The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Published in 2018 this was Turton’s debut novel and it’s very strange! Set in a crumbling country house somewhere in England, probably in the 1920s, Aiden Bishop is there to solve the mystery of the death of Evelyn Hardcastle. However, Evelyn Hardcastle will die every day until her killer can be identified, and every day Aiden wakes in the body of a different person at the manor. It’s a fiendishly clever and complicated plot, with so many strands that your head spins; and while the writing is descriptive there’s a nightmare-like quality to the story, which (like a nightmare) seems to be set outside normal time and space and has several shocking surprises for the reader. For all that I could admire this novel, I found it a rather grim read.
Review by: Freyja, Oundle Crime

I found this book took about 100 pages to settle into a stride. Then it did pull me in, I wanted to know why it was all happening. I thought the explanation for the 'why' the story was happening was enough without the extra twist. The ending was far too rushed when we'd spent 500 pages of groundhog day.

Found this novel a bit of a muddle with plot and logic flaws and total leaps of fantasy I couldn't quite go along with, even when trying to just roll with it and enjoy it. There were daft characters - or at least characters dressed up daftly (why was the so-called Plague Doctor wearing that silly costume?) and way too many so-called twists that were actually just a complete re-telling. As a Young Adult novel it might work but for grown ups looking for literature, not really. All that said, I did keep reading to the end. The writing style is easy to read so it wasn't a chore, just a muddle that doesn't even make any sense by its own rules.