Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - Die sieben Tode der Evelyn Hardcastle

Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Die sieben Tode der Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

55 reviews

remmingtom's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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jstilts's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.0

An intriguing and complex tale that starts gently with an amnesiac discovering themselves at a 1920s British mansion day-long party, but quickly progresses into a rollercoaster "groundhog day" murder mystery where our sleuth wakes in a new host body as the day begins anew to try and solve or stop the murder that ends the day, all while avoiding unknown antagonists out to kill him in any and all of his host bodies.

It's an intriguing tale that does a great job of putting you in the head of the main character - no mean feat as each time they switch hosts the original personality influences their own.

That, to put it mildly, is the simple summary - the book is much more twisty and complex - but an absolute page-turner.

While it's hardly unusual for a murder mystery to have unexpected layers revealed late in the piece by the detective, this time it pretty much derailed the book for me. It's unusual flow of time and character is a lot of enjoyable work to keep up with, without the plot taking a sudden left turn as well. Ordinarily I might consider immediately re-reading the book with this new information in mind, but my brain needs a rest from juggling so very many elements of time, character and place!

One minor niggle on top: the backstory to the whole setup comes across poorly. It's a bit sci-fi when the book is very entrenched in the 1920s, and adds another layer of complexity in an already complex tale. If I was the editor for this book I would have suggested they reframe it as a ghostly supernatural cause, which would fit with the 1920s period better, and was already present in a red-herring manner to obscure that it was going to be a sci-fi explanation.

Still, that's minor, and my issue with the late-in-the-piece complication is my only real complaint, hence giving this gripping book 4 stars.

Surprisingly (mild spoiler) our main character never ends up in the body of someone of a different gender, which seems like a missed opportunity.

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a_little_wonky's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

Really intriguing premise and writing. I usually stay away from mystery/thriller because I find them predictable but this wasn’t, by any stretch of the imagination - and there were many stretches of the imagination. I’d definitely have to read this a second time to catch all the little clues now that I know the ending. Honestly I’m sure I missing things because it was so fast-paced I just kept going, I couldn’t put it down. 4 stars because I do think some plot lines were left hanging (I hate intentionally misleading clues that are never resolved), and time travel isn’t really my jam. But definitely worth the read.

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