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.
I had seen mentions of Stuart Turton’s The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle for years but never really knew what it was about beyond what information the title gives us. So, I went into the book relatively blind and wow was it nothing like I expected. From the very first word, literally, I was in a constant state of confusion. In a good way, however, but confused all the same. I won’t lie that about every chapter (sometimes every page) I would utter “What the fuck?!” under my breath. But again, it was in the best way possible. It made me feel very in tune with the main character, Aiden, because that was essentially his feelings every time something new happened or was revealed.
The book was beautifully written. I will say that sometimes it did border onto a little too flowery and wordy in some instances, but there were some passages that were so beautifully written or had a depth and beauty to them that I highlighted them just so I could share them on Goodreads. (For the sake of avoiding spoilers, I will not share them but you are welcome to go check out my Goodreads account and follow me to see them should you so desire).
The setting of the books was moody in all the best ways. It could be perfectly sunny outside, and I still felt I was locked in a stormy estate in the middle of a haunted moor. Turton did an excellent job of transporting readers to Blackheath Manor. Plus, who doesn’t love a Plague Doctor where he shouldn’t be? I can’t say much on my feelings about the characters we meet along the way without giving away too much information but just know that some of them were so well-written that my jaw did drop once or twice at some of the revelations.
I know a lot of reviewers have stated that the ending seemed a little contrived because of the nature of the big reveal and I will say that, to me, it was a bit muddled and felt somewhat rushed. But it felt as though Turton was simply so excited to get to the end (in a good way) that the pace naturally followed. I did have to reread a few paragraphs to catch things I missed because things were pacing so quickly that the status of everything literally would change from one paragraph to the next and I would wonder how I got to that point. But by the end it made sense and I could look back and see all the little clues that were sprinkled throughout, detracting from the contrivance arguments. My advice is just to take the last fourth of the novel slowly. As much as you may want to rush through, don’t, and just be sure not to skim and you will be perfectly happy with the result.
All-in-all, I really enjoyed The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. I would absolutely put it on a list of books to recommend to modern fans of Christie and Doyle and other period-setting mysteries.
The Book Wench 