A review by lemonsandligaments
The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

adventurous emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

bars can’t build better men and misery can only break what goodness remains

TDLR; more fun to read the better your memory is

Some genres are very easy to like and give high ratings to. This genre is not. This book edged into being too wordy and confusing at times.

However, it turned out to be an excellent piece of mystery fiction. There were many characters that Aiden Bishop body hops through, and all of them plus the outer circle of characters were distinctive enough for me to remember. I’m talking at least 18 characters, around half of which had detailed backstories, motivations, and behaviours.

The writing is descriptive and nicely witty when it needs to be.

I did see some of the twists coming (it gets twisty) but it was still shocking to see how they unravelled.

The pieces in the book were well put together and i personally couldn’t think of any plot holes, other than the typical consequences of timeloop stories. Even then, I felt that the given reasoning for messing with the time loop to change fate,

to prevent screwing up the work of previous hosts,

is valid.

The characters had depth and complex backstories and i was hooked the whole way. There were a couple of times when i picked up the book midway through a chapter and had to spend a few minutes recapping everything.

It was tough getting through some parts as it could get slightly draggy and confusing but I would say it was worth it. 

This book isn’t 100% for me (there are other murder mysteries I like more), but it was so impressive for a debut novel. As the story fully unravelled in the remaining 10%, I just got more and more impressed.

I just cannot find a good reason to not give it 5 stars. If I had written this myself, I would become incredibly arrogant.

I enjoyed Evelyn and Michael Hardcastle’s siblinghood a lot. They really cared for each other, and tbh at the end when Evelyn found out that Michael was dead, I doubted her love for him for a moment until it was dispelled.

Michael was just adorable and one of the few truly good people.

Rashton is the GOAT. Daniel was cool for a second but now he’s alright.

Aiden’s decision to spare Anna was honourable, and I do not think I would have done the same if someone had murdered my sister.

This books covers themes like ethics and morality, reminding me of that one black mirror episode.

The whole “make prisoners do simulation forever” thing was interesting as Ive always assumed the story took place in the past rather than the future with THOUSANDS of places making prisoners solve crime.

By the way, Aiden Bishop must be incredibly big-brained because I definitely wouldn’t have solved it myself.

Overall this book was an intense read that ended in a way that satisfies. Easily one of the better books I’ve read this year.