“Agatha Christie meets Groundhog Day . . . quite unlike anything I’ve ever read, and altogether triumphant.”—A. J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window
Aiden Bishop knows the rules. Evelyn Hardcastle will die every day until he can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest at … Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest at Blackheath Manor. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others. With a locked room mystery that Agatha Christie would envy, Stuart Turton unfurls a breakneck novel of intrigue and suspense.
For fans of Claire North, and Kate Atkinson, The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a breathlessly addictive mystery that follows one man’s race against time to find a killer, with an astonishing time-turning twist that means nothing and no one are quite what they seem.
This inventive debut twists together a thriller of such unexpected creativity it will leave readers guessing until the very last page.
Costa First Novel Award 2018 Winner
One of Stylist Magazine’s 20 Must-Read Books of 2018
One of Harper’s Bazaar’s 10 Must-Read Books of 2018
One of Guardian’s Best Books of 2018
One of Buzzfeed’s 17 Mystery Books You Won’t Be Able to Put Down
One of BookRiot’s 10 Mystery and Thriller Authors like Agatha Christie
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It took me two tries to get into this book but the second time I was hooked. It is a clever premise, well worked.
“How lost do you have to be to let the devil lead you home?”
My biggest takeaway from this story was how absolutely twisted the plot was, and how brilliant Turton must be to pull it off. Our hero is a man named Aiden Bishop who is trapped inside a stranger’s body in a manor called Blackheath. He learns that he will not escape this prison until he solves a murder (that hasn’t even yet happened!), but to do so, he must relive the same day eight times, through the lives of eight different people.
I told you, it’s twisty. The intrigue sucked me in, leaving me guessing and hungry for answers. A great time-travely mystery that I’d highly recommend!
Charming, head twisting Murder mystery with elements of the supernatural. Intricate well woven plot and characters….
Turton brings us a puzzle to rival any.
Imagine waking up each day into a different body. You are limited by their physical well-being, emotional state, and intelligence. You need to use your memories and theirs to investigate a murder, save a life, and protect yourself. You have a powerful ally and a possible friend. What you don’t have is, time. If you are not successful, you may stay forever trapped or worse.
Clever concept, intriguing construction.
Imagine coming to consciousness in the middle of a dark forest, mid-sentence, with no memories of who you are, where you are, or why you’re in the middle of a dark forest yelling someone’s name. That is how this book begins, and it only gets more interesting from there. The main character & narrator eventually finds out that he is going to relive the same day 8 times, and that each time, someone will die (the same someone). Only if he can solve the murder will he be released from doing all of this over again, wiped of memories at the start of doing it again.
I had my ups and downs with this book, but in the end, the ups did outweigh the downs. I’ll start with what I enjoyed.
The murder-mystery itself was intricate and well-planned. It kept me guessing throughout the book, especially in the later half, when answers were finally starting to come, yet kept being not what they appeared to be. No one is ever quite who they seem to be, even the people that you are certain couldn’t possibly be hiding something. And I really appreciated the way that the narrator’s different hosts contributed their own abilities toward solving the murder.
As the same day is being relived by the narrator, it reads a lot like a time travel story, as the narrator sees the same events happen over and over. The author did a good job with the continuity in this respect. There were a few things that confused me in this area, but they were intentional (not intentionally confusing, but intentional as in not a continuity issue). I can’t say more without giving some spoilers.
I was certain throughout the book that there would never be an explanation given for the greater mystery–who or what was behind the narrator being trapped inside the various guests at Blackheath, forced to solve a murder. A combination of some reviews that I read and my own assumption that this wouldn’t be explained, due to the why not being the focus of the story, led me to this certainty. I was pleasantly surprised to find that an explanation was given, and while I was still left with some questions when the book ended, a Q&A section at the back of the book clarified things. To be clear though–this wasn’t a cheat on the author’s part to leave out some information and fill in the blanks later. It didn’t bother me to be left with the questions I had–it was the kind of thing where the reader was left to infer their own answers, and it turned out I had inferred them correctly.
Here were the downsides to the book for me (as spoiler-free as I can be), which can be mostly chalked up to personal preference:
Early on, I struggled with how long it took to get into the mystery, and what was happening that seemed to be completely unrelated, or at least very different, from what the book was going to be about. Between the title of the book and the inside of the book jacket, I knew a lot more than I feel like I was meant to know, and grew impatient waiting for that information to be presented in the book. Even the name of the narrator is right there on the book jacket, but that information wasn’t given until at least 1/4 of the way into the book. I don’t think this is the fault of the book itself though, so much as the fault of the blurb and, to a lesser degree, the title.
