This was unexpected. The blurb was so interesting I picked this story up.

It starts off slow... a man wakes up with no memory of what happened to him, only that he has to save someone... and keeps waking each day as a new person. Who needs to solve the puzzle of who killed Evelyn Hardcastle before the 8th host ends his days.

It is historical fiction, set in the estate of Blackhealth in England, in that laudanum is the drug of choice, entertainment is done without TV, and there are balls and servants.

I enjoyed the story, slow though it seems. Each host was a different person altogether, distinct and unique. And you feel like you're stumbling alongside the hero. The plot does thickens and things are not what they seem to be.

Such a unique story!

I received a copy of the book for my honest opinon. Thank you NetGalley and publisher!

The 7 death of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
Wow, keeping track of this story is hard, but so intriguing. Ostensibly a country house murder mystery with a twist. The same woman will be murdered over and over again until someone can solve the murder, the narrator of the story wakes up each day inhabiting another body, and he has to try to solve the murder by solving the clues he gets from each ‘host’. This plot is fantastic and an amazing feat of imagination. I must say I didn’t solve it but was gripped by the story. It’s like a really hard puzzle, but wonderfully entertaining.
I recommend it highly, well worth reading

3.75 stars Thank you to NetGalley and Raven Books for a chance to read and review this digital. Published Sept 4, 2018

Eight days - eight different bodies. As each new day dawns Aiden Bishop is transported into a new identity. His only way out is to learn the identity of the person who kills Evelyn Hardcastle. His 'hosts', as he calls them, vary immensely. From the lost Dr Sebastian Bell, too timid to speak out, to the fat Lord Ravencroft, who expects to marry Evelyn, to the obnoxious painter Gregory Gold, it is days before Aiden actually realizes who he really is. During these periods Aiden not only keeps his own presence of mind, but also inherits the mind of his captive identity. His only ally is Anna - a chamber maid, or is she?

To make matter worse, this story plays out at Blackheath. A once elegant estate, now in crumbling disarray, this is the same place that Thomas Hardcastle, a child, was killed 19 years ago. The party being thrown by his parents has invited back all the people present that long ago day from 19 years before. Blamed in that death is Evelyn, Thomas' sister.

The chamber maid, Anna, plays a big part of this story and you are never sure if she is helpful or harming. You learn that if the killer is not identified that time will just start over - like it has time and time again. But this time things have changed.

I finally gave up trying to keep this story straight. Each identity was given 24 hrs and if they slept during that time the time was increased by that amount. So Aiden was able to bounce back and forth between identities. Each identity learned a bit more, but it was up to Aiden to put it all together and find the killer. To further complicate matters there was Dr Plague who had the power to release the one person that brought the name of Evelyn's killer to him, but he also left clues with Aiden that were confusing. Each day was lived again and again - so Aiden had to keep track of time, remember all his prior identities prior moves and anticipate who his next identity would be, then try to anticipate what their perspective was. I was confused. I finally gave it all up to the story and just read in hopes that it would all wash out in the end.

It did wash out in the end. But once the end was clear, another twist was added. A book that you just do not want to put down. A complicated story - to complicated for my simple mind - other than wanting to find out if Aiden was ever freed or if he would stay imprisoned in that 8 day cycle again and again.

See links to goodreads review

Aiden Bishop wakes up in the body of somebody else and the only thing he knows is the name of a woman, Anna, but he has no idea who she is. He finds himself in Blackheath, where everyone seems to know him and slowly he discovers that that day will be repeated eight times and every time Aiden will wake up in someone else’s body until he figures out who kills Evelyn Hardcastle at the ball that night, but it won’t be easy because there are other hosts like him who are trying to find out the killer.

I think that the concept of the book is brilliant and I loved the many surprises and complications in which Aiden occurred every few pages, but for some reason I couldn’t really get into the story. I often found myself confused both by the story and the characters, so I can’t say I fully appreciated it. All in all, it's a good book and I really loved the ending.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is one of those books which will probably leave you mind blown. The many plot twists and turns make it an EXTREMELY enjoyable but intense read.
This is not a light fluffy novel, it is dark, suspenseful and filled with gritty murders. Through a combination of rich atmosphere, well developed characters and a complex plot Turton constructs a murder mystery that will leave you enthralled. He ensures your avid attention by placing great importance over every single detail, not a single word in this beautifully written novel is wasted.
The main character himself is written in such a way that one cannot help but feel sympathy for his constant inner turmoil and become emotionally invested in his story. Additionally the side characters were all very well written and none were perfect; through all their miserable qualities most were redeemable.
Overall a fabulous novel, cannot wait to see what else Turton releases.
P.S If you didn't get the drift.....THIS WAS BLOODY BRILLIANT!! GO READ IT!!!

