong with his behaviour) but still did not work for me. But this was a slight issue I had in the grand scheme of this highly enjoyable book.

I found this extremely clever, very well-written, and exceptionally well-plotted. I cannot wait to hold a finished copy in my hands to reread parts of this to find the hidden clues that I might have missed in my rush to finish this and to know. I cannot wait what Stuart Turton writes next.

I thought the premise of this book sounded really interesting but didn’t connect the characters or storyline. I feel it may be a case of this book was not for me as there are a number of good reviews for it.
I struggled to 15% and then I found myself starting to skim, therefore I have decided to put it aside as a DNF

Do you like murder mysteries? Time travel?? Body swapping? Black Mirror?? Then this is the book for you, my friends.

I'm not usually the biggest fan of mystery novels - aside from Sherlock Holmes, I haven't read that many. So, about halfway through this book, I was thinking that although the content and the writing of this novel deserves more like 4 stars, I would probably be rating it 3, due to my personal preferences.

HOWEVER, Stuart Turton changed my mind.

This is a really weird book, with A LOT of content. We begin as an unnamed man (later named Aiden) inhabiting the body of a guest attending a gala at Blackheath Manor. He is given the task of solving the murder (which looks to everybody like a suicide) of Evelyn Hardcastle, the lady of the house. To help him solve this murder, he will have 8 days in 8 separate hosts, all of whom are guests at the gala, with their own personalities, relationships, and abilities which may help or hinder our hero.

There's also a mysterious woman named Anna, who looks to be in the same boat as Aiden and who seems to help him during his investigation, and a creepy footman, who is intent on murdering all of Aiden's hosts before he can solve the crime. PLUS, there's a fellow in a creepy plague doctor outfit who turns up every now and then to give Aiden some vague hints and clues.

So, there's a lot going on. Not only is there a murder to solve, but we also don't know who Aiden is, why he's solving this murder, and who else might be serving to help him or impede him (in occasionally violent ways).

It does take some work to stay with it - at one point I felt like I was drowning in different characters and mysteries- but it is SO WORTH IT. By the 60% mark I was absolutely hooked, and was kept up far past my bedtime finishing this bizarre, intricate novel.

Turton's writing is really, really good. It boggles my mind to think about how long this must have taken him to plot out - I can barely hold everything in my head as a reader, never mind as an author. His plotting is incredibly well thought out, and the ending wraps everything up very well without any plot holes that I can see. This is really a huge achievement, since as I said, there is SO MUCH going on ALL THE TIME.

Aiden's hosts are all clearly separate people with their own personalities, and Turton manages to blend them with Aiden in believable ways. He also has some really lovely turns of phrases:

"Nothing like a mask to reveal somebody's true nature."

"Storm clouds of embarrassment drift across his grey face."

"Age is coiling around me, its fangs in my neck, drawing my strength when I need it most."

"My mind is a stuffed trunk that needs unpacking."

"This time the past will hold her hand and squeeze."

So not only is the mystery very well concocted, but the writing is also really good.

I honestly cannot recommend this enough for lovers of mysteries and crime thrillers. The pleasure of unpacking this massive mystery even pulled me, a non-mystery lover, very firmly into the story. Stick with the relatively slow and very confusing first half, because the second half moves so fast and gets so intense that I was really, really pleased I'd forced my brain into keeping up. Plus, the ending is so mind boggling that now I want a sequel (please).

Stuart Turton has written an extraordinarily original, atmospheric, intelligent and fiendishly complex novel that I really loved! At one level it masquerades as an Agatha Christie style golden age classic crime, and indeed many of the tropes present in that genre are here such as the diverse range of characters at a country house party. It is no exaggeration to say it is so much more, including the presence of time leaps, and absolutely nothing is as it seems. Prior to the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle, there was another death 19 years ago where justice was not fully served. Aiden Bishop is a guest at the party where Evelyn is murdered, he is trapped in a nightmarish Groundhog Day, destined to relive that day until he solves the crime and identifies the murderer. Each day he takes on the body of a different character at the party, with all the consequent complications that ensue, such as the differing friend circles and enemies.

