The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Dense But Interesting

Thoroughly enjoyable however I think a lot is missed in the audio version, so much so that I have reserved the ebook from my local library. I feel like I missed out on some twists with the audio and want to read it properly.
Good performance however but I don't think this was the best medium for me for this title.

11 of 11 people found this review helpful

A 'Who Dunnit' With a Difference!

A fascinating and gripping tale that held me spellbound and guessing to the very end. Well written and cleverly narrated. I loved it - in fact I've bought the hard back for my friend as I know she'll love it too!

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

Utterly gripping

So many twists, I feel quite dizzy.
I found the language breathtaking, this is a skilled writer. If Agatha Christie had written Groundhog Day, this would be the end product. My life has been pretty much on hold till I finished it, it so absorbed me. Loved it. Highly recommended.

13 of 14 people found this review helpful

A very hard to sustain conceit or device.

Here is a story that is a kind of science fiction, come detective story, come horror tale but not any of them, in the end, it is just a writers device to spice up a story of redemption and forgiveness. It felt contrived and claustrophobic and repetitive (but that was the warning the title gave), I kept on thinking let's get to the point, and I and the character would be taken back to the same point of the story viewed from a different angle, which did not open any new understandings.

Too much like as nightmare and too long within a conundrum that has no logic except for the one given by the author. It may be fascinating to create this world as a writer, but as a reader, I found it frustrating and without much reward, because in the end, everything had to be explained by one of the characters for it to be understood and have a logic that explained what had happened repeatedly.

Too stylized to feel connected to the character and too repetitive to care for the final outcome. I do not mind putting a bit of hard work for literature, but entertainment should not be this difficult.

45 of 51 people found this review helpful

Convoluted

I would love to watch this as a TV series because as a book it seems rather all over the place. Following Aiden Bishop, who seems to be appear in a new host body every day in order to solve a Gosford Park-style murder, he's also stacked against competitors desperate to flee this entrapment.

The premise is fantastic - it's Inception mixed with Agatha Christie- but I feel the author Stuart Turton may have overstretched himself because by the end it's a tangle of a mess, and finishes rather abruptly, trying to tackle loose ends. I may be in the minority, but I found myself drifting away quite a bit, actually forgetting characters. There's far too many murders and body swapping, and I don't think it reached its potential.

10 of 11 people found this review helpful

Downtown Abbey meets Groundhog Day!

This book is completely different to any other crime book I’ve ever read! it’s complex, confusing, and mind bending, but at the same time utterly compelling.
There is a host of different characters, time hops galore and a whole host of murders. It’s one of those books that once completed, you want to start rereading to see all the clues and red herrings you missed.
A fantastic debut novel, Mr Turton!

10 of 11 people found this review helpful

Oh My Goodness

What a terrific book this is. I was gripped from the very beginning. The story is complicated and I think that listening to it in a short space of time helped me to keep up with the amount of information being decoded and remembering who all the different characters were, but it was well worth it. The writing is fantastic and I really felt like I was learning everything at the same time as the narrator. Jot Davies does a wonderful job with the narration. I can't recommended this book enough. It's unlike anything I've read or listened to before and the ending is quite simply stunning. It's a remarkable achievement to get such a high-concept story absolutely right without alienating the reader by being too clever or complex but Stuart Turton has done something very special and I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Confusing

An interesting idea, well narrated and with real potential. However, the plot was incredibly confusing, particularly as an audio, and I kept having to go back and relisten to sections. I also thought it was over long and the ending lacked impact. Almost all the characters in the novel were vile so I found it difficult to care about them and at times the plot really dragged. I'm afraid this one wasn't really for me.

14 of 16 people found this review helpful

Fantastic and Original

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I loved this book. It was action all the way but you needed to pay attention as it had a complex plot. Took the time travel concept and reworked it in a totally original way. Can't wait for more from this author.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Leap Die Repeat: Murder Mystery with body swapping

Would you listen to The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle again? Why?

Possibly, in a few years. It's one you might want to revisit as it's such a unique idea.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Anna I think - she seems minor to start with but her importance grows as the plot develops.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Leap Die Repeat

Any additional comments?

4.5 stars

Source Code, Quantum Leap, Edge of Tomorrow, David Levithan's Every Day... And Then There Were None! All of these are channeled in this genre-bending debut, which mystifies from the get-go.

We've all read or know the formula of a murder mystery, and this novel includes many of them: a big house, a woman dead with no obvious motive, multiple suspects, red herrings and of course the sleuth brought in to solve the conundrum.

But where this differs is in the sleuth... he awakens on the day of the murder in a body and with an identity he does not know. The murder occurs and the following day.... it is the day of the murder again. And he finds himself in another identity.

Aidan will eventually register his own self, and learns that (much like a certain Bill Murray film) the day will repeat itself ad infinitum until the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle is solved. He must find the killer by using the identities he can inhabit.

I must stop there for fear of giving details I myself wouldn't want to know. While the mystery itself conforms to the genre outline through much of it, Aidan himself and the whole reason why the repeating day is happening is a meta-mystery that needs a solution as much as Evelyn's killing.

A totally fresh feel to what could have been very much a by-the-numbers murder story, it is fantastic to see new spins put on long-standing genres, bringing them a contemporary feel that will appeal to a wider, younger audience than the typical Christie.

I accessed this as an audiobook, and found the narrator clear and entertaining though there were so many character names and facts to keep up with that I did find myself straining to keep them straight in my mind.

The author has designed a conundrum that is a challenge to solve and offers such a cathartic relief once the solutions are known. It is like reading a detective novel and a dystopic fiction at the same time.

I look forward to seeing Turton's next big idea, definitely one to look out for. This will make an excellent TV series or film.

An Audible copy was provided by Nudge-Books.com for my honest thoughts of the book.

12 of 14 people found this review helpful