title: The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
author: Stuart Turton
genre: adult, mystery
published: October 1st 2018 by Raven Books
my copy: paperback, 505 pages
rating: 4.0 / 5 stars
At a party thrown by her parents, Evelyn Hardcastle will be killed - again.
She's been murdered hundreds of times, and each day, Aiden Bishop is too late to save her. The only way to break this cycle is to identify Evelyn's killer. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes in the body of a different guest. And someone is desperate to stop him ever escaping Blackheath...
an enjoyable mystery read!
I've had this on my shelf since it was released and I was too scared to read it because I've read nothing but good things about it (some faults yes, but generally it was well loved) and it's such a thick book (and I'm not a fan of thicc books). I invited my best friend to buddy read this with me and I had a fantastic time with it.
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle follows Aiden Bishop who wakes without remembering anything at all other than a single name, Anna. He goes through the day and finds out later on that he has 7 days to solve a murder. However, the catch is that he wakes up in 6 more different bodies every single day.
In general, I really enjoyed reading this with regards to its mystery. It may be because I'm buddy reading it and it may also just be because it's been a while since I read an actual whodunit. And if you want an engaging whodunit that would really keep you up at night questioning everything and piecing every clues together, this is a pretty good one. I loved the mystery-solving aspect of this. I get to make up all sorts of theories and I get to doubt everything as I usually do.
The mystery reveal didn't give me that mindblown vibes. I was able to correctly guess some things and for the other things I wasn't able to guess, I didn't really care much. I just took it all in. Finished the book. That's it. I wish I could have cared more. This could just be a me thing though.
The how-did-we-get-here aspect of the story which is the reason for the endless loop Aiden is in to didn't exact sit well for me. BUT it could just be a me thing because I talked to my best friend about it and he said it was good. The explanations were okay for him. I mean the explanation did try to make this as plausible as possible and maybe that's what didn't work for me but also if you're someone looking for that oh-that-makes-sense part in all of this, it's okay. Because other than that explanation, I don't know what else it should/may be.
I enjoyed the dynamic of the characters though. I really like Aiden's growth from not knowing anything to curiosity to overall just accepting everything he was pushed to deal with. His relationships with Anna and Daniel and the [masked doctor] are enjoyable reads. There's so much doubt in every interaction that I put tabs on a lot of things and whenever we discuss the book, I literally go over everything, every interaction, and how their relationship develops throughout the novel.
OVERALL, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a really good whodunit novel. It kept me thinking, it made me overthink, look back on clues, tab every page for reference, and made me come up with wild theories. While the ending didn't make me feel exactly satisfied, I still think it's good and generally an enjoyable mystery.
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