Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

154 reviews

teatales's review against another edition

mysterious

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

3.0

I think I liked the premise more than the book itself, although obviously I kept reading through the several hundred pages. The last quarter of the book felt like it had too many twists.

And the weird explanation for the whole host swapping thing left much to be desired, as did the ending. I find it quite boring when it turns out to be some ~crazy~ woman as the killer

Hated the fatphobia as well 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Murder, Death, Body shaming, Blood, Gun violence, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, and Child death

Minor: Colonisation

fadeddpages's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Death, Confinement, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Medical content

Minor: Sexual assault

kimmy0__0's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I thought this was a very intriguing premise for a book. Until about half way through I didn't make any connections to what was happening and it was a little slow.

I figured out pretty early that this was some kind of prison system, but as for the actual murderer(s) this was a very tangled web.

Overall I thought it was a great read, especially for Agatha Christie book lovers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Death of parent, Drug use, and Murder

Moderate: Classism, Confinement, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, Addiction, Stalking, Cursing, Misogyny, and Rape

nini23's review against another edition

mysterious

• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.75

Convoluted but not necessarily clever. The fat-shaming, oy! What happened to Phillip Sutcliffe discovered by Charles Cunningham to have the porcelain beak costume in his closet - no reaction whatsoever by Aiden when he meets Sutcliffe. A forgotten loose end? 

What I found interesting I wish the author had elaborated more upon:-
- the influence of the host's personality, impulses and thought patterns upon the mind occupying the body
- the class differences especially the indignities suffered by the maids, stablehands, butlers etc.

The sinister atmosphere is well set up though the answer to this locked door murder mystery puzzle is not something one could have figured out from the clues provided.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Violence, Blood, Gun violence, Death, Murder, Alcohol, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, and Body shaming

Moderate: Classism and Confinement

amartin48's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Drug abuse, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Body horror, Classism, Death, Blood, Bullying, Alcohol, Murder, Child death, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

anni_o's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Thrilling and satisfying mystery! Very interesting concept to solve a case and kept me on my toes until the very end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Blood, Death of parent, Death, Murder, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Classism, Drug use, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Sexual violence and Fatphobia

lisaarnsdorf's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was an unusual story. It was very readable and, except for the first few chapters, moved right along. It kept me thinking and engaged.

However, it was overly complicated. There were too many details to keep track of, too many jumps in the timeline, too many characters, too many twists and reveals. The story needed some serious editing and simplifying to make it truly great. There was a character whose sole purpose in the book seemed to be for gratuitous violence that isn't even in keeping with 1920s sensibility of the story; I didn't need that at all.

When the bigger picture is finally revealed, it feels like you've been dropped into an entirely different story. (Inception, anyone?) The main motivation for being at Blackheath is almost disorienting, not a fully fleshed-out story, and frankly, not even believable. And I just didn't like the ending. If there was a spot where we could have used more, the ending was it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Gore

Minor: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Drug use

izzyhaa's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Child death, Medical content, Blood, Murder, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Gore, Gaslighting, Drug use, Death, and Alcohol

jhbandcats's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I found this book somewhat overwhelming - it was so convoluted that I felt exhausted reading it. It felt like the author was trying to shoehorn his story into a certain format and it didn’t really fit. 

I liked the concept - a single entity jumping, or thrust into, a lot of different bodies. In that sense it reminded me of Claire North’s Touch. But this book left me with too many questions. I felt unsatisfied reading it, that too much was going on for it to make sense. 

That said, I liked the story. I just wish it had been tighter. 

An aside: I wonder why this is titled The 7 1/2 Deaths whereas the British edition is The Seven Deaths. Perhaps because The Seven Deaths of Evelyn H [Hardcastle] is too close to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn H [Hugo]?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Gore, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Murder, Violence, Drug use, and Eating disorder

jennifermackaman's review against another edition

I had to stop reading due to the extreme anti-fat bias. This type of book should not exist. The author wrote a character to be unbelievably biased and does not interrogate that bias at all. He describes feeling deep shame when looking at himself in the mirror in a fat body and the author treats this as a normal reaction. He has such extreme loathing for fat bodies and is miserable the entire time solely because of the size of his body. Fat people are able to live joy-filled and active lives. Books like this feed into the idea that fatness is worthy of shame and not acceptance or celebration. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use and Ableism