Intrigued by story, but for me it did seem to drag on a bit. I wanted to really enjoy it. I would probably still recommend it to friends as they might enjoy.

An amazing, unique portrayal of a gloomy, duplicitous and murderous country house weekend. I so enjoyed the mystery and interrelated action from hour-to-hour that I was almost disappointed by the conclusion; I wanted the suspense and ratcheting tension to keep going.!

Either this book is stupid and illogical or I am just not smart enough for this. I still can’t wrap my head around it, it was very entertaining and I kept reading even during working hours and then, it was so boring and repetitive that I had to put it down so many times! I kept questioning my observation skills throughout reading, I figured, only after ⅓ of the book, that I should’ve been much more careful with the clues that were spread all over the place. It was too late then, so I had to pick up the pieces and come to some conclusions using my imagination only. That was fun, I don’t think a book ever made me feel this way in a long time - confused, excited and puzzled.

I will now do my best to explain what this book is about and I am struggling even to do that, let alone give some comprehensive conclusion.

There is a party in a secluded mansion.
There are many, many people invited.
Evelyn is murdered.
Who killed her? We don’t know.
How do we find the killer? Our protagonist spends one day in eight different bodies and he collects information from each and every one.

I suppose that even this skeleton of the story required great intelligence and effort, I know I had hard time following the characters and the same events through different eyes. What I didn’t like about this is the ending, because I hate it when the villain reveals himself at the end and tells the exact truth for what feels like hours. If I take away the way this story was told, because that originality was definitely the best part, what is left is just a mediocre crime story without any surprising twists and motives.

A really good idea with some billiant phrases, descriptions and characterisation is let down by a sluggish middle to the storyline and by being overly complicated. Pity.

Thank you publisher for the ARC copy from Netgalley

HOLY MOLLY!! What a thrilling debut novel for Stuart Turton!

This is the mystery/thriller novel you don't want to missed!

Remembering all the mystery/thriller novels I've read and available in the bookstores, these was so unique and captivating. I am so tired with mystery/thriller novels about a drunk/mentally-ill/abused/adultery protagonist and characters. This book will give you a new vibe to mystery/thriller novels.

THE STORY:
Aiden Bishop wakes up everyday with same scenario, same place, same event, same people but different body. He is in the Blackheath House masquerade event organized by the Hardcastle family. and he has a one mission to solve, who killed Evelyn Hardcastle? (Okay at first, I thought this would be a cliche Agatha Christie vibe novel) Aiden was aide by a mysterious character who wears a plague masks and always reminding him to his mission to solve the case.

Secrets and betrayal surrounds Aiden and makes his mission complicated by waking up to the different bodies of the notable guest invited to the Hardcastle event. What hit him so hard is that he is not the only one who tries to solve Evelyn's murder.

This is a perfect mystery/thriller novel about family, lies, betrayal and especially forgiveness. Kudos to Stuart Turton!

But one theme of the story hit me so hard is all about FORGIVENESS. I don't want to spoil things but it is so good and uplifting.

To the author, looking forward to your following novels and please make a prequel novella about Aiden.

*for full review, see the goodreads link below

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2295194914

Wow, that was a heck of a book. Intriguing characters, complicated but well-written and fast-moving plot, this was a murder mystery with supernatural elements in the vein of Life After Life. I had a hard time putting this one down. Highly recommend.

This would be a perfect triple - episode of Doctor Who. That’s not a criticism. It would be a superior episode, possibly the best ever, one of those that really makes you think, makes you feel stunned when it finishes and makes you want to watch it all over again. David Tennant (as the doctor) would be the voice of Aiden, with Alex Kingston as Anna and David Suchet as the Plague Doctor.
Turton is an amazing writer. He keeps the story rattling along with all the threads aligned. (I imagine him planning his plot on walls full of post-it notes.) Yes, some major suspension of disbelief is needed but that’s okay by me. It did get confusing at times and there were some things that I just didn’t quite ‘get’. But that could be because, for several nights, I stayed awake so late reading that I kept falling asleep mid-paragraph! Yes, it’s that good.
Another mystery – what’s the title? The review-copy I read was called ‘7 and a half deaths…’, but I’ve also seen it as ‘7 deaths’. I’m guessing that it’s a different title for US and UK? I can think of several other examples of this sort of thing but I think it’s unnecessarily confusing in a world that’s been shrunk by technology.
Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the review copy.