Turton gives us a heavily detailed, inventive and ambitious story with beautiful, and lyrical prose. Whilst I found it compulsive reading, it is not a book for everyone, I can see many finding it frustrating. The author is to be congratulated for penning a tale, which whilst occasionally exasperating, allows the reader to exercise their little grey cells! This is a book for those who enjoy being taken out of their comfort zone, enjoy intriguing puzzles and have a penchant for the curious and the strange. A brilliant and twisted read that is never less than enthralling. Many thanks to Bloomsbury for an ARC.

Ooh I liked this immensely! I'm generally in favour of long reviews, but in this case, the less you know the better. In fact, I started the book having completely forgotten anything from the blurb which made it all the more gripping.

All I will leave you with is that this is an exciting debut novel with twists and turns galore, and I could not put it down. Think Cluedo meets Groundhog Day set in Downton Abbey. Make sense? No? Better read it then ;)

Well, my mind was officially blown by this one! Groundhog Day crossed with Gosford Park crossed with Source Code, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is ostensibly a 'golden age' murder mystery in the style of Agatha Christie - but the hero is not quite all he seems.

The story starts with Sebastian Bell standing in a forest in the rain, shouting the name 'Anna'. He has no memory of who he is or how he got there, but he knows someone is about to die and he has to save them. By the time he's found his way out of the forest we know he's a guest at a country house party/masquerade ball given by Lord and Lady Hardcastle, almost nineteen years to the day that their seven year old son Thomas was murdered. Oh, and he's not really Sebastian Bell at all but Aiden Bishop, forced to re-live this day over and over, inside the head of a different guest until he solves another murder due to happen before midnight tonight. Are these two deaths connected? Can he stop the second one from happening? And are there others like him, equally determined that he won't succeed?

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is an extremely clever, high-concept murder mystery. It's best read in big chunks to appreciate the author's skill and to avoid becoming too confused by the spider's web of a plot. Aiden spends a lot of time running around Blackheath House not knowing what is going on, which I liked - I love being dumped in the middle of the action and hate too much backstory. There are a lot of characters, who all have important roles to play, but there is a list of them at the front of the book to help you keep track. You'll need to concentrate because the twists come thick and fast, particularly towards the jaw-dropping end. I have to admit I gave up trying to work out who the murderer was and just enjoyed the ride!

Highly original, fiendishly clever and definitely recommended!


I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, which will be published on 8th February 2018.

Thank you to Stuart Turton, Raven Books (Bloomsbury Publishing), and Netgalley for my copy of this book, which I received in exchange for an honest review.

A man awakes in a wood with no memory and has only one name on his lips, Anna. On finding a country house, he is recognised and cared for. However, as his day continues he finds himself at the centre of a murder mystery, he is challenged to discover the murderer, his day will repeat itself and he will experience it in a different host body everytime.

This twisting, turning, time travelling murder mystery demands its' readers full attention, as you don't know which host will appear next and the course of the day keeps being altered. A complex, ingenious plot which keeps your attention. Could see it working as a film.

I’ve stayed up late to finish The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and I feel ever-so-slightly frazzled. It was a great read, but boy did it take a lot out of me keeping track of the time-travel, body swapping, characters, motives, murder scenes and various clues. The author creates disorientation and bewilderment for the reader which mirrors the way his protagonist feels as he awakes in a number of successive hosts. Original stuff

Such an ingenious plot and really well executed. I was riveted to it for days (it is rather long) and, along with some judicious and well-timed recaps of previous events throughout, I just about managed to keep up with the action to the end.

I liked the author’s style of writing, somehow simultaneously personal and impersonal, as one individual both shares in and observes others’ experiences. A couple of passages that struck me particularly are:

‘I can feel myself being slotted into place, a cog in a massive ticking clock, propelling a mechanism I’m too small to understand.’

‘Nothing like a mask to reveal somebody’s true nature.’

Interesting insights, too, into behaviour viewed from different perspectives and, in a ‘Groundhog Day’ fashion, we see how altering one incident can have a huge impact on events leading from it.

An original and engaging whodunnit that I can thoroughly recommend.

This mind-bending body-hopping mystery is like the result of some unholy union between The Bone Clocks, The River of No Return and a Golden Age crime classic. It begins with a man finding himself running through a forest in evening dress, with no idea who or where he is. He remembers nothing but a name – Anna – and when he sees a girl being attacked in the woods, he assumes this is Anna and he must save her. He gives chase, but is intercepted by a stranger who gives him a compass and an instruction to head east. This leads him to a gathering at a grand, albeit faded, country pile: Blackheath, home to the Hardcastle family.

