Reviews with content warning for Animal death - The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

I waffed on what to give this, but I decided that despite my reservations, this thing slaps beyond belief. It completely shifted my perspective on what a good mystery can be, and what a good book can be in general. It was engaging, and I have a feeling I'll get even more out of rereads, but it also has a solid heart: more than I thought it would. Do yourself a favor and pick this up! It's fun.

Points deducted for being kinda slow to start (took me a few tries before I got into it) and a weird, prolonged section of fatphobia.

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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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readwithde's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This may well be the best old-fashioned mystery I have ever read.

Though I didn't care much for the meta reasons for the story

-- why Aiden was there, what the Plague Doctor was trying to accomplish --

I even loved that there was a reason behind all the madness and that it made sense. It was such a snapshot on how people can change and become different.

As for the actual mystery, as soon as I figured one thing out, another surprised me. Though I didn't agree with all the choices of the characters, they were a consistent welcome within a constant flux of other characters.

If you loved Knives Out or the Poirot books, this book is for you.

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