This is a murder mystery for fans of classics and true originals in the genre. I had a bit trouble getting drawn in at first, but it was an enjoyable read. There were some very good twists and turns.

When it said on the blurb that it's an Agatha Christie style book, I was intrigued. I think no one can possibly bring the same pleasure to a mystery as she can. .But this book does match up. I loved the mind bending aspect of it. I thought it did get slow in the middle and could have been shorter. But I loved the twist at the end. I thought that was a real Christie touch. Will be looking forward to reading the next book by this author.

I really enjoyed this book, the traditional crime narrative with an entirely new twist. Throughout the story I was kept guessing not only on the identity of the killer but on so many other points as well, such as why was this happening and who was our protagonist really? The conclusion was satisfying and definitely unexpected, thoroughly recommended.

I received an eARC of this book from #NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This is the type of book you really need to read in one sitting. It captivated me from the first few pages and is truly the most unique mystery I’ve ever read. I will probably be recommending this to people for years to come. It’s truly like a good Agatha Christie novel mixed with an intense game of Clue. For some reason it reminded me of the movie “Get Out” just by that creepy feeling that people aren’t as they seem and of course the inhabiting of other bodies aspect as well.

There were so many times I put down the book thinking “okay this is too confusing I need to stop”… but then I was compelled to pick it up… the intricacy of the plot and the way events unfolded was so original and clever. I was so excited for Aiden to start each day in another “host” - the way Turton wrote each character and how Aiden saw the world from their eyes and perspective was truly poetic and incredible.

This was a challenge to read and comprehend, but so worth it. I didn’t see the ending coming, which I’m sure is quite important in a well-done mystery novel, so I can’t give it much more praise than that.

My brain hurts, that was a wild ride.

This is a complicated and involved book. I was confused for the first part of it, which was the point, since the narrator was confused as well. After I understood the concept of what was happening, I did enjoy it more. I felt like there was a lot of unnecessary detail put in. I did read the interview with the author at the end and he said he used post-it notes on the wall to keep things straight and I felt like that would have helped the reader out a lot. There was some back and forth that became confusing. I might have to go back and re-read to get everything straight.

The description "high-end thriller" that has been applied to this book is probably the understatement of the year. I'm not exaggerating when saying that The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (or the alternately titled version I read, The Seven 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle) is the Inception of murder mystery books, because it did not let my synapses rest for even a second. This novel is big, both regarding the word count and the amount of action taking place in it. I'm surprised that I was able to follow from beginning to end, but the author allowed me exactly that without overexplaining.

The complex time-loop concept is far beyond what I imagined at first after reading the summary; this isn't simply about a protagonist caught in a time-loop, it's an amnesic protagonist waking up in a new body every time the eponymous day of Evelyn Hardcastle's death dawns anew, and each character is more intriguing than the last. Yes, there is a mind-blowing explanation behind the loop, though, spoiler, it's a rather futuristic one, and you probably won't see it coming.

I don't usually read crime stories because they're often easy to see through, but this one contains so many plot twists, and yet I couldn't foresee a single one of them, not even deduct one answer by myself. It's full-frontal suspense without a pause. I admit it got exhausting after a while, but I couldn't put it down until everything was explained. I can't even imagine how time-consuming the putting together of a simple outline for this book must have been, what with the sheer amount of acting characters! Rarely have I ever felt so satisfied when every puzzle piece finally clicked into place, although in the end it did feel a little overdone. After that, I put the book aside, weary but happy, and took a little break from reading.

If you like crime mysteries and would like to read something more challenging, especially if you enjoyed watching Gosford Park for the costume drama atmosphere, this one's for you. I you prefer light reads, better avoid The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle at all costs.

Quantum Leap meets Agatha Christie.

'Somebody's going to be murdered at the ball tonight. It won't appear to be a murder and so the murderer won't be caught. Rectify that injustice and I'll show you the way out.'

Aidan will wake as a different person every day for eight days, he will carry on doing this until he solves the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle.
I loved how quickly this story sped along and how I became familiar with the different characters and it’s twists and turns. Great.