Reviews with content warning for Panic attacks/disorders - The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

This was a really wonderful experience. When I first started it, I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it, as everything is a bit befuddled and there's a reasonably large cast of characters involved, but it's so well written I was immersed and attached in no time.

This reminded me a bit of the play/TV film "An Inspector Calls." Not necessarily for any real direct reason other than they're both examples of very unique ways to approach a mystery, but that alone must have made the connection. I'll be very excited to watch this whenever they finally get it in series form.

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blueberryelf's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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lucyselim's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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hanarama's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

CW: imprisonment, violence, gore, blood, death, death of a child

The Good:
• Unique storytelling device
• Interesting mystery

The Bad:
• Lackluster worldbuilding
• Too many twists

You Might Like this if You Like:
• Agatha Christie
• Time travel
• Sherlock Holmes

At its core, I think that this is a really fun mystery with a unique premise. As the story unfolds, the time loops begin to make more and more sense. Seeing a mystery from so many different angles really helps to fill in clues and makes the hunt for answers feel more dynamic. All of the hosts give fresh voice to the main character, but I would have liked for their characters to be more distinctive in their narration. Some of the differences feel more like telling rather than showing.

I did feel like the world building beyond the primary setting was incredibly underwhelming. The explanation that's given is lackluster, and I honestly would have preferred to not get any answers about the world outside the estate.

Additionally, I feel like the end of the story has too many twists. It starts to feel like there are too many endings, and the story just keeps going. Some twists work and make sense (or can even be guessed by the reader) but it just keeps going and going.

I would have liked a tighter plot without so much of the other stuff. Overall though, I had a lot of fun with this book.

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claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

When Dr. Bell wakes, he is in a forest, with no memories—not the previous day, not his family, not even his own name—just the name Anna. He hears a woman calling for help and then a gunshot, and then a mysterious person (a murderer?) hands him a compass and tells him to go east. Following these dubious directions, he arrives at Blackheath, a crumbling estate currently hosting a reunion of sorts. On the following day, Bell wakes up as the Butler, and learns that he is not Bell, and it is not the following day. He is someone else entirely, but he will be trapped in a new body every day for eight days—but really just the same day, re-lived eight times from eight different perspectives. The only way to escape: he must solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle, who dies every evening like clockwork. But there are others in the house also trying to solve the murder—and only one can escape. There are many secrets in Blackheath, and Evelyn’s is not the only murder.

I could barely keep track of all the characters, let alone the twists and turns of the plot. Everything was a red herring, but also nothing was, because there were so many details and so many awful deeds and characters up to no good. This book reminded me a bit of <i>The Guest List</i> because both books consist of a group of unbearable characters trapped in one place. Both have dark, twisting plots and new details (and crimes), both past and present, are slowly revealed as the story progresses.

I The ending really threw me off though, because it felt totally different from the rest of the book. The worldbuilding was half-baked at best, and so few details were given about the world outside of Blackheath that I thought there was little point in giving any at all. Why introduce Anna/Annabell and Aidan’s backstories and then barely use them? I did appreciate the anti-prison stance the story took, as well as the themes of forgiveness and the ability of people to change for the better.

I think I’ve mentioned this in other reviews, but I’ll say it again: while it’s not a bad thing to have a male author, it is a red flag for me if I can tell that the author is a man from the writing alone. This was one of those books. I mean seriously, you’re going to have your protagonist jump between eight different bodies and not one of them is going to be a woman? I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but I could also tell from the way Turton described his female characters...so yeah, that rubbed me the wrong way on occasion. There was also some fatphobia in his descriptions of Ravencourt, so if that’s a trigger for you, I’d avoid this book.

Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just the vibe of the ending):

Like… sort of happy? I guess? I liked the message of the ending, but it wasn’t exactly satisfying.

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