The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

A brilliant, explosive, mind-blowing debut. Everything you need to get book-addicted you’ll find it here.

Evelyn Hardcastle is meant to die over and over again at a gala party organised by her parents. She has been murdered hundreds of times and each day, Aiden Bishop is unable to stop it. As the same day repeats itself, the only way Aiden can escape is by solving Evelyn’s murder and win over an enemy he can’t see or understand. The catch, each time the loop restarts, he loses all his memories and forced to start from scratch. Can he put a permanent end to an endless day and find the murderer?

A new, refreshing, gripping debut that makes your adrenaline run high. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a unique murder mystery with a brilliant twist that pulls you in from the beginning.

Stuart Turton creates a unique world that not you don’t only read about, you live it in every sense of the word. It’s atmospheric, very well described and developed, with enough details to keep you interested. It’s a dark setting, much like the Gothic style; it builds up suspense and leaves in anticipation of what might be lurking in the dark corners of the story. It takes place in England, The murder mystery is perfect, it keeps your mind turning and the fact the main character keeps waking up with no memory and seeing a young woman being murder is both brilliant and scary. It’s a concept that marks this novel as one of a kind. Turton leaves no loose ends and you’ll never guess who the murderer is until the very end. Additionally, Turton gives you different angles to the murders each time a new cycle begins. It’s like the pieces of the puzzle come together with each scene.

Turton style of writing is lyrical, descriptive, seductive and highly intellectual. The author digs deep into The descriptions are complex, involving and you don’t grow bored of reading them. There are several plots at play at the same time, it’s quite hard to keep up with all of them without losing the reader or the threads of the story, but the author does a great job in keeping everything perfectly tied together.

The characters are very interesting and twisted. It’s the perfect cast for a perfect plot. Aidan is your eyes inside that ballroom and he explores, discovers clues and meets the guests at the party. He gives you the chance to get to know the characters and develop a clear image of each one with each cycle. Everyone changes and transforms throughout the book and they all contribute to the great ending.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough. To the fans of mysteries and murder plots I just one thing to say: read it, it’s very much worth it.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher Sourcebooks Landmark and the author for allowing me to read and review a digital copy of this book.