The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle ~ Stuart Turton
- bookishbb
- Nov 29, 2023
- 4 min read
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Okay, so the first thing I have to address when it comes to the 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is not actually this book, but the 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I'll be honest, at first I wasn't aware that these were two different books. And even once I was, they had sort of merged together in my mind, so I had no clue which synopsis belonged to which. Now, having read the 7 1/2 deaths, I feel pretty confident in my ability to tell them apart.
I'll admit, when I realised this book had two titles (I saw it listed on Goodreads as the 7 1/2 deaths, whereas my book read the 7 deaths), this only furthered confusion. Funnily enough, this was the complete opposite of the author's intention. If you weren't aware - as I wasn't - the book had originally been published as the 7 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, however following confusion the similar title to the 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, it was republished as the 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. I thought this was pretty funny, to be honest.
Right, now that's all cleared up, back to what this review is really about, the 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. The concept of this book is pretty unique, in my opinion. Our protagonist wakes up with no idea who he is, where he is, or much of anything really. With time it is revealed that he is one of the guests staying in a large manor house. Long story short, our protagonist (Aiden) discovers that he is trapped here to relive the same day over and over again, the only way he can leave is if he solves the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle. Hence the title! The catch is, Aiden only has eight days to solve the murder, and each day he will wake up in the body of a different guest. For this reason, I feel like the 8 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle would make more sense, but that's just me.
The synopsis gives me the impression of a Cluedo type of story, with distinctive characters, an English country house, and a locked-door mystery. In my opinion, the book didn't lean into this as much as I had expected. Instead, this felt like a more grown up Cluedo, with more fleshed out characters, complex dynamics, and intricate plot, fitting of an adult's novel rather than a board game. As this is a more adult novel, there are some mentions of mature themes, so as always check the content warnings before going into it. But if you're expecting something super dark and gritty, this isn't that.
As I said, these characters are far more complex and interesting than the caricatures of Professor Plum or Colonel Mustard. Part of this is down to the set up of the book, which is very smart on the author's part. That's because we are seeing our various protagonists from other characters' perspective as Aiden moves through the eight days. Additionally, we have added narrative and depth from the perspective of Aiden whilst he is in each hosts' body. I wonder if the characters would have felt so dynamic had they not have also had Aiden in their head too. But by writing it this way, the author has given us the best of both worlds.
This was such a fast read for me. Don't get me wrong, it still took me a week to get through, but it felt quick, and that's what counts. I read this in several big chunks, struggling to put the book down. I was so engrossed and desperate to know how everything linked up. In my opinion, the ending was satisfying and tied up the loose ends, and most of the twists and turns landed well. There was one revelation which frustrated me as it was just so blatant to me, but I don't want to give any spoilers.
As much as I really enjoyed this book, I felt like the setting fell a bit flat for me. It's not that I didn't like the setting, it's just that I felt I didn't really know what the setting was. And the more the book went on, and the justifications were given, the less I felt I understood the story's backdrop. I like to be able to picture what's going on in a story, and the sort of world it is set in. In this case, I have no idea what this world is like outside of the immediate vicinity of the manor house. Initially, this is adds to the atmosphere, and the suffocating inability to leave. However, towards the end of the book, once questions were being answered and major plot points were being revealed, I would have liked to have a better sense of the wider world. I hope I'm not giving too much away when I say, when we learn what Aiden is doing there, and why the day is repeating, this is the point that opened up a whole Pandora's box of unanswered questions and obscurity. It was this point that I felt I had no idea where or when this was set. I would be curious to know if anyone else felt the same.
This decreased my overall enjoyability of the novel, because by the end I felt I had nothing tangible to hold onto. Despite this I had a lot of fun reading it, and it really kept me guessing, which is one of the most important factors of a mystery, in my opinion. If you decide to pick this up, I hope you enjoy!
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