Fantastically Unique Mystery
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is an incredible, mind-warping, heart-pounding adventure that will carry you into the story of not one person, but eight.
It's hard to write a summary for this book, but essentially, as a reader, you begin knowing absolutely nothing-- there is a party, the main character is being called Sebastien Bell, and everything is being held at an old estate called Blackheath, during the 19th anniversary of a child's death. Throughout the course of the first several chapters, we learn that Sebastien Bell is NOT Sebastien Bell, but merely inhabiting the body of a person who was at this event when it happened, and that Aiden Bishop (our body-bouncing main character) has been tasked with solving the murder of a girl named Evelyn Hardcastle in order to gain his freedom from Blackheath. He lives the same day, eight times over, in eight different bodies, learning different details about the people who inhabit the estate, the victim of the crime, and the mysteries that surround this place, and becomes obsessed with not only learning the answer but also preventing the death of Evelyn Hardcastle.
Things I Loved:
- This is such an incredibly unique premise. I have never read a book more detailed, complicated, and intense. It was wonderfully done and completely immersive.
- I had no idea what was going on for the first third of the book... and it was great. In the very beginning, I was a little bit upset because I'm used to a genre formula for mystery: you learn the characters, you think "which one seems the nicest-- that's the one that probably did it" and then you read through to figure out how much you solved. The Death of Evelyn Hardcastle is not a "whodoneit" mystery novel, but rather a murder adventure novel.
- It reminded me, in the best way possible, of Clue/Cluedo, and it was great.
- The characters were rich and complex and lurking in the different minds and seeing how they affected Aiden was just brilliant.
- The mystery of Blackheath-- even at the end of the book-- and its function is so creative and so well rendered.
- The plot twists. Just WOW.
Things I Liked:
- The back and forth relationship with Anna and the revelation about their relationship towards the end of the book was an interesting twist. Not one that I needed, one way or another, but it was excellent.
- The setting was so detailed and beautiful on so many different levels.
Things I Didn't Like:
- I mentioned that in the very beginning, it was difficult for me to get into. This is definitely true. I found it very puzzling because it was unlike anything I'd ever read, so if you're a reader who needs your attention absolutely captured in the first three chapters, this might be a tough one for you. The beginning is equal parts intrigue and bafflement.
- There was a character written who, I felt, was fat-shamed in Aiden's experiences in his body, and I felt it pulled me out of a narrative on multiple levels. (The stuff that bothered me were largely comments about greed and eating, and there was cruel mockery by other characters throughout the book.)
If you enjoy a good book-- this is it! If you like any kind of unanticipated plot twist or plot bomb that just shatters your expectations, this will at least have four or five of them, even if you're an incredibly practiced mystery reader... there's just so much going on! If you like theoreticals about time travel, then this is for you. If you like being immersed in a story that just won't let you go, this is for sure one to pick up! Definitely worth committing to the first hundred or so pages-- you will not be disappointed.
It's hard to write a summary for this book, but essentially, as a reader, you begin knowing absolutely nothing-- there is a party, the main character is being called Sebastien Bell, and everything is being held at an old estate called Blackheath, during the 19th anniversary of a child's death. Throughout the course of the first several chapters, we learn that Sebastien Bell is NOT Sebastien Bell, but merely inhabiting the body of a person who was at this event when it happened, and that Aiden Bishop (our body-bouncing main character) has been tasked with solving the murder of a girl named Evelyn Hardcastle in order to gain his freedom from Blackheath. He lives the same day, eight times over, in eight different bodies, learning different details about the people who inhabit the estate, the victim of the crime, and the mysteries that surround this place, and becomes obsessed with not only learning the answer but also preventing the death of Evelyn Hardcastle.
Things I Loved:
- This is such an incredibly unique premise. I have never read a book more detailed, complicated, and intense. It was wonderfully done and completely immersive.
- I had no idea what was going on for the first third of the book... and it was great. In the very beginning, I was a little bit upset because I'm used to a genre formula for mystery: you learn the characters, you think "which one seems the nicest-- that's the one that probably did it" and then you read through to figure out how much you solved. The Death of Evelyn Hardcastle is not a "whodoneit" mystery novel, but rather a murder adventure novel.
- It reminded me, in the best way possible, of Clue/Cluedo, and it was great.
- The characters were rich and complex and lurking in the different minds and seeing how they affected Aiden was just brilliant.
- The mystery of Blackheath-- even at the end of the book-- and its function is so creative and so well rendered.
- The plot twists. Just WOW.
Things I Liked:
- The back and forth relationship with Anna and the revelation about their relationship towards the end of the book was an interesting twist. Not one that I needed, one way or another, but it was excellent.
- The setting was so detailed and beautiful on so many different levels.
Things I Didn't Like:
- I mentioned that in the very beginning, it was difficult for me to get into. This is definitely true. I found it very puzzling because it was unlike anything I'd ever read, so if you're a reader who needs your attention absolutely captured in the first three chapters, this might be a tough one for you. The beginning is equal parts intrigue and bafflement.
- There was a character written who, I felt, was fat-shamed in Aiden's experiences in his body, and I felt it pulled me out of a narrative on multiple levels. (The stuff that bothered me were largely comments about greed and eating, and there was cruel mockery by other characters throughout the book.)
If you enjoy a good book-- this is it! If you like any kind of unanticipated plot twist or plot bomb that just shatters your expectations, this will at least have four or five of them, even if you're an incredibly practiced mystery reader... there's just so much going on! If you like theoreticals about time travel, then this is for you. If you like being immersed in a story that just won't let you go, this is for sure one to pick up! Definitely worth committing to the first hundred or so pages-- you will not be disappointed.