Piece by piece, our hero (if that's what he is) starts to put together what's going on, aided by the guidance of a mysterious costumed figure known as 'the Plague Doctor'. This particular day ends in tragedy, and it is doomed to repeat until the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle can be solved. Every time the narrator sleeps, he wakes up in the body of a different 'host' – but he is restricted to eight of these before time runs out and the whole thing resets, with his memory wiped again.

I can't even imagine how difficult it must have been to plan out the plot of something like this, orchestrating the interactions between a huge cast of characters when their actions are supposed to be repeating... and some of them are the same man in different bodies. It's mind-bogglingly intricate. However, it's also quite bloated and, despite there being a lot going on, the narrative frequently drags. At many points I found myself growing impatient, daydreaming about a heavily edited version of the book; it could've been slimmed down to half its length. And then there's the ending. When you actually think about it – how Aiden's connection to Anna is explained and resolved, and what that would mean outside Blackheath – it is insane and ludicrous and it falls apart within seconds.

But the genius of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is that it really makes you want to know what happens. Even when I was pretty bored, I could not give up without finding out whether the theory I developed circa page 29 was correct. (I think it was, but I'm still not entirely sure? Or maybe I just guessed something that was obvious anyway?) And the more I read, the more theories I came up with. There's always just enough to keep you hooked until the end of the next chapter, and the next, and so on.

All in all: a fabulous concept, ponderously executed. The story has some great moments, but I'm not sure I can truly recommend wading through 500 pages of it.

This review will appear on www.wherethebooksgo.wordpress.com and Goodreads on Saturday 3 February.

In brief ★★★★

In an incredibly creative fashion, Turton has written an un-put-down-able murder mystery, full of fear, violence, confusion and mystery. I devoured this in one evening, the taut writing propelling the narrative from one heart-stopping scene to another. The set-up sounds like something straight out of Agatha Christie, but the execution has a different, darker quality than your archetypal murder mystery. An impressive, compelling debut.

I received an advanced e-book copy from Bloomsbury via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

In depth

Plot: Despite having such a wide cast of characters, this is very much a plot-driven book. A man wakes up without any sense of where or who he is, with only the name "Anna" on his lips. From there, he is drawn into a series of tense events at the Hardcastle family's rural property, Blackheath, as he tries to undercover his identity while under threat from someone known only as "the footman". When he wakes the next day and runs right into the man he had been yesterday, the core premise is exposed, and the pace really picks up. Not only will the belle of the ball, Evelyn Hardcastle, be murdered, but old tragedies from almost two decades earlier will rear their heads, muddying the waters. Despite its length, this book is easy to read quickly and I found it impossible to put down. The twists and turns our protagonist faces are cleverly devised and with each passing day, both the stakes and pressure rise.

Characters: Our protagonist is eventually revealed to be a man named Aiden Bishop, but we only learn about his traits as they interact with the personalities of his various hosts each day. For example, we only appreciate his decency and courage in contrast to his first host, Doctor Sebastien Bell's, cowardice. Cleverly, each characterisation evolves as Aiden sees the events unfolding at Blackheath from different perspectives, leaving the reader with the same degree of mistrust Aiden experiences. However, this means you don't form the same connection with each of the host characters; you end up only interested in how they can help Aiden try to solve the mystery, rather than having an interest in them as people. While I ususally delve further into analysing various characters, I worry that any other commentary will give away too much, so please pick the book up for yourself!

Themes: As with any good murder mystery, the primary theme of this novel is justice - how it can be achieved, who deserves it and what exactly it should look like.

Writing: Turton shows himself to be a master of tension and pace in his debut novel. He gives evocative descriptions that add to, rather than detract from, the intensity of the plot. His attention to detail - where key objects and people are at any given time in the very complex timeline - is superb, but as a reader you do have to dive in without understanding much, and having faith that clarity will follow. Of course, this is exactly Aiden Bishop's experience, which is one of the many devices designed to bring you along on this wild ride with him.

Recommended if you liked: anything by Agatha Christie

Bonkers but brilliant. It's an Agatha Christie manor-house mystery – with a Black Mirror twist. Kept me engrossed and guessing throughout, and I still didn't figure it out.