T;LDR: A cross between Quantum Leap, a David Lynch film, and a country house murder, The 7 ½ deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton is a twisty and clever mystery.
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Aiden Bishop wakes up in a body that isn’t his. He doesn’t know who he is, but he knows one name – Anna. He believes she’s about to die and he wants to save her. This is how this book starts. With a confused, but terrified, narrator stuck in a body that feels too tall for him. It’s these subtle details, along with more narrative to explain it, that tell you what’s happening in this mystery.
I loved it. Every second of it. The characters are rich, the murder suspects dripping with vices and secrets, and the twists and bends of how Aiden Bishop is to solve it create a seriously entertaining mystery. For these reasons, and more, I give it my top mark: 5 stars.
Note: The titles are different depending on where you live. The US wanted it’s extra ½, so it is The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. The UK liked it simple, so it is The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle.
The Plot
Aiden Bishop has eight days and eight hosts to solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle. It sounds easy enough, right? Each host sees something different on the day of Evelyn’s murder. But it’s not. Add in Anna, a mysterious person who keeps coming in and out of the scene, a house guests who seem to know what’s going on and keeps providing helpful details, and notes left by him while he was in another host, and you get why this isn’t as straightforward as it seems.
Will Aiden Bishop solve the mystery in time? Or even better, will he stop Evelyn’s murder?
What I liked & liked less
I could go on and on about this book. I loved so much about it and had to dig deep to figure out what I didn’t. But first, the premise without giving away too many spoilers.
Yes, Aiden has eight days and eight hosts to solve the murder. But, and here’s the kicker, every host is reliving the same day, which means they loop back on each other. Every time a host falls asleep or passes out (willingly or unwillingly), he switches bodies to the last point they were awake on that day, which makes the timeline murky for him and for us.
Another brilliant choice from the author is that Aiden perceives the world through the perception and lens of his hosts, which means he either has to fight their tendencies or work with them to get to the answer. And they aren’t all love and sunshine. In fact, some of them are quite horrible.
The murder isn’t straightforward either nor is the motive for it. It is a rich tapestry of lies, secrets, and machinations, each thread needing to be spread out and viewed within the larger framework. And some of what happens is a red herring, or two, all of which are put into the right place at the end.
I don’t want to say too much more, because I want you to read this book and follow the clues, get confused, wonder who’s who and what their issue is, and if I go in depth, I’ll spoil it.
What I didn’t like… there were moments in the book that should’ve been bigger, more emotionally felt by the character and they weren’t. It could have been because of the host he was in at the time, but I don’t think so. I would’ve liked a few more highs, since the lows are definitely present.
I also wasn’t sure about one piece of the plot, which I can’t share. It may have been a bit too much deus ex machina. While reading it, I was alright with it, so it’s something my editor/writer brain has been picking apart a little. I can’t say more without spoilers, so I’m going to leave it there. But it kind of bugs me.
To Sum Up (Too Late!)
If you like Agatha Christie mysteries, you’ll like this. If you like Quantum Leap with a twist, you’ll like this too, although Sam was always himself in the bodies he leaped into. If you like dark, twisty, David Lynch-like stories, you’ll like this. If you like a good twisty mystery with clues and red herrings falling out of the sky, you’ll like this.
Basically, people, I’m telling you to read this book if you like mysteries of any sort. It’s that good. Stuart Turton knows how to write a solid mystery in a scifi/fantasy framework set in a country manor house in 1920s England. For that and the fact I plan on reading it again to see the clues I missed, I gave it 5 stars.
About the Author
Stuart lives in London with his amazing wife and daughter. He drinks lots of tea. What else?
When he left university he went travelling for three months and stayed away for five years. Every time his parents asked when he’d be back he told them next week, and meant it. Stuart is not to be trusted. In the nicest possible way. He’s got a degree in English and Philosophy, which makes him excellent at arguing and terrible at choosing degrees.
Having trained for no particular career, he has dabbled in most of them. He stocked shelves in a Darwin bookshop, taught English in Shanghai, worked for a technology magazine in London, wrote travel articles in Dubai, and now he’s a freelance journalist. None of this was planned, he just kept getting lost on his way to other places.
He likes a chat. He likes books. He likes people who write books and people who read books. He doesn’t know how to write a biography, so should probably stop before he tells you about his dreams or something. It was lovely to meet you, though.
Stuart’s debut novel is called The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle in the UK and The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle in the US. They’re the same book. Don’t fret.
If you wish to purchase this book, pick your vendor of choice here. No amazon link because it depends on if you’re in the US or the UK what the title is called. Look it up or use the Goodreads link I’ve provided above.
Also appeared on Feedium.