REVIEW: The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

'I can feel myself being slotted into place, a cog in a massive ticking clock, propelling a mechanism I'm too small to understand.'

Title: The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
Author: Stuart Turton
Rating: 5/5

I bought this book from the tiny English language section of a book shop here in Genova, Italy. I moved here back in August and have since exhausted the supply of books I brought with me, and so I needed to find something new to feed my addiction. I'm not usually one for murder mysteries or crime fiction, but I saw The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle on the shelf and remember hearing great things back when it was published a few years ago. This relatively spontaneous purchase has become one of my favourite books I have ever read. I found myself wanting to read "one more chapter" every night.

I fell in love with the setting straight away. A grand manor in the woods and a madman on the loose, what more could you want? It took me right back to my A Level days studying Jane Eyre and had me intrigued from the very start. The setting was so convincing that it felt like I was taking part in one of those Victorian murder mystery evenings. Flicking back and forth to the invitation list at the beginning reminded me of the card you are given with the character you are meant to embody for the evening. You are not just a reader anymore, you are the detective as well.

Every single character in The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle has something interesting about them. Stuart Turton wastes no time on meaningless and dull characters - each one has a purpose and, overall, great character development. It is hard to say which is my favourite character as they are all so well written, but I enjoyed reading Jim Rashton the most. So well written in fact that I was genuinely hurt when they betrayed each other, as I liked them all so much. Turton is exceptionally talented and writes beautifully, giving each character a depth that I have not read much recently.

'Yet instead of being angry, he pities me. That's the worst part. Anger's solid, it has weight. You can beat your fists against it. Pity's a fog to become lost within'

Now we enter the realm of spoilers, beware...

I have never been so overwhelmed with wonder by a book as when I got to the first plot twist. Sebastian Bell waking up as the Butler and encountering himself in a previous host was absolutely brilliantly written. I got goosebumps and smiled, completely engulfed in what I was reading. I am so glad I did not read the blurb before I started the book as this moment would have been robbed from me. It reminded me of Edgar Allen Poe a lot, another throwback to my studies at university. I thought the change of pace was spot on - we got just the right amount of Bell before it changed to the Butler, meaning the plot twist hit that much harder. I am glad we didn't get hundreds of pages of the Butler before it moved on again as that would have ruined it.

Overall, the plot is like nothing I have seen before. Sure, I don't read crime fiction very often, but if they were all like this then maybe I would. My favourite thing about the plot is that reading it feels like putting a puzzle together, making for an exhilarating read. You find out a piece of information, sit on it for a while and then 100 pages later everything make sense. It is incredibly satisfying. I particularly love how the characters forget who they were before. It provides drama, tension and so many cliff hanger opportunities.

Things just got better and better when I realised it was a competition. I had so many questions and theories, and that is what kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I wanted to read on so that I could prove myself right (or wrong). The last 100 pages of the book had plot twist after plot twist. Usually I hate it when there are a lot of "happy coincidences" right at the end in an attempt to tie loose ends together, but almost everything in this book made sense... except maybe how Michael didn't recognise Evelyn dressed up as someone else even though he was meant to have visited her in France every year, but that was it.

There were a few other confusing aspects of the plot that I felt weren't explained properly. Does Evelyn know about the footman and the competition? Does Cunningham know when he is talking to Aiden in a different body? Why is Anna always confined to the gatehouse even though she needs to solve the mystery too? Most of my questions were answered in the last third of the book which is understandable but made reading the first two thirds slightly confusing. I was pretty pleased with myself because I guessed Coleridge was pretending to be Aiden's future host pretty early on - a rare moment when I'm actually satisfied when I guess a plot twist.

The big reveal that Evelyn wasn't Evelyn made my jaw drop. It was completely unexpected. Admittedly it was a tad confusing, although the explanation helped a lot. I read that passage three times just to make sure I fully understood.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is set to be the best book I read in 2021, maybe even of all time. 

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What did you think? Did you solve the murder first?