This Might Be the Best Book of 2018
There have been a number of really excellent books published this year, even within the last two months. This particular book might top my 2018 list. 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle dragged me through its pages and then kindly deposited me at the end (or, more aptly, it kicked me out because I wanted more and was left with the last page). There were times while I read this book that I literally had to stop, put the book down and think about how surprised I was at the turns I had just experienced. And that rarely happens in a book. I think that I have read so many books that a plot just doesn’t surprise me as easily because I’ve grown into the ability to expect what might be coming--and I couldn’t do that with this book.
It was amazing.
Turton, a travel writer, did an excellent job with this mystery.
I’m sure that you’ve read the back cover’s information, you know that a death happens and that our protagonist is meant to solve it while living the same day over and over again in different people’s bodies until he either can solve the murder or the loop begins again. What you don’t know is that you don’t know any more than the protagonist (whose name you never really know until you are about half way through, but then are only as certain of it as they can be--which is not at all) throughout the entire book. We get no back story, no lead in--we wake up right along with or protagonist and feel just as trapt and confused as they do by Blackheath’s cycle.
And then, throughout the entire book, you think that you might know what could happen next but for just so long as the next page, or day, when the carpet is pulled from underneath you. In the interview portion of my book the author mentions that he needed to have a million sticky notes to remind him of the intricate details of this plot. I can’t imagine how he might have done it otherwise.
The only downfall of this book is the ending. I wanted more...closure? But from a book that lead my by a string throughout its pages I guess I shouldn’t expect for it make me feel comfortable with what I learn at the end.
I did receive this book in exchange for my unbiased review… and I am glad for it.
It was amazing.
Turton, a travel writer, did an excellent job with this mystery.
I’m sure that you’ve read the back cover’s information, you know that a death happens and that our protagonist is meant to solve it while living the same day over and over again in different people’s bodies until he either can solve the murder or the loop begins again. What you don’t know is that you don’t know any more than the protagonist (whose name you never really know until you are about half way through, but then are only as certain of it as they can be--which is not at all) throughout the entire book. We get no back story, no lead in--we wake up right along with or protagonist and feel just as trapt and confused as they do by Blackheath’s cycle.
And then, throughout the entire book, you think that you might know what could happen next but for just so long as the next page, or day, when the carpet is pulled from underneath you. In the interview portion of my book the author mentions that he needed to have a million sticky notes to remind him of the intricate details of this plot. I can’t imagine how he might have done it otherwise.
The only downfall of this book is the ending. I wanted more...closure? But from a book that lead my by a string throughout its pages I guess I shouldn’t expect for it make me feel comfortable with what I learn at the end.
I did receive this book in exchange for my unbiased review… and I am glad for it.