The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Hardcover

English language

Published Aug. 8, 2018 by Bloomsbury.

ISBN:: 978-1-4088-8956-5

(1 review)

Gosford Park meets Groundhog Day by way of Agatha Christie and Black Mirror – the most inventive story you'll read

Tonight, Evelyn Hardcastle will be killed ... Again

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...

SOURCE

3 editions

kerry reviewed The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

Review of 'The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

4 stars for a very clever story, with drawbacks. I followed what was going on, and who was who, and when was when, until about halfway through. The multiplicity of characters and time jumps lost me, but I stuck it out because I had to get to the resolution.

Spoilers (BIG spoilers) and questions:

-While "Aiden" was inhabiting another host person's body, was each other host acting as themselves, or as another "Aiden"?
-Given that Blackheath was a prison, who actually were all those other people (aside from Aiden, Anna, and the Plague Doctor) - other prisoners? Conjured (AI?) characters?
-The reason why Aiden was in his predicament requires a LOT of suspension of disbelief. The Plague Doctor, who was operating under orders from his superiors, was actually ridiculous.
-There were too many characters whose names started with the letter D. I started to think that was a clue.