Book Club November 2021- The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
By: Stuart Turton
Published Year: 2019
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Pages: 438
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Aiden Bishop knows the rules. Evelyn Hardcastle will die every day until he can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest at Blackheath Manor. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others. With a locked room mystery that Agatha Christie would envy, Stuart Turton unfurls a breakneck novel of intrigue and suspense.
For fans of Claire North, and Kate Atkinson, The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a breathlessly addictive mystery that follows one man's race against time to find a killer, with an astonishing time-turning twist that means nothing and no one are quite what they seem.
What I thought
This was my book club pick. I’ve had it on my to-read list and just hadn’t gotten around to it but when I was looking for a book to pick it just felt right.
Evelyn Hardcastle is going to die and it’s your (the narrator’s) job to figure out who the murderer is. You have 8 hosts you will inhabit to relive the same day 8 times. If you don’t figure out who the murderer is by the end the day in your last host, you will start over again from the beginning with no memory of your last attempt.
This is going to be one of those books that’s hard to review because I don’t want to give anything away. It’s party mystery and part fantastical fiction with every page drawing you in further. You definitely feel a bit disoriented when the book starts, dropped into the first host with no idea going on, but it really puts your into the mindset of the narrator. Throughout the book you only know as much as he does at the time he is inhabiting that host. It’s nothing like I’ve ever read before and it was fascinating.
I will say because of the confusion the first 50-100 pages move a little slower. It wasn’t until then that it got to the point where I couldn’t put the book down and proceeded to read in hour long chunks until I finished. After the fourth (I think technically it’s the fourth) host is inhabited is when pieces of the mystery really tart to be explored and I just wanted to keep reading to find out who was going to be the next host and who killed Evelyn. Would the main character be able to save her? Save himself? Save anyone else?
It’s been a while since I’ve read a true mystery, let alone one that had me guessing until the end and that I couldn’t put down. And this isn’t a short book either! I will warn it is intricate and it has an element of magic? Fantasy? Not quite sure what to call it but basically, just go into it knowing that while the story couldn’t happen in real life (I mean… obviously… you can’t inhabit someone else’s body), the murder itself still ties to the real world.
I greatly enjoyed this book from start to finish. The style, story, and writing, were unlike anything I had read before. To not just hold my attention for 400+ pages but to keep a vice grip on it should say enough. I look forward to reading Turton’s newest mystery, but this is the kind of book that has given me a book hangover and I need to just sit for a day in its awe.
