The Solve the Murder Book Club have been reading The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. This book was winner of the Costa First Novel Award and has been described as a mind bending, time bending murder mystery.
Description
Gosford Park meets Groundhog Day by way of Agatha Christie and Black Mirror – the most inventive story you’ll read Tonight, Evelyn Hardcastle will be killed … Again
It is meant to be a celebration but it ends in tragedy. As fireworks explode overhead, Evelyn Hardcastle, the young and beautiful daughter of the house, is killed. But Evelyn will not die just once. Until Aiden – one of the guests summoned to Blackheath for the party – can solve her murder, the day will repeat itself, over and over again. Every time ending with the fateful pistol shot. The only way to break this cycle is to identify the killer. But each time the day begins again, Aiden wakes in the body of a different guest. And someone is determined to prevent him ever escaping Blackheath…
Review
I started trying to read this book when it first came out but didn’t get very far. Other reviewers have said this book takes some getting into, but once you do you are gripped.
So I began it again on holiday……and was immediately gripped.
The story begins with a man waking up in a wood, having lost his memory. He witnesses a woman being chased and apparently shot. Stumbling through the wood, he manages to find his way to a stately home. The house itself is called Blackheath and the inhabitants appear to be planning a party.
The story continues with him trying to work out who he is and why he is there. Then tragedy strikes that evening, when the daughter of the house, Evelyn, dies…..
However, when the narrator awakens the next morning, he finds himself another body, at the beginning of the previous day. And so begins the twisted Groundhog Day set of events. Each day he wakes to find the party being planned and Evelyn very much alive. Yet, by the end of the evening, Evelyn will be dead.
Along the way, a sinister stranger tells the narrator that he must solve the mystery of Evelyn’s death. He will be given eight days to do so – the same day, eight times over, each time inhabiting a different guest. If he fails, his memory will be wiped and he will begin the process again. He needs to solve the death to escape.
Also, as if things were not difficult enough, there are another two people within the house who are also trying to solve the crime. Even worse, only one of the three can escape Blackheath!
It must have been a difficult book to write with all the different interconnected threads and overlapping characters and timelines. In turn, it takes a bit of effort to get your head around the concept and follow the plot. This is a book that requires attention. It is not one you can dip in and out of.
In the beginning there are so many characters it can be hard to keep track of everyone. Luckily there is a handy list of character at the beginning of the book and I found myself referring to that a number of times.
Although a number of the characters are unpleasant, they are all interesting in different ways. And the host characters have a lot to teach the narrator over the week.
The only likeable character is the narrator himself, who is eventually revealed to be named Aiden. You find yourself willing him to solve the mystery and succeed.
A clever story that allows for lots of twists and turns. The plot flows in a number of unexpected directions and, when you have finished reading, the book will keep you thinking about it for sometime. Not just about what happened and why, but about what happened next…..
Available from City Adventurers Solve The Murder and from Amazon
The City Adventurers love reading about mystery, so we’ve started our own book club. Click here to join!