The book is written in 1st person and present tense. It works well for the premise, but the downside to this is that certain events are a little too up-close and personal for my taste. This mainly relates to violence and death, but other situations as well. By the end of the book, I felt like I should take a shower, as the mustiness and decay of Blackheath and the alcohol- and smoke-covered guests is described so often, and in such intimate detail that at times it felt like I was swimming in it. I also didn’t care for the extreme way that the author portrayed one of the narrator’s guest’s overweight body, with such disdain, and not to mention as if the host could barely walk 10 feet without being out of breath. I was as thankful to be out of that host as the narrator was.
The last downside I want to mention is that I didn’t personally care for the author’s style. There was so much figurative language that, by the end of the book, I actually said to my husband, “I’ve read this sentence 5 times, but I can’t tell if something big just happened, or if it’s just a metaphor.” There is also quite a bit of description, so between that and the figurative language, the narration often bogged down the story for me. I came to appreciate the dialog, because it was much more straight-forward, but a lot of the story happens in the narration. By the last third of the book, though, I had started to skim the descriptions (how many different ways can you tell me that a new room we’ve entered is dirty, run-down, and dark?), hoping I wouldn’t miss anything important along the way.
To sum up, I did enjoy the book, and once I really got into the mystery, I found myself wanting to come back to it whenever I could. I would recommend it for people who enjoy mystery, especially those with intricate plots. I think many would struggle with the complexity of it though. I would not recommend it to my friends and family, however, as I think the violence and debauchery might bother them as much as, if not more than, it did me, so keep that in mind if you don’t care for that sort of thing.
WOW! Blown away. This started off slow and confusing, because neither the character nor you as the reader know what is happening, but this is how he wraps everything in the story. Once it began picking up, I didn’t want to stop reading. There is so much happening, so many things to observe and figure out. Just when you get one thing, there is another twist. Such a fantastic idea and very well carried out! A new favorite! I would definitely read more!
I couldn’t put this book down. It kept me guessing all the way through. The plot took many twists and turns, taking the reader on an unexpected journey of intrigue. This was Stuart Turton’s debut novel. I can’t wait to see what he has in store next. A wonderful writer with an amazing story.
I couldn’t finish this book! All the hype led me to believe that it would be a great mystery and a fun read, but I found the iterations boring and confusing after the first few. I wasn’t interested enough to continue reading.
A little confusing at first. Kept me guessing how it would end.
This book will make you analyze it and rethink it and even go back and re-read sections to make sure what you read is what you actually read. After you finish the final sentence, you’ll be joyfully rethinking this crazy engrossing and mired plot. Good luck!
“Behind every answer there’s ten more questions…”
Wow. As I closed the last pages of this book, I all could think was “wow”. This is a story that will keep you guessing and will slap you upside the head with shock was the final mystery is unveiled. The characters are complex and each distinct in their own right. I found the beginning to be a bit slow but once it started to pick up speed… man did it! This book lead to several 2am reading sessions.
This has been described by Harpers Bazaar as “popping you favorite Agatha Christy whodunnit into a blender with a scoop of Downton Abbey, a dash of Quantum Loop, and a liberal sprinkling of Groundhog Day” and I couldn’t explain it any better!!! If you’re looking for a great mystery with a interesting twist, this is the book for you!
The same story over & over & over again
Loved this original approach.
I liked the idea of the story but it was very difficult to track the characters from one chapter to the next.
Once you figure out the rhythm of the book and get used to the unusual (but highly entertaining) structure of the book, you will get sucked into solving the mystery.
Unique, infuriating, confusing at times, satisfying. The best murder mystery, time-hopping, body-swapping novel I’ve read! The author does a great job in keeping the information flowing, the characters are wonderfully weird and varied, the outcome was interesting. It has the kind of zany energy that exudes from Tim Curry in Clue.
This a weird book…but interesting. It ‘s an unpredictable book that keeps you guessing until the end. At first, I wasn’t sure I liked it but got into it and enjoyed it a lot.
I just couldn’t get into it.
Pace was slow. Definitely not Agatha Christie. Premise sounded promising but didn’t live up to